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Great leadership starts with self-leadership | Lars Sudmann | TEDxUCLouvain

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Leadership Traits Every Counselor Should Have

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Leadership Traits Every Counselor Should Have

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Far from simply setting up student schedules and administering placement and academic evaluation tests, school counselors are leaders who can have a huge impact on the acceleration and the enhancement of learning. They must possess the ability to negotiate, persuade others their ideas are worthwhile, and collaborate with principals and other school officials.

School counselors have many responsibilities, including counseling students, working with teachers and parents, referring students to outside agencies, participating in student welfare and learning support communities, and evaluating and improving their own school counseling program.

Listening

First and foremost, a school counselor needs to be a good listener. Often, they have several students they work with and may get very few chances to converse with them in a one on one setting. "The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood," said Ralph G. Nichols. "The best way to understand people is to listen to them."

To listen effectively, counselors must be fully in the moment, not thinking of their "to do" list but rather giving their full attention to the issue at hand. Reflecting back to the person, your perception of what they said helps show understanding, and lets them make corrections. The counselor must also keep an open mind, being careful not to make any judgments until they have heard the entire story. ¹

Being Empathetic

Often a part of listening, putting themselves in the shoes of the person speaking, whether that is a student or another school official, helps counselors truly understand the underlying issues.

"Without the ability to understand what the student is experiencing, a counselor cannot truly do an effective job," says Helen A. Hatridge, past president of the Missouri School Counselor Association. "Empathy leads to good listening and a better ability to help the client come up with solutions. It also helps the student feel more comfortable and willing to open up to a counselor." ²

To be more empathetic, it is essential for a counselor to put aside their viewpoint. At the same time, they need to validate the student's viewpoint, which does not always mean agreement. Instead it means acknowledging their right to have an opinion, and that they have valid reasons for it. Asking how that person thinks a situation should be handled or what they would do opens up an even deeper understanding. ³

Building Relationship

It takes time for a counselor to build a relationship with any student or even their peers. However, through listening and being empathetic, that process can be accelerated.

To feel free to talk to a counselor, a student must often "break the ice," and needs to feel trust, comfort, and acceptance. Students need to accept that the counselor is a professional caregiver, and someone they can turn to without fear of judgement.

A counselor who develops this trusting relationship with students can get a lot more done, An understanding of the kid culture and what they care about can go a long way toward providing that environment of trust and understanding.

Performing Assessments

Assessment skills are essential for any school counselor in a number of areas. From academic and skills assessment to personality testing and career advisement, the ability to discern the intersection of talent and desire is essential to offering good counsel.

Assessment also includes determining if a student has special needs and interpreting test and non-test data to decide where the student should be placed, and what programs will most benefit them.

Regardless of the reason for assessment, the steps often include, but are not limited to the following:

Choosing what tests should be administered and when.

Scheduling, preparing, and administering tests.

Scoring tests or sending them out to be scored.

Advising students, teachers, parents, and other staff on test score interpretation.

Evaluating the testing process, results, and subsequent recommendations.⁴

Assessments involve some testing but must also be combined with listening, empathy, and the relationship that has been built to determine how testing outcomes relate to personality, desires, and the goals of the student.

Coordinating Efforts and Activities

Efforts and activities can fall into a couple of different categories. A counselor will have to coordinate Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) for students, and other student specific plans as well. Along with coordinating individual student plans and interacting with teachers and other school officials, the school counselor often coordinates other activities and projects as well.

In many cases, the school counselor is in charge of parent newsletters, school announcements, managing social media accounts, and other community outreach and event planning efforts.

The ability to coordinate and manage these efforts and activities requires strong leadership and organizational skills. Teaching these skills to students by allowing them to take responsibility for their own educational goals and other efforts enables a counselor to show leadership by example.

Exercising Authority

In order to be able to implement programs, direct student activities and coordinate tasks, a counselor must exercise a certain amount of authority.

This means first of all that the counselor must be granted the authority to handle certain tasks by other school officials such as principals and administrators. The more their authority is validated by their actions, the more the counselor will be perceived as a leader by parents and students alike.

Secondly, the school counselor must be willing to wield the authority they have been granted, taking charge of tasks and situations, setting expectations, and holding those responsible to deadlines.

The counselor must also know in any given situation when to cross the line from friend to professional. If a student is being abusive or abused, a more professional response is ethically and legally mandated. It is the counselor's obligation to take charge and follow through, ensuring that student safety comes first.

Being Flexible

If one thing is certain in the field of education, it is that things will change. Interruptions, schedule changes, new programs, and new responsibilities all interrupt a counselor's daily routine.

Student needs and the needs of the school overall often take priority over scheduled meetings. Parent phone calls, staff concerns, talks in classrooms, and unexpected counseling needs can all be disruptive.

A successful counselor should:

Leave gaps in their day for unscheduled needs.

Use good time management techniques.

Set reasonable boundaries. Know what is worthy of an interruption, and what can wait.

Communicate clearly. Inform students, parents, and faculty of schedules and boundaries.

By remaining flexible, a counselor can better manage the stress inherent in the job and be more responsive when needs arise unexpectedly.

Having a Sense of Humor

Being able to see things from the side of humor has a number of advantages. It lets students see that the counselor is human and can not only laugh at situations but laugh at themselves as well.

This is frequently one of the biggest assets in building student trust and developing a relationship with them. It is often how those students relate to adults, whether through jokes or humorous anecdotes that illustrate a point the counselor is trying to get across.

Humor is also a stress reliever. Being able to see the humorous side of interruptions and other daily situations allows a counselor to relax and keep anxiety from taking over many scenarios.

It takes a combination of many leadership traits to make a school counselor effective. They must use listening skills and offer empathy in order to build relationships. A counselor must also perform assessments and coordinate activities and educational efforts. These duties mean they must remain flexible and exercise authority when appropriate.

