Chapter Leadership
Empowering Others through Transformational Leadership
Chapter officers are faced with the challenging task of empowering others to take on leadership roles, such as chairing committees or running for office. Empowering others is often viewed as an obvious process, like delegating a particular task to a member, but it can be much more subtle. In fact, empowering others is something that officers can do everyday - whether you are thinking of it or not. How do you know if you are empowering others, beyond just delegating tasks, in your chapter? It depends on your leadership style.
In "From Transactional to Transformational Leadership: Learning to Share the Vision," reprinted in the Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies Program, Bernard M. Bass contrasts two types of leadership styles, and shows the advantages of cultivating transformational leadership traits.
Studies show that traditional leaders concentrate on accomplishing the tasks at hand and focus on satisfying the self-interest of those who do good work. These leaders, who Bass terms "transactional," get things done by making, and fulfilling, promises of recognition, increases in financial reward, and advancement within the organization.
By contrast, "transformational" leadership occurs when leaders broaden and elevate the interests of their followers, when they generate awareness and acceptance of the purposes and mission of the group, and when they stir others to look beyond their own self-interest for the good of the group. Transformational leaders achieve results by being charismatic and inspiring others, by meeting individual emotional needs and/or by intellectually stimulating group members.
While transactional leadership is usually necessary to some degree in any organization, developing transformational leadership traits can improve the dynamic of your chapter. Transformational leaders are more likely to be seen as satisfying and effective leaders and generally make more of a contribution to the organization than those who are only transactional. Recruitment and public relations efforts are more successful for organizations with transformational leaders. Most importantly, chapter officers who behave as transformational leaders leave a lasting legacy for the chapter by developing transformational leadership skills in those around them.
New chapter officers model their leadership styles on the former chapter officers. Therefore, when chapter officers exhibit transformational leadership traits, potential future chapter officers learn to emulate those behaviors. See the chart below for specific characteristics of transformational and transactional leaders. Learn to model the transformational leadership traits and, by doing so, empower the future leaders of your chapter to be better leaders themselves.
