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Resource 1
Mind Tools (n.d.). Emotional intelligence in leadership. Retrieved from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_45.htm

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The more that you, as a leader, manage each of these areas, the higher your emotional intelligence. So, let's look at each element in more detail and examine how you can grow as a leader.

Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

1. Self-awareness

If you're self-aware, you always know how you feel, and you know how your emotions and your actions can affect the people around you. Being self-aware when you're in a leadership position also means having a clear picture of your strengths and weaknesses, and it means behaving with humility.

So, what can you do to improve your self-awareness?

Keep a journal. Journals help you improve your self-awareness. If you spend just a few minutes each day writing down your thoughts, this can move you to a higher degree of self-awareness.

2. Self-regulation

Leaders who regulate themselves effectively rarely verbally attack others, make rushed or emotional decisions, stereotype people, or compromise their values. Self-regulation is all about staying in control.

This element of emotional intelligence, according to Goleman, also covers a leader's flexibility and commitment to personal accountability.

So, how can you improve your ability to self-regulate?

Hold yourself accountable. If you tend to blame others when something goes wrong, stop. Make a commitment to admit to your mistakes and to face the consequences, whatever they are. You'll probably sleep better at night, and you'll quickly earn the respect of those around you.

Practice being calm. The next time you're in a challenging situation, be very aware of how you act. Do you relieve your stress by shouting at someone else? Practice deep-breathing exercises to calm yourself. Also, try to write down all of the negative things you want to say, and then rip it up and throw it away. Expressing these emotions on paper (and not showing them to anyone!) is better than speaking them aloud to your team. What's more, this helps you challenge your reactions to ensure that they're fair!

3. Motivation

Self-motivated leaders work consistently toward their goals, and they have extremely high standards for the quality of their work.

How can you improve your motivation?

Re-examine why you're doing your job. It's easy to forget what you really love about your career. So, take some time to remember why you wanted this job. If you're unhappy in your role and you're struggling to remember why you wanted it, try the Five Whys technique to find the root of the problem. Starting at the root often helps you look at your situation in a new way. And make sure that your goal statements are fresh and energizing. For more on this, see our article on Goal Setting.

4. Empathy

For leaders, having empathy is critical to managing a successful team or organization. Leaders with empathy have the ability to put themselves in someone else's situation. They help develop the people on their team, challenge others who are acting unfairly, give constructive feedback, and listen to those who need it.

If you want to earn the respect and loyalty of your team, then show them you care by being empathic.

How can you improve your empathy?

Respond to feelings. You ask your assistant to work late - again. And although he agrees, you can hear the disappointment in his voice. So, respond by addressing his feelings. Tell him you appreciate how willing he is to work extra hours, and that you're just as frustrated about working late. If possible, figure out a way for future late nights to be less of an issue (for example, give him Monday mornings off).

5. Social Skills

Leaders who do well in the social skills element of emotional intelligence are great communicators. They're just as open to hearing bad news as good news, and they're experts at getting their team to support them and be excited about a new mission or project.

Leaders who have good social skills are also good at managing change and resolving conflicts diplomatically. They're rarely satisfied with leaving things as they are, but they don't sit back and make everyone else do the work: they set an example with their own behavior.

So, how can you build social skills?

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Emotional Intelligence in Leadership - Learning How to Be More Aware

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Relating to others is vital in today's workplace. Learn how to build your emotional intelligence (EI) with this article.

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Resource 2
Ovans,Andrea (2015). How emotional intelligence became a key leadership skill. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/04/how-emotional-intelligence-became-a-key-leadership-skill

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Anyone trying to come up to speed on emotional intelligence would have a pretty easy time of it since the concept is remarkably recent, and its application to business newer still. The term was coined in 1990 in a research paper by two psychology professors, John D. Mayer of UNH and Peter Salovey of Yale. Some years later, Mayer defined it in HBR this way:

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How Emotional Intelligence Became a Key Leadership Skill

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A reading list to bring you up to speed.

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Resource 1
White, S.K. (2018). What is transformational leadership? A model for sparking innovation. Retrieved from https://www.cio.com/article/3257184/what-is-transformational-leadership-a-model-for-motivating-innovation.html

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What is transformational leadership?

Transformational leadership is a leadership style in which leaders encourage, inspire and motivate employees to innovate and create change that will help grow and shape the future success of the company. This is accomplished by setting an example at the executive level through a strong sense of corporate culture, employee ownership and independence in the workplace.