Not one of these traits alone is enough, and no one is equally adept in all of them. They are taught and can be learned in a Master of Arts in Counseling with an emphasis in school counseling like the one offered by Wake Forest University. This graduate degree will prepare you for a career as a school counselor in almost any setting.
Sources: 1 2 3 ⁴ American Counseling Association, Assessment Skills for School Counselors Mind Tools, Empathy at Work Education World, School Counselors Reflective On What Makes Them Effective Fast Company, 5 Ways To Improve Your Listening Skills

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Leadership Traits Every Counselor Should Have

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Far from simply setting up student schedules and administering placement and academic evaluation tests, school counselors are leaders who can have a huge impact on the acceleration and the enhancement of learning. They must possess the ability to negotiate, persuade others their ideas are worthwhile, and collaborate with principals and other school officials.

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Core Leadership Values | MasonLeads | George Mason University

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Values are the guiding principles in our lives. Leadership occurs within the context of core values. Leaders guide and facilitate others to make a positive difference in their own lives and to contribute to a larger good. Values inform the application of leadership qualities as the competencies of leadership are activated - learned, developed, and practiced - within the set of core values.

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Emotional Intelligence: What School Counselors Can Do

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Emotional Intelligence: What School Counselors Can Do

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For many students, their school counselor is their emotional and social guide and confidant. Here are some activities that counselors can initiate to assist students, staff, and parents in the critical area of emotional and social intelligence.

Organize parent education programs.

Throughout the country, local schools and parent organizations have joined forces to host Parent Universities -- daylong events during which parents have the opportunity to attend workshops on such issues as communicating with adolescents, managing stress, and supporting the social-emotional and educational needs of children. Consider hiring translators to accommodate the language needs of non-English speakers in your community.

Adopt a bully prevention program.

According to the American School Counselor Association, one out of every four children is bullied. These youngsters and teens suffer both physical and emotional abuse. They miss school, fear harassment in the bathroom and on the playground, and often feel they have nowhere to turn for assistance. Comprehensive school-based anti-bullying programs have been very successful in raising student, teacher, and parent awareness of the causes and effects of this all-too-common phenomenon. For information and resources for both parents and school staff, visit The Anti-Bullying Network.

Institute service-learning projects.

Participation in school and community-based service projects benefits students academically, socially, and emotionally. The National Youth Leadership Council Web site features resources for schools interested in starting a service-learning component, including examples of model school-based programs.

Start an advisory program for middle schoolers.

Proponents of small-group advisories for middle schools believe such programs provide adolescents with the ongoing support and connections they need to help them grow and thrive during these turbulent years. MiddleWeb, a Web resource for educators and parents, features several articles on middle school advisories, including an FAQ (frequently asked questions and their answers) written by advisory advocate Jim Burns.

Create an environment of accessibility.

At one New Jersey middle school, counselors stand in the school corridor between classes in order to acknowledge students and maintain a high profile. Their aim is to remind students that counselors are among the adults at school available to help them and to listen. At a California school, a counselor makes a point of visiting every class every two weeks.

Resources

American Psychological Association. The association offers free brochures on such topics as violence prevention, how to choose a psychologist, and commonsense ways to assess online mental health information.

Blueprints for Violence Prevention. This interactive Web site features detailed information on model programs for violence prevention, including school-based programs that focus on bullying prevention, classroom-based social-emotional learning curriculum, and more.

Educating Minds and Hearts: Social Emotional Learning and the Passage into Adolescence. Editor Jonathan Cohen has gathered a wealth of information from different experts. The thread that ties the different chapters together is the use of fictional characters "Raffi" and "Maura" as springboards for experts to talk about how particular social and emotional learning programs affect middle school students. 1999. Published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Education World. Visit the School Counselors' section of this site for hundreds of articles and resources covering such critical topics as dealing with grief and loss, suicide prevention, depression, and fostering self-esteem. Many of the referenced articles are from the ERIC database of resources.

In the Mix. This PBS-sponsored Web site for educators features lesson plans and discussion guides for a variety of health and fitness subjects, including anger management, drug and alcohol abuse (including a lesson designed to help teens interpret alcohol advertising messages), depression, and self-image. Lessons are typically designed for middle and high school students and include a PBS "In the Mix" video component.

Promoting Social and Emotional Learning: Guide for Educators. This book by Rutgers University Psychology Professor Maurice Elias and others takes the best information about attempts in schools to give students the skills to be emotionally intelligent individuals. 1997. Published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Suicide Awareness Voices of Education. Among this site's many resources is a thoughtful "Guide for Young People" on depression -- its causes and the importance of seeking adult help for friends and classmates.

Waging Peace in Our Schools. This book by Linda Lantieri and Janet Patti tells the story of the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP), which was begun in New York City schools in 1985 and is now in more than 350 schools nationwide. The book serves as a practical guide to many of the successful strategies used by RCCP to produce emotionally intelligent children. 1996. Published by Beacon Press.

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Emotional Intelligence: What School Counselors Can Do

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For many students, their school counselor is their emotional and social guide and confidant. Here are some activities that counselors can initiate to assist students, staff, and parents in the critical area of emotional and social intelligence.

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The main difference between leaders and managers is that leaders have people follow them while managers have people who work for them.

A successful business owner needs to be both a strong leader and manager to get their team on board to follow them towards their vision of success. Leadership is about getting people to understand and believe in your vision and to work with you to achieve your goals while managing is more about administering and making sure the day-to-day things are happening as they should.

WHILE THERE ARE MANY TRAITS THAT MAKE UP A STRONG LEADER, SOME OF THE KEY CHARACTERISTICS ARE:

Honesty & Integrity: are crucial to get your people to believe you and buy in to the journey you are taking them on

Vision: know where you are, where you want to go and enroll your team in charting a path for the future

Inspiration: inspire your team to be all they can by making sure they understand their role in the bigger picture

Ability to Challenge: do not be afraid to challenge the status quo, do things differently and have the courage to think outside the box

Communication Skills: keep your team informed of the journey, where you are, where you are heading and share any roadblocks you may encounter along the way

SOME OF THE COMMON TRAITS SHARED BY STRONG MANAGERS ARE:

Being Able to Execute a Vision: take a strategic vision and break it down into a roadmap to be followed by the team

Ability to Direct: day-to-day work efforts, review resources needed and anticipate needs along the way

Process Management: establish work rules, processes, standards and operating procedures

People Focused: look after your people, their needs, listen to them and involve them

In order for you to engage your staff in providing the best service to your guests, clients or partners, you must enroll them in your vision and align their perceptions and behaviours. You need to get them excited about where you are taking them while making sure they know what's in it for them. With smaller organizations, the challenge lies in making sure you are both leading your team as well as managing your day to day operation. Those who are able to do both, will create a competitive advantage. Are you both a leader and a manager; what would your staff say if you were to ask them?

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Understanding the Differences: Leadership vs. Management - go2HR

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Is a good manager automatically a good leader? What is the difference between leadership and management? The main difference between leaders and managers is that leaders have people follow them while managers have people who work for them. A successful business owner needs to be both a strong leader and manager to get their team ...

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Leadership Values and Values Based on Leadership

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Leadership Values and Values Based on Leadership

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Angelo State University - Library Online Resources

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Unauthorized use is prohibited; Usage may be subject to security testing and monitoring; Misuse is subject to criminal prosecution; No expectation of privacy except as otherwise provided by applicable privacy laws.

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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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How Emotional Intelligence Became a Key Leadership Skill

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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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5 Aspects of Emotional Intelligence Required for Effective Leadership

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5 Aspects of Emotional Intelligence Required for Effective Leadership

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What is EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP? What does EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP mean?

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Why Emotional Intelligence is Indispensable for Leaders

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Why Emotional Intelligence is Indispensable for Leaders

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When most people imagine intelligence, they picture a mathematician solving equations, a novelist writing great works of literature or a philosopher expounding on wise principles.

But brilliance takes many forms, not least of which is the ability to comprehend and manage emotions. Known as emotional intelligence, this trait is often overlooked, yet crucial for success as a business leader.

Here's what having emotional intelligence provides you with:
Acute Awareness
One of the defining features of emotional intelligence is the ability to comprehend the effects of your feelings. This is crucial for making sound, objective decisions when your pride and self-esteem are at stake. All leaders must face situations where their emotions make a decision seem better than it is.

If you previously expressed support for a certain strategy, for example, your pride will be tied up with that strategy, making it harder to recognize if it isn't working. Leaders who have emotional intelligence are more likely to realize when pride and other emotions are influencing their thinking, allowing them to make more rational, impartial choices.
Impact Interpretation
In addition to reigning in your own feelings, emotional intelligence makes it easier to anticipate and respond to others' sentiments. As much as we may want for it to be objective, business is an emotional experience.

Bad news from work can shock or dismay your employees, while good news may make them unreasonably optimistic. Emotional intelligence means you can tell ahead of time how others will react and develop a strategy to keep them grounded.
Mental Health Management
Those with emotional intelligence have an easier time assessing the emotional and psychological state of their employees. This makes it easier to determine if someone is suffering from:

* Anxiety

* Depression

* Grief

* Trauma

* Eating disorders

By recognizing threats to your employees' mental health, you can provide them with the support and professional resources they need to recover. Not only is this good for their health but it promotes a more harmonious, productive workplace.
Cultivated Communication
Leaders with emotional intelligence have an improved ability to gauge others' responses to their words and actions. This makes it easier for you to tell if your employees really understand what you are saying or are confused but unwilling to say so. You can then refine your messages accordingly, developing reliable ways of communicating with everyone who works for you.

Emotional intelligence also makes it easier for you to listen to what other people are saying clearly and without judgment, ensuring that others can always give you the information you need.
Helpful Humor
Never underestimate the value of humor in business. A good joke or clever play on words can cheer up dismayed employees, win over skeptical customers and draw positive attention to your brand. If you have emotional intelligence, it will be easier to tell what people will find funny. You can also determine in which situations humor will be appropriate, finding the proper balance between serious work and lightheartedness.

While intelligence is important, emotional intelligence is a key to success in leadership and in being able to relate to others. When dealing with others, truly try to place yourself in their situation. It will help you choose the best method to solve problems and achieve your goals.

How has emotional intelligence helped you to make sound and informed decisions?

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Council Post: Why Emotional Intelligence Is Indispensable For Leaders

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When most people imagine intelligence, they picture a mathematician solving equations, a novelist writing great works of literature or a philosopher expounding on wise principles. But brilliance takes many forms, not least of which is the ability to comprehend and manage emotions.

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Becoming a Transformational School Leader

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Becoming a Transformational School Leader

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Becoming a Transformational School Leader

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The transformational school leader must confront student deviance , as well as teachers' possible cynicism and lack of motivation.

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Transactional Leadership in Higher Education

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Transactional Leadership in Higher Education

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View of Adaptive or Transactional Leadership in Current Higher Education: A Brief Comparison | The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning

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Transactional leadership, also known as managerial leadership, focuses on the role of supervision, organization, and group performance. Leaders who implement this style focus on specific tasks and use rewards and punishments to motivate followers.﻿﻿

This theory of leadership was first described in by sociologist Max Weber and further explored by Bernard M. Bass in the early 1980s. Take a closer look at how the transactional style works as well as some of the potential benefits and downsides of this style.

Basic Assumptions of Transactional Leadership

People perform their best when the chain of command is definite and clear.

Rewards and punishments motivate workers.

Obeying the instructions and commands of the leader is the primary goal of the followers.