Transformational leaders inspire and motivate their workforce without micromanaging - they trust trained employees to take authority over decisions in their assigned jobs. It's a management style that's designed to give employees more room to be creative, look to the future and find new solutions to old problems. Employees on the leadership track will also be prepared to become transformational leaders themselves through mentorship and training.

Transformational leadership model

The concept of transformational leadership started with James V. Downton in 1973 and was expanded by James Burns in 1978. In 1985, researcher Bernard M. Bass further expanded the concept to include ways for measuring the success of transformational leadership. This model encourages leaders to demonstrate authentic, strong leadership with the idea that employees will be inspired to follow suit.

While Bass' model dates to the '70s, it's still an effective leadership style practiced today - this style of authentic leadership never changes, just the environments it's used in. It's applicable across every industry, but it's especially vital to the fast-paced tech industry where innovation and agility can make or break a company.

For a deeper look at the transformational leadership model, see " How to apply transformational leadership at your company."

Transformational leadership characteristics

According to Bass, these are the hallmarks of a transformational leader that sets them apart from other leadership styles. A transformational leader is someone who:

Encourages the motivation and positive development of followers

Exemplifies moral standards within the organization and encourages the same of others

Fosters an ethical work environment with clear values, priorities and standards.

Builds company culture by encouraging employees to move from an attitude of self-interest to a mindset where they are working for the common good

Holds an emphasis on authenticity, cooperation and open communication

Provides coaching and mentoring but allowing employees to make decisions and take ownership of tasks

For a look at how to draw out your transformational leadership qualities in your resume, see " IT resume makeover: Highlighting transformational leadership."

Transformational leadership in IT

Although the concept of transformational leadership can apply to every industry - including healthcare, education and government agencies - it's increasingly important in IT as companies embrace digital transformation. Adapting to rapidly changing technology requires innovation and strong leadership to stay ahead of the curve and to remain competitive.

As leaders in IT, CIOs are responsible for setting the example as transformative leaders - especially considering they're largely responsible for digital transformation in the business. Gartner reports that 40 percent of CIOs are leaders of digital transformation in their organization, while 34 percent say they're responsible for innovation. Inspiring and motivating employees is an important puzzle piece when planning out digital transformation, as success depends on everyone buying into and embracing growth and change.

While there is certainly a growing need to keep an eye on the future - whether it's security, new technology or shifting platforms - not every part of IT will benefit from transformational leadership. Some processes, procedures and development projects require more structure, consistency and reliability; this is called transactional leadership.

To read how CIOs are making good on transformational leadership, see " Transformational CIOs juggle innovation and operations."

Transactional vs. transformational leadership

Transactional leadership is the exact opposite of transformational leadership - it relies on motivating employees through rewards and punishments. It requires supervision, oversight, organization and performance-monitoring. This leadership model doesn't try to innovate. Instead, it's rooted in keeping things consistent and predictable over time. Errors and faults are closely investigated, and the overall goal is to create efficient, routine procedures.

This style is best suited to departments or organizations that require routine and structure - areas where businesses want to reduce chaos or inefficiency. But it doesn't allow for innovation or future planning the same way transformational leadership will.

Transformational leadership, on the other hand, supports agile environments, especially where failure carries less risk. You want the development and maintenance of a current product to remain consistent and error free, but you don't want that to hinder the progress and growth of future updates and improvements.

Transactional leadership takes care of creating a consistent development process, while transformational leadership leaves people free to come up with new ideas and look at the future of products, services and ideas.

Training and certification

Although transformational leadership skills are considered soft skills, there are still plenty of resources, certificates and training programs aimed at developing transformational leaders. Here's a short list of online resources to earn training and certifications in transformational leadership. However, it's likely you can find an in-person training course at a local college or university in your home state.

Examples of transformational leaders

Harvard Business Review analyzed companies on the S&P and Fortune Global 500 list to uncover the best examples of transformational leadership. These businesses were judged on "new products, services and business models; repositioning its core business; and financial performance."

Jeff Bezos, Amazon: Harvard Business Review attribute's Bezos' "insider, outsider" status as part of what makes him a great transformational leader. As someone who jumped from the finance world, he brought a fresh perspective to e-commerce through years of experience in a different industry.

Reed Hastings, Netflix: Hastings tied for first alongside Bezos, and for similar reasons. Hailing from the software industry, he wasn't rooted in pre-established process and procedure in the television industry.

Jeff Boyd and Glenn Fogel, Priceline: Boyd and Fogel reinvented travel reservations by charging lower commission fees on reservations, but focused on smaller niche markets (inns, B&Bs and apartments), eventually spawning Booking.com.

Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, Apple: HBR points to Apple as an example of "dual transformation": Jobs innovated on original Microsoft products while also building a software ecosystem. Cook has extended on Jobs' vision, maintaining a focus on innovation, software and brand loyalty.

Mark Bertolini, Aetna: Bertolini is known for his realistic management approach in the healthcare industry. He says his goal is to build strategies around a realistic vision of the future.

Kent Thiry, DaVita: Thiry managed to take a bankrupt company and turn it into a thriving business through firm core values that included "service excellence, teamwork, accountability and fun," according to Harvard Business Review.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft: Nadella started at Microsoft in 1992 and worked his way up the corporate ladder, eventually running the business' cloud computing efforts, which landed him the executive position.

Emmanuel Faber, Danone: Faber started out as an architect for Danone and earned the CEO job after he helped develop the company's vision to turn the company into a sustainable health and nutrition company.

Heinrich Hiesinger, ThyssenKrupp: Hiesinger become CEO of ThyssenKrupp in 2011 and helped alleviate pressure from Asian competitors in the steel market by embracing newer forms of manufacturing, including 3D printing - "new growth areas" that now make up 47 percent of the business' sales.

Copyright © 2018 IDG Communications, Inc.

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What is transformational leadership? A model for sparking innovation

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Transformational leadership is a leadership style in which leaders encourage, inspire and motivate employees to innovate and create change that will help grow and shape the future success of the company. This is accomplished by setting an example at the executive level through a strong sense of corporate culture, employee ownership and independence in the workplace.

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Resource 2
10 Transformational Leadership Characteristics, Attributes and Traits. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://yscouts.com/10-transformational-leadership-characteristics/

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Executive Search | Executive Recruiters * Y Scouts

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Transformational leadership seeks to create a positive change in those who follow.

The leader enhances the morale, performance, and motivation of employees, inspires change driven by a strong purpose, and is able to create a culture of trust and innovation within the organization.

The following are some of the characteristics of transformational leaders.

1. Keep their ego in check

It is easy to let ego take over when you are in a position of power. However, in transformational leadership, it is important for the leader to keep their ego under control and not let it interfere with the best interest of their team or the organization. By keeping their ego in check, the transformational leader is able to put the organization before their own personal gain and also elicit the best performance from others.

2. Self-management

Transformational leaders typically don't need much direction from others, and are able to manage themselves well. They are also highly internally motivated, and they use this motivation to direct the organization to the right path. These leaders do what they love, and the values are aligned with those of the organization that they lead.

3. Ability to take the right risks

The ability to take calculated risks is a key characteristic of a transformational leader. They trust their instinct, and use the intelligence gathered by team members to make informed decisions. A transformational leader's team is right behind them and is ever willing to do the research that is necessary to evaluate the situation appropriately. The leader seeks inputs from the team to make risky decisions that facilitate growth.

4. Make difficult decisions

Being a leader is not always smooth sailing, you often have to make tough decisions. Transformational leaders do not shy away from difficult decisions. They make their decisions with a clear focus on the values, vision, objectives, and goals of the organization.

5. Share collective organizational consciousness

A transformational leader shares and understands the collective consciousness of the entire organization. This makes them particularly attuned to the feelings of their team members, and gives them a clear idea of what actions to take to elicit desired actions from the employees. Since they're tapped into the organizational consciousness, they are able to make decisions that spur growth, and also create a shared vision for the organization that all employees feel a part of.

6. Inspirational

People seek to be inspired and transformational leaders are perhaps the most inspiring of all. They have the ability to motivate others to rise to the occasion. Their style of inspiration is not just limited to formal acknowledgement of a job well done, rather they treat each employee as a valued individual and take the time to understand what motivates them.

7. Entertain new ideas

Transformation can rarely be achieved if the leader is not open or receptive to new ideas. Transformational leaders understand the truth that success is dependent on the effort of the entire team, and growth happens only in an organization with a culture of openness to new ideas from all levels. A transformational leader makes deliberate efforts to solicit new ideas from team members, and also use their insights in making decisions.