Subordinates need to be carefully monitored to ensure that expectations are met.﻿﻿

This theory takes a behavioral approach to leadership by basing it on a system of rewards and punishments.

Athletic teams also rely heavily on transactional leadership. Players are expected to conform to the team's rules and expectations and are rewarded or punished based on their performance. Winning a game might mean accolades and bonuses while losing might lead to rejection and verbal castigation. Players often become highly motivated to do well, even if it means suffering pain and injury.

Unlike transformational leaders who tend to be forward-looking, transactional leaders are interested in merely maintaining the status quo.﻿﻿ Transformational leaders try to sell their ideas and vision to followers. Transactional leaders, on the other hand, tell group members what to do and when to do it.

How Transactional Leadership Works

In transactional leadership, rewards and punishments are contingent upon the performance of the followers. The leader views the relationship between managers and subordinates as an exchange - you give me something for something in return. When subordinates perform well, they receive a reward. When they perform poorly, they will be punished in some way. Rules, procedures, and standards are essential in transactional leadership.

They do not, however, act as catalysts for growth and change within an organization. Instead, they are focused on maintaining this as they are and enforcing current rules and expectations.

These leaders do tend to be good at setting expectations and standards that maximize the efficiency and productivity of an organization.﻿﻿ They tend to give constructive feedback regarding follower performance that allows group members to improve their output to obtain better feedback and reinforcement.

When Is Transactional Leadership the Most Effective?

Followers are not encouraged to be creative or to find new solutions to problems. Research has found that transactional leadership tends to be most effective in situations where problems are simple and clearly defined.﻿﻿

It can also work well in crisis situations where the focus needs to be on accomplishing certain tasks. By assigning clearly defined duties to particular individuals, leaders can ensure that those things get done.

Transactional leaders focus on the maintenance of the structure of the group.﻿﻿ They are tasked with letting group members know exactly what is expected, articulating the rewards of performing tasks well, explaining the consequences of failure, and offering feedback designed to keep workers on task.

While transactional leadership can be useful in some situations, it is considered insufficient in many cases and may prevent both leaders and followers from achieving their full potential.

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How a Transactional Leadership Style Works

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Transactional leadership, also known as managerial leadership, focuses on the role of supervision, organization, and group performance. Leaders who implement this style focus on specific tasks and use rewards and punishments to motivate followers.﻿﻿ This theory of leadership was first described in by sociologist Max Weber and further explored by Bernard M.

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Have you ever been in a group where someone took control of the situation by conveying a clear vision of the group's goals, a marked passion for the work, and an ability to make the rest of the group feel recharged and energized? This person just might be what is called a transformational leader.

Transformational leadership is a leadership style that can inspire positive changes in those who follow. Transformational leaders are generally energetic, enthusiastic, and passionate. Not only are these leaders concerned and involved in the process; they are also focused on helping every member of the group succeed as well.

Quick Background

The concept of transformational leadership was initially introduced by leadership expert and presidential biographer James MacGregor Burns. According to Burns, transformational leadership can be seen when "leaders and followers make each other to advance to a higher level of moral and motivation."﻿﻿

Later, researcher Bernard M. Bass expanded upon Burns's original ideas to develop what is today referred to as Bass's Transformational Leadership Theory. According to Bass, transformational leadership can be defined based on the impact that it has on followers. Transformational leaders, Bass suggested, garner trust, respect, and admiration from their followers.﻿﻿

Mental Health in the Workplace Webinar

Components

Bass also suggested that there were four different components of transformational leadership.

1. Intellectual Stimulation: Transformational leaders not only challenge the status quo; they also encourage creativity among followers. The leader encourages followers to explore new ways of doing things and new opportunities to learn.

2. Individualized Consideration: Transformational leadership also involves offering support and encouragement to individual followers. In order to foster supportive relationships, transformational leaders keep lines of communication open so that followers feel free to share ideas and so that leaders can offer direct recognition of the unique contributions of each follower.

3. Inspirational Motivation: Transformational leaders have a clear vision that they are able to articulate to followers. These leaders are also able to help followers experience the same passion and motivation to fulfill these goals.

4. Idealized Influence: The transformational leader serve as a role model for followers. Because followers trust and respect the leader, they emulate this individual and internalize his or her ideals.

So what are some typical signs of a transformational leader? Groups led by this type of leader tend to be both successful and loyal. They give a lot to the team and care deeply about the group's ability to accomplish its goals. Turnover tends to be quite low as transformational leaders are able to inspire a great deal of commitment in their followers.

In their classic text, Transformational Leadership, authors Bass and Riggio explained:

"Transformational leaders...are those who stimulate and inspire followers to both achieve extraordinary outcomes and, in the process, develop their own leadership capacity. Transformational leaders help followers grow and develop into leaders by responding to individual followers' needs by empowering them and by aligning the objectives and goals of the individual followers, the leader, the group, and the larger organization."

"Research evidence clearly shows that groups led by transformational leaders have higher levels of performance and satisfaction than groups led by other types of leaders," explained psychologist and leadership expert Ronald E. Riggio in an article for Psychology Today.

The reason, he suggests, is that transformational leaders believe that their followers can do their best, leading members of the group to feel inspired and empowered.

What can you do to become a more transformational leader? Leadership experts suggest that having a strong, positive vision of the future plays a critical role. Not only is it important to believe in this vision yourself; you've also got to inspire others to buy into your vision as well.

Link to Well-Being

According to the results of one study, this style of leadership can also have a positive influence on employee well-being.﻿﻿

The study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine involved surveying workers at several different German information and communication technology companies. Researchers asked participants to answers questions about their employer's leadership style.

A score for transformational leadership was then determined based on qualities such as providing intellectual stimulation, giving positive feedback for good performance, leading by example, and helping employees feel like they were making a contribution toward the goals of the group.

The researchers discovered that employees who identified a higher level of transformational leadership in their employers also had higher reported levels of well-being. The effect stayed significant even after researchers controlled for factors that are linked to well-being such as job strain, education, and age.

"The results of this study suggest that a transformational leadership style, which both conveys a sense of trust and meaningfulness and individually challenges and develops employees, also has a positive effect on employee well-being," the authors summarized.

Real-World Applications

So what impact could such results have for managers and workers?

The study's authors suggest that the results are important and can help companies develop leadership training programs that can be used to teach transformational leadership skills. Acquiring communication skills such as resolving conflicts in the workplace and recognizing the needs of employees are an important part of transformational leadership.

"Such training programs can be seen as another essential component of workplace health promotion and prevention efforts and therefore should receive wide support," explained the study's authors.

A Word From Verywell

The transformational style of leadership can be highly effective when used appropriately, but it might not necessarily be the best choice for every situation. In some cases, groups may require a more managerial or autocratic style that involves closer control and greater direction, particularly in situations where group member are unskilled and need a lot of oversight.

One way to improve your own leadership skills is to assess your own current leadership style and think about ways in which your strengths can benefit the group you are leading. By evaluating your own skills, you will be better able to play to your strengths and work on improving your areas of weakness.

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How Do Transformational Leaders Inspire and Motivate Followers?

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Have you ever been in a group where someone took control of the situation by conveying a clear vision of the group's goals, a marked passion for the work, and an ability to make the rest of the group feel recharged and energized? This person just might be what is called a transformational leader.

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Emotionally Intelligent Leadership: A Guide for Students

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Emotionally Intelligent Leadership: A Guide for Students

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Emotionally Intelligent Leadership is a groundbreaking book that combines the concepts of emotional intelligence and leadership in one model-emotionally intelligent leadership (EIL). This important resource offers students a practical guide for developing their EIL capacities and emphasizes that leadership is a learnable skill that is based on developing healthy and effective relationships. Step by step, the authors outline the EIL model (consciousness of context, consciousness of self, and consciousness of others) and explore the twenty-one capacities that define the emotionally intelligent leader.

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Emotionally Intelligent Leadership is a groundbreaking book that combines the concepts of emotional intelligence and leadership in one model-emotionally intelligent leadership (EIL). This important resource offers students a practical guide for developing their EIL capacities and emphasizes that leadership is a learnable skill that is based on developing healthy and effective relationships.

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Leadership Practices of School Counselors

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Leadership Practices of School Counselors

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Enhancing Teaching and Learning Through Leadership

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Enhancing Teaching and Learning Through Leadership

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Anne Coster – Enhancing learning and teaching

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The ASAP® course catalog has been published and includes information on all our standards-based ASAP® course modules, as well as the ASAP® assessments, workbooks, case studies and academies. Download the ASAP Catalog today!

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The ASAP® course catalog has been published and includes information on all our standards-based ASAP® course modules, as well as the ASAP® assessments, workbooks, case studies and academies. Download the ASAP Catalog today!

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ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors

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ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors

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A Mixed-Methods Approach to Investigating Social and Emotional Learning at Schools

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A Mixed-Methods Approach to Investigating Social and Emotional Learning at Schools

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A Mixed-Methods Approach to Investigating Social and Emotional Learning at Schools: Teachers’ Familiarity, Beliefs, Training, and Perceived School Culture

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Education advocates argue that effective schools should foster multidimensional educational goals that not only include cognitive but also non-cognitive outcomes. One important non-cognitive outcome are social and emotional skills. Previous research showed that for enhancing students’ social and emo…

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Why Do Some People Become Great Leaders?

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Why do certain people become great leaders? Leadership theories seek to answer this question and usually fit into one of eight basic types.

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Leadership Competencies for the 21st Century

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Leadership Competencies for the 21st Century

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Angelo State University - Library Online Resources

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Unauthorized use is prohibited; Usage may be subject to security testing and monitoring; Misuse is subject to criminal prosecution; No expectation of privacy except as otherwise provided by applicable privacy laws.

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The Nature of Leadership - Organizational Leadership

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The Nature of Leadership - Organizational Leadership

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What is the nature of leadership and the leadership process?

The many definitions of leadership each have a different emphasis. Some definitions consider leadership an act or behavior, such as initiating structure so group members know how to complete a task. Others consider a leader to be the center or nucleus of group activity, an instrument of goal achievement who has a certain personality, a form of persuasion and power, and the art of inducing compliance.

B.M. Bass. 1990. Bass & Stogdill's handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and managerial applications. New York: The Free Press.

Some look at leadership in terms of the management of group processes. In this view, a good leader develops a vision for the group, communicates that vision,

W. Bennis. 1989. Why leaders can't lead. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; W. Bennis, & B. Nanus. 1985. Leaders: The strategies for taking charge. New York: Harper & Row.

orchestrates the group's energy and activity toward goal attainment, "[turns] a group of individuals into a team," and "[transforms] good intentions into positive actions."

T.B. Pickens, Jr. 1992 (Fall/Winter). Pickens on leadership. Hyatt Magazine, 21.

Leadership is frequently defined as a social (interpersonal) influence relationship between two or more persons who depend on each other to attain certain mutual goals in a group situation.

E.P. Hollander & J.W. Julian. 1969. Contemporary trends in the analysis of leadership process. Psychological Bulletin 7(5): 387-397.

Effective leadership helps individuals and groups achieve their goals by focusing on the group's maintenance needs (the need for individuals to fit and work together by having, for example, shared norms) and task needs (the need for the group to make progress toward attaining the goal that brought them together).

Joe Madden at pitcher mound

Leader versus Manager

The two dual concepts, leader and manager, leadership and management, are not interchangeable, nor are they redundant. The differences between the two can, however, be confusing. In many instances, to be a good manager one needs to be an effective leader. Many CEOs have been hired in the hope that their leadership skills, their ability to formulate a vision and get others to "buy into" that vision, will propel the organization forward. In addition, effective leadership often necessitates the ability to manage-to set goals; plan, devise, and implement strategy; make decisions and solve problems; and organize and control. For our purposes, the two sets of concepts can be contrasted in several ways.