8. Adaptability

The leader knows that it is important to constantly adapt to changing market conditions to keep moving forward. They are ever willing to adapt to new situations, and seek creative ways to respond to the dynamic business environment.

9. Proactive

These leaders are proactive in their approach. These leaders take risks, and take an active role in growing the organization.

10. Lead with vision

Transformational leaders set a realistic and achievable vision for the organization. They then communicate the vision effectively to their followers, and also inspire a sense of commitment and purpose. By getting every person to buy into the common vision, transformational leaders are able to strongly guide the organization in the direction that they want.
Y Scouts is an executive search firm that helps nonprofits and social enterprises find exceptional leaders. We believe the right leaders make all the difference. We have pioneered a revolutionary approach to identify exceptional leaders and match them to the positions you need. We're passionate about the power of the right connections. Contact us if you are looking to find an exceptional leader. Or, to be considered for exceptional leadership opportunities with our clients, please take the first step by joining the Y Scouts Leadership Community.

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10 Transformational Leadership Characteristics, Attributes and Traits

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The leader enhances the morale, performance, and motivation of employees, inspires change driven by a strong purpose, and is able to create a culture of trust and innovation within the organization. The following are some of the characteristics of transformational leaders. It is easy to let ego take over when you are in a position of power.

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Resource 1
What is Transactional Leadership? How Structure Leads to Results. (2014). Retrieved from https://online.stu.edu/articles/education/what-is-transactional-leadership.aspx

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A transactional leader is someone who values order and structure. They are likely to command military operations, manage large corporations, or lead international projects that require rules and regulations to complete objectives on time or move people and supplies in an organized way. Transactional leaders are not a good fit for places where creativity and innovative ideas are valued.

Transactional leadership is most often compared to transformational leadership. Transactional leadership depends on self-motivated people who work well in a structured, directed environment. By contrast, transformational leadership seeks to motivate and inspire workers, choosing to influence rather than direct others.

Read more about transactional leadership:

Transactional leadership focuses on results, conforms to the existing structure of an organization and measures success according to that organization's system of rewards and penalties. Transactional leaders have formal authority and positions of responsibility in an organization. This type of leader is responsible for maintaining routine by managing individual performance and facilitating group performance.

This type of leader sets the criteria for their workers according to previously defined requirements. Performance reviews are the most common way to judge employee performance. Transactional, or managerial, leaders work best with employees who know their jobs and are motivated by the reward-penalty system. The status quo of an organization is maintained through transactional leadership.

Differences between transactional leadership and other leadership styles

Transactional leaders differ from charismatic and transformational leaders in both structure and method. Charismatic leadership emphasizes influencing a group or organization to make the world a better place. In transactional leadership, the emphasis is on managing the performance of the individual and determining how well he or she performs in a structured environment.

The difference between transactional leadership and transformational leadership is also quite large. Simply put, transactional is a "telling" leadership style, and transformational is a "selling" style. While the transactional approach features positive and negative reinforcement, transformational leadership emphasizes motivation and inspiration. Transactional leaders are reactive; transformational leaders are proactive. Transactional leadership appeals to the self-interest of individuals, while the transformational style prioritizes group progress.

History of the transactional leadership theory

Max Weber, a 20th-century German sociologist, made an extensive study of leadership styles and divided them into three categories: traditional, charismatic and rational-legal, or bureaucratic. In 1947, Weber was the first to describe rational-legal leadership - the style that would come to be known as transactional leadership - as "the exercise of control on the basis of knowledge."

Transactional leadership theory is based on the idea that managers give employees something they want in exchange for getting something they want. It posits that workers are not self-motivated and require structure, instruction and monitoring in order to complete tasks correctly and on time.

The transactional leadership style was widely used after World War II in the United States. This was a time when the government concentrated on rebuilding and required a high level of structure to maintain national stability.

Political scientist James McGregor Burns was one of the most prominent authors to advance Weber's theories. In his 1978 book "Leadership," Burns argued that both transactional and transformational leaders must be moral and have a higher purpose. In Burns's model, transactional leaders espouse honesty, fairness, responsibility, and honoring commitments.