First, we define the two concepts differently. In Management and Organizational Behavior, we defined management as a process consisting of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling. Here we define leadership as a social (interpersonal) influence relationship between two or more people who are dependent on each another for goal attainment.

Second, managers and leaders are commonly differentiated in terms of the processes through which they initially come to their position. Managers are generally appointed to their role. Even though many organizations appoint people to positions of leadership, leadership per se is a relationship that revolves around the followers' acceptance or rejection of the leader.

E.P. Hollander. 1964. Emergent leadership and social influence. In E.P. Hollander (ed.), Leaders, groups, & influence. New York: Oxford University Press.

Thus, leaders often emerge out of events that unfold among members of a group.

Third, managers and leaders often differ in terms of the types and sources of the power they exercise. Managers commonly derive their power from the larger organization. Virtually all organizations legitimize the use of certain "carrots and sticks" (rewards and punishments) as ways of securing the compliance of their employees. In other words, by virtue of the position that a manager occupies (president, vice president, department head, supervisor), certain "rights to act" (schedule production, contract to sell a product, hire and fire) accompany the position and its place within the hierarchy of authority. Leaders can also secure power and the ability to exercise influence using carrots and sticks; however, it is much more common for leaders to derive power from followers' perception of their knowledge (expertise), their personality and attractiveness, and the working relationship that has developed between leaders and followers.

From the perspective of those who are under the leader's and manager's influence, the motivation to comply often has a different base. The subordinate to a manager frequently complies because of the role authority of the manager, and because of the carrots and sticks that managers have at their disposal. The followers of a leader comply because they want to. Thus, leaders motivate primarily through intrinsic processes, while managers motivate primarily through extrinsic processes.

Finally, it is important to note that while managers may be successful in directing and supervising their subordinates, they often succeed or fail because of their ability or inability to lead.

F.E. Fiedler. 1996. Research on leadership selection and training: One view of the future. Administrative Science Quarterly 41:241-250.

As noted above, effective leadership often calls for the ability to manage, and effective management often requires leadership.

What is the nature of leadership and the leadership process?

What is the nature of leadership and the leadership process?

Leadership is a primary vehicle for fulfilling the directing function of management. Because of its importance, theorists, researchers, and practitioners have devoted a tremendous amount of attention and energy to unlocking the secrets of effective leadership. They have kept at this search for perhaps a greater period of time than for any other single issue related to management.

Glossary

leadership

A social (interpersonal) influence relationship between two or more persons who depend on each other to attain certain mutual goals in a group situation.

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What is the nature of leadership and the leadership process? The many definitions of leadership each have a different emphasis. Some definitions consider leadership an act or behavior, such as initiating structure so group members know how to complete a task.

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Why Emotional Intelligence is Important in Leadership

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Why Emotional Intelligence is Important in Leadership

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Seven Traits of an Emotionally Intelligent Leader

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Seven Traits of an Emotionally Intelligent Leader

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Director of Influenceo Global Inc., leadership strategist, speaker & personal mastery expert helping professional women excel.
2020 will forever be remembered for its extraordinary degree of uncertainty, where leaders faced uncharted territories: navigating repeated pandemic outbreaks, growing geopolitical tensions, social injustices and complex economic consequences - all of which impacted workplaces and the people within them.

When it comes to effective leadership during this time, it goes without saying that emotional intelligence, which directly affects how a leader perceives, uses, understands and manages their own emotions and the emotions of others, is extremely important. It's no longer just a nice-to-have skill, but one of the World Economic Forum's Top Ten skills to thrive in the fourth industrial revolution (and it arguably underpins the other nine).
Emotionally intelligent leaders are aware of their impact on others.
Perhaps a better way of phrasing emotional intelligence is the "intelligent use of emotions." This skill supports our capacity to work effectively with others, to make better decisions and to purposefully advance toward our goals. Almost a decade ago, the Harvard Business Review concluded in this article that "In hard times, the soft stuff often goes away. But emotional intelligence, it turns out, isn't so soft." And still today, a large body of research indicates that emotional intelligence is a critical leadership skill that yields significant bottom-line results.
Emotionally intelligent leaders strategically use their emotions to help them achieve outcomes.
If you've been fortunate enough to have worked directly with an emotionally intelligent leader during tough times, then you would have likely seen some, or all, of these qualities that define this type of leadership.

They are conscious of how their emotional state is highly influential on their team's decision-making, cognition and performance. They use their capacity to selectively generate emotions to energize their team or to inspire confidence. These leaders benefit from the powerful effects of " emotional contagion" and " empathetic matching" to skillfully steer the emotional pulse of the team to drive positive outcomes.
Emotionally intelligent leaders are both cognitively and emotionally empathic.
Leaders with emotional intelligence have the self-awareness to determine what emotional self-regulation strategies are best suited to help them manage their own emotional states. They understand that emotions contain valuable data, and they are open to capitalizing on this information to facilitate problem solving and creativity. In short, they welcome the full spectrum of emotions, redirect and prioritize their thinking on the basis of associated feelings and strategically guide their state to best suit what's required for optimum performance in a given task.

For example, if they're feeling down but know they need to think creatively in an upcoming workshop, they might adopt strategies to guide themselves to a more positive, high-energy state for optimal creative performance.
Emotionally intelligent leaders pay attention to both what's said and what's unsaid.
These leaders are highly attuned to the states of others and understand that empathy involves both a cognitive component (understanding what others are going through) and an emotional component (feeling what others feel). If you've worked with an emotionally intelligent leader, you'll likely have found that when they ask, "How are you doing?" they genuinely want to know what you're experiencing and have a keen interest in identifying opportunities to support you.
Emotionally intelligent leaders maintain a positive team climate.
If you respond with, "I'm fine," they might come back with, "No, really, what's going on for you?" They're sensitive to the emotional pulse of a group, exercise empathic perspective-taking, pay attention to the human side of business and demonstrate genuine care.
Emotionally intelligent leaders have a rich emotional vocabulary.
Since these leaders are skilled in perceiving what others are experiencing, they're able to pick up on nuances in non-verbal communication, including facial expressions, body posture and voice. They have the ability to "read between the lines" to synthesize what they know about a situation and a person, as well as the emotional and behavioral components, and to derive a clearer picture of what's really happening. They often pick up on irregularities and avoid jumping to conclusions when there are any discrepancies, instead choosing to investigate by asking questions and making an effort to understand underlying motivations.
Emotionally intelligent leaders are open to developing their EI skills.
Understanding the role they play in shaping the culture of the team, these leaders focus on encouraging positive emotions which are critical to performance, decision making, conflict resolution and group dynamics. By increasing the flow of positive emotions, emotionally intelligent leaders also create a culture that is open and inclusive, where people aren't afraid of making mistakes, and they bring their whole selves to work. By fostering psychological safety, it encourages the release of the neurotransmitter oxytocin, reinforcing trust and connectedness.

These leaders understand the complexity of emotions, what causes them, and why people respond the way they do. Their richer and more nuanced emotional vocabulary means they're able to consciously reflect on and navigate their emotional experience in the moment. Research involving fMRI scans has found that simply labeling an emotion disrupts the amygdala (the brain's fear center) and decreases emotional reactivity to negative events or interactions - a strategy popularised by author and psychiatrist Dan Siegel when he coined the phrase, "name it to tame it."

Recognizing the huge influence emotional intelligence plays in their own leadership, they are open to the ongoing development of their existing capabilities. They proactively seek out discomfort to challenge themselves and further develop their perspectives and approach. They also approach each day with an excitement to make a positive and valuable impact on the lives of their team and their organization as a whole.

The real, tangible, bottom-line benefits of emotional intelligence are undeniable. Enhancing the emotional intelligence of your leaders might be the most impactful company investment you make.

Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?

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Council Post: Seven Traits Of An Emotionally Intelligent Leader

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Director of Influenceo Global Inc. , leadership strategist, speaker & personal mastery expert helping professional women excel. 2020 will forever be remembered for its extraordinary degree of uncertainty, where leaders faced uncharted territories: navigating repeated pandemic outbreaks, growing geopolitical tensions, social injustices and complex economic consequences - all of which impacted workplaces and the people within them.

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School Counselors' Emotional Intelligence and Its Relationship to Leadership

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School Counselors' Emotional Intelligence and Its Relationship to Leadership

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In this investigation, we examined the relationship between emotional intelligence, leadership self-efficacy (LSE), self-leadership, and leadership experiences among a sample of practicing school counselors. School counselors who reported higher levels of emotional intelligence also reported greater LSE, self-leadership, and leadership experiences. We discuss the implications of these findings for the practice of school counseling and potential future research on school counselor leadership.

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School Counselors' Emotional Intelligence and Its Relationship to Leadership - Patrick R. Mullen, Daniel Gutierrez, Sean Newhart, 2017

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In this investigation, we examined the relationship between emotional intelligence, leadership self-efficacy (LSE), self-leadership, and leadership experiences among a sample of practicing school counselors. School counselors who reported higher levels of emotional intelligence also reported greater LSE, self-leadership, and leadership experiences.

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Is Democratic Leadership the Best Style of Leadership?

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The democratic leadership style involves team members taking a participative role in the decision-making process and is considered highly effective.

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Democratic leadership is a type of leadership style in which members of the group take a more participative role in the decision-making process. Researchers have found that this learning style is usually one of the most effective and leaders to higher productivity, better contributions from group members, and increased group morale. Employees meet to discuss and resolve issues by giving everyone some opportunity to contribute to decisions.

This style of leadership offers everyone the opportunity to participate, exchange ideas, have their opinions heard, and encourages discussions. However, the group leader still needs to provide guidance and direction to maintain the goals and objectives are being pursued.

Figure 1: Leadership Styles [1]

Primary Characteristics of Democratic Leadership Style: [2]

Group members are encouraged to share ideas and opinions, even though the leader retains the final say over decisions.

Members of the group feel more engaged in the process.

Creativity is encouraged and rewarded.

Benefits of Democratic Leadership Style:

The primary benefit of the democratic leadership style is that since there is group involvement and discussions, more ideas and thoughts lead to better ideas and better solutions. The participants in a group become more involved and committed to projects which makes them more invested in the final results. Basically, they care more and productivity increases.

Downside of Democratic Leadership Style: [2]

There are a few downsides to a democratic leadership style. These include:

Can lead to communication failures and uncompleted projects during unclear times.

Group members may not have the necessary knowledge or expertise to make quality contributions to the decision-making process.

Lack of decision making due to volume of choices

Loud minority override

Side tracked easily without good leadership to keep the focus

Other Leadership Styles:

AcqLinks and References:

Updated: 6/6/2021

Rank: G6.5

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Democratic leadership is a type of leadership style in which members of the group take a more participative role in the decision-making process. Researchers have found that this learning style is usually one of the most effective and leaders to higher productivity, better contributions from group members, and increased group morale.

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The democratic leadership style is based on mutual respect. It is often combined with participatory leadership because it requires collaboration between leaders and the people they guide.

The democratic/participative leadership style places significant responsibility on leaders and their staff. This is true for all organizations - from private enterprises and government agencies to educational institutions and nonprofit entities.