In the 1980s and 90s, researchers including Bernard M. Bass, Jane Howell and Bruce Avolio defined the dimensions of transactional leadership:

Contingent reward, the process of setting expectations and rewarding workers for meeting them

Passive management by exception, where a manager does not interfere with workflow unless an issue arises

Active management by exception, in which managers anticipate problems, monitor progress and issue corrective measures

Many current leadership theorists agree that principals of transactional and transformational leadership can be combined for ideal outcomes for both management and the workforce.

The transactional model is likely to succeed in a crisis or in projects that require linear and specific processes. This model is also useful for big corporations, such as Hewlett-Packard, a company known for its extensive use of management by exception.

Many high-level members of the military, CEOs of large international companies, and NFL coaches are known to be transactional leaders. Transactional leadership also works well in policing agencies and first responder organizations. Here are four examples of transactional leaders.

Norman Schwarzkopf

Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf was born in 1934 and graduated from West Point. He went to Vietnam as an advisor to the South Vietnamese army. During that war, he was wounded twice and awarded three Silver Star medals. In 1978, he became a brigadier general; he attained a four-star ranking in 1988. General Schwarzkopf was commander-in-chief of the U.S. forces in Operation Desert Storm, responsible for tens of thousands of troops in Iraq and Kuwait. He used the rules and regulations of the military to coordinate operations on several continents.

Vince Lombardi

Born in 1913, Vince Lombardi is best known as the coach for the Green Bay Packers. He signed a five-year contract with Green Bay in 1959. Under his leadership, the team never had a losing session. Over the course of his career, he led the team to a 98-30-4 record and five championships. The Super Bowl trophy is named after him. He used to run the Packers through the same plays in practice over and over again. The team's opponents knew the plays Lombardi would run, but the team was so well trained that many teams had trouble defending against them.

Bill Gates

Bill Gates was born in Seattle in 1955. In his early teens, he met Paul Allen at the Lakeside School, where they both developed computer programs as a hobby. When Gates went to Harvard, Allen went to work as a programmer for Honeywell in Boston. In 1975, they started Microsoft, and by 1978, the company had grossed $2.5 million, when Gates was 23. In 1985, Microsoft launched Windows. Bill Gates is now one of the richest people in the world. As a transactional leader, he used to visit new product teams and ask difficult questions until he was satisfied that the teams were on track and understood the goal.

Howard Schultz

Howard Schultz was born in 1953 and grew up in the Brooklyn housing projects. He escaped the projects with a football scholarship from Northern Michigan University. After college, he started selling coffee makers to companies that included the Starbucks Coffee Tea and Spice Company, which originally sold coffee beans rather than made-to-order drinks. He was hired by the company in 1982. In 1984, Schultz opened the first Starbucks coffeehouse based on the concept of an Italian espresso bar.

Schultz wanted to grow Starbucks, but the owners wanted to stay small. Schultz left and opened his own company in 1985. With the help of investors in 1987, he bought Starbucks and merged the two companies. By 2006, Schultz was ranked 394 on Forbes magazine's list of the 400 richest people in America. As a transactional leader, he was responsible for the vision and implementation of the Starbucks model.

Transactional leadership quotes

Norman Schwarzkopf: "When placed in command, take charge."

Vince Lombardi: "The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand."

Bill Gates: "The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency."

Howard Schultz: "Starbucks is not an advertiser; people think we are a great marketing company, but in fact we spend very little money on marketing and more money on training our people than advertising."

Here are some of the characteristics of transactional leaders:

Focused on short-term goals

Favor structured policies and procedures

Thrive on following rules and doing things correctly

Revel in efficiency

Very left-brained

Tend to be inflexible

Opposed to change

Transactional leadership works well in organizations where structure is important. Transactional leadership is not the right fit for organizations where initiative is encouraged:

Transactional leadership pros:

Rewards those who are motivated by self-interest to follow instructions

Provides an unambiguous structure for large organizations, systems requiring repetitive tasks and infinitely reproducible environments

Achieves short-term goals quickly

Rewards and penalties are clearly defined for workers

Transactional leadership cons:

Rewards the worker on a practical level only, such as money or perks

Creativity is limited since the goals and objectives are already set

Does not reward personal initiative

There is definitely a place for transactional leadership in the world today. One of its best uses is in multinational corporations where not all of the workers speak the same language. Once the structure and the requirements are learned, it is easy for workers to complete tasks successfully. This works because transactional leadership is simple to learn and does not require extensive training. The transactional approach is easy to understand and apply across much of an organization.

The military, policing organizations, and first responders use this style of leadership so that all areas of the organization are consistent. It is also easier to apply in a crisis situation, where everyone must know exactly what is required of them and how a task is to be done under pressure.

To many people, money and perks are a powerful motivator. Many people need a job to pay the bills. They have other obligations and distractions and would just as soon know exactly how to do their job in order to keep it and reap the rewards.

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What is Transactional Leadership? Structure Leads to Results

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A transactional leader is someone who values order and structure. They are likely to command military operations, manage large corporations, or lead international projects that require rules and regulations to complete objectives on time or move people and supplies in an organized way.

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Resource 2
10 Transactional Characteristics, Attributes and Traits. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://yscouts.com/10-transactional-leadership-characteristics/

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Executive Search Firm | Executive Recruiters * Y Scouts

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Transactional leadership, also popularly known as managerial leadership, has its primary focus on supervising, organizing, and assessing performance of groups.

Transactional leaders expect followers to be compliant, and ensure this by way of rewards and punishments. In this approach, the leader is not looking forward to transforming or improving the future, but just wants things to remain the same. Transactional leadership is ideal to carry out projects that need to be done in a systematic and structured manner.

How do you identify a transactional leader? Here are some tell-tale signs.
1. Extrinsic motivation
A transactional leader aims to elicit desired performance from the team by motivating them externally. Employees are rewarded for behaving in the expected manner, and punished for any deviation. The relationship between the employee and the leader is a transactional one.
2. Practicality
One of the most distinct characteristics of a transactional style of leadership is practicality. Their approach to solving problems is one of pragmatism, and they take all realistic constraints and opportunities into account.
3. Resistant to change
Because transactional leaders do not seek to transform things, they tend to be highly resistant to change. The leader wants everything to remain strictly as they are, and do not believe in improving working conditions to make things better.
4. Discourage independent thinking
These leaders do not encourage employees to act creatively or think for themselves. Independent thought and risky actions are frowned upon, and this is because the leader is not innovative and believes that things are good as they are.
5. Rewards performance
The leader will keep a watchful eye on the performance of all employees based on specific goals and targets that have been set for them. They are quick to notice when employees achieve a predetermined goal, and will reward them appropriately. Similarly, they are also aware of poor performance and withholds the reward in such instances.
6. Constrained thinking
A transactional leader is happy to work within the existing systems and constraints, and will operate from within the boundaries to achieve the goals of the organization. They tend to think inside the box for solving problems. While they may be able to handle routine affairs, they are often stumped when faced with the problem that requires a creative solution.
7. Passive
This leadership style is quite passive because the focus is on maintaining status quo. The leader tends to only react to things that happen, and does not take proactive steps to prevent problems. The most notable behavior associated with this leadership is establishing criteria for assessing and rewarding performance.
8. Directive
Expect to be micromanaged and directed if you're working under transactional leader. This type of leader believes that it is up to him to make all the decisions, and employees must simply follow their directives or instructions.
9. Emphasis on corporate structure
The transactional leader places a lot of importance on hierarchy, and the corporate structure and culture. The leadership style compliments rigid organizational hierarchy.
10. Emphasis on self-interest
The motivational style of a transactional leader is one of appealing to the self-interest of the employee. If the employee achieves a certain goal, they are rewarded. There isn't much emphasis on teamwork or achievement of group goals.

Y Scouts is an executive search firm that helps nonprofits and social enterprises find exceptional leaders. We believe the right leaders make all the difference. We have pioneered a revolutionary approach to identify exceptional leaders and match them to the positions you need. We're passionate about the power of the right connections. Contact us if you are looking to find an exceptional leader. Or, to be considered for exceptional leadership opportunities with our clients, please take the first step by joining the Y Scouts Leadership Community.

Find A Leader

Linda Volhein

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10 Transactional Leadership Characteristics, Attributes and Traits

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Transactional leaders expect followers to be compliant, and ensure this by way of rewards and punishments. In this approach, the leader is not looking forward to transforming or improving the future, but just wants things to remain the same. Transactional leadership is ideal to carry out projects that need to be done in a systematic and structured manner.

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Weber, D. (2012). Leadership redefined: The 12 Xs of success for today's leader. Atlantia, GA: Weber Associates.

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Weber, D. (2010). Sticks and stones exposed: The power of our words. Atlantia, GA: Weber Associates.