Read on to discover more about democratic/participative leadership:

It's difficult to imagine democratic leaders accomplishing their goals without direct participation from others. Participation is key to all successful democratic enterprises. This includes:

Attentive constituents in a congressional district

Concerned parents of students at a school

Active members from a nonprofit organization

Engaged employees at a prospering company

What is the definition of democratic/participative leadership?

One of the clearest definitions of democratic leadership comes from John Gastil. His 1994 article, "A Definition and Illustration of Democratic Leadership" for the Human Relations journal remains relevant to private industry and the free market.

Gastil, a professor at Penn State University, has written extensively about jury selection and democratic participation in the deliberations process. His succinct definition of democratic leadership explains that it is conceptually distinct from positions of authority.

Gastil's definition of democratic leadership:

"Distributing responsibility among the membership, empowering group members, and aiding the group's decision-making process."

What is participative leadership?

Edwin A. Locke, a professor emeritus of leadership and motivation at the University of Maryland, offers an expanded definition of democratic leadership by adding participative to the equation.

Participative leadership is "any power-sharing arrangement in which workplace influence is shared among individuals who are otherwise hierarchical unequals" Locke and his colleague David Schweiger explain in "Participation in Decision-Making: One More Look."

The authors warn that leaders should be careful when using the participatory style because it can backfire. If people feel their input is being ignored, the democratic/participative style "can actually lead to lower employee satisfaction and productivity," Locke and his colleague wrote in 1979.

The key to letting subordinates take part in decision-making is to build mature teams with experienced and cooperative people. Democratic/participative teams are not only capable of making good decisions but they also support their group's goals - even when their own suggestions aren't adopted.

History of democratic/participative leadership

The democratic leadership style always involves participative decision-making. It empowers employees to have a strong hand in managing organizations.

Democratic/participative leadership - or the "style with two names" - has become popular in recent decades. It dates to the 1930s and '40s. That's when noted behavioral researcher Kurt Lewin led studies that helped identify the value of the democratic/participative leadership style in organizations.

In "Leadership and Group Life," Lewin and his colleagues Ronald Lippitt and Ralph K. White cite democratic, laissez-faire and autocratic as the three primary leadership styles. Based on interviews with business leaders and employees, Lewin, Lippitt and White concluded that the democratic leadership style was the most popular among subordinates.

Successful democratic leaders differ from autocratic and laissez-faire leaders in two important ways.

Unlike autocrats, democratic leaders expect people who report to them to have in-depth experience and to exhibit self-confidence.

Unlike the laissez-faire style, which delegates authority to experts, democratic leaders are involved in the decision-making process.

Democratic/participative leaders have enormous responsibilities. Organizations that incorporate the democratic style still need strong leaders who know how to avoid the pitfalls that can trip up collaborative teams when they lose their compass.

Case in point: Apple

Apple was a successful company from 1976 to 1985, before it almost failed in the mid-1990s. Then it became enormously successful again - precisely because it faltered.

In other words, Apple had a vision. Apple lost its vision. Apple regained its vision.

That's rare.

In the mid-1990s Gateway, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and other companies reportedly zeroed in on Apple as an acquisition target. Years later, many of those brands disappeared. Yet Apple survived.

Apple survived because Steve Jobs learned how to adapt. He became a democratic/participative leader. Jobs started out as a charismatic/laissez-faire leader, and Apple soared. Then he became an autocratic leader, and Apple's board of directors requested his resignation.

When he returned to Apple more than 10 years later, Jobs combined several leadership styles and added democratic/participative to his repertoire. He hired other experienced leaders and entrusted them to excel. Jobs encouraged his lead designer Jonathon Ive, and he mentored manufacturing expert Tim Cook, now CEO. He let them make key decisions.

That's why Apple survived.

All successful leaders are self-actualizing people with loads of self-confidence. They take responsibility for their actions, they support their teams, and they don't make excuses for failures.

Among U.S. presidents, there are many examples of men who brought the democratic/participative leadership style to the Oval Office. Most of these presidents exhibited traits that reflected a variety of leadership styles.

U.S. presidents with democratic leadership traits:

George Washington: Unlike commanding troops during the American Revolution, Washington was notably democratic when guiding the U.S. government. He showed early signs of his democratic leadership style by appointing strong leaders to his staff. His decision not to serve a third term exemplified a democratic leader who knows when to pass the torch.

Thomas Jefferson: As president, Jefferson was both an authoritarian and democratic leader. As primary author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence in 1776, Jefferson left no ambiguity about his devotion to democracy: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." In 1803, he autocratically bypassed Congress to expedite the Louisiana Purchase for $15 million.

Abraham Lincoln: Often considered the epitome of a democratic leader, Lincoln was autocratic in his decisions throughout his presidency. Although his character and principles were democratic in nature, Lincoln was an autocratic leader as president out of necessity. The Civil War demanded decisiveness.

Dwight D. Eisenhower: Far more democratic in his approach to defeating Germany during WWII than his subordinate, Gen. George C. Patton, Eisenhower was a strategist and consensus builder. Eisenhower is an unusual example of a military commander who adopted laissez-faire and democratic/participative leadership styles as commander in chief.

John F. Kennedy: A charismatic leader at heart, Kennedy displayed characteristics of laissez-faire and democratic leadership styles. His spearheading of the Apollo space program is an example of JFK's laissez-faire style. In other cases, he showed autocratic leadership tendencies, such as his quick decisions during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Jimmy Carter: A former naval commander, Carter exemplified both the qualities and pitfalls of the democratic/participative leadership style as president. He surrounded himself with some experienced staff, but he often deferred to inexperienced subordinates when acting authoritatively would have been a better choice.

If there is a lesson to learn from these presidents it's that the best leaders find the right style to suit the needs of a nation or organization, crisis or paradigm shift.

Democratic leadership in business

Business enterprises and other organizations comprise numerous experts, so they are well-suited to the democratic/participative leadership process. Whether it's a CEO or a project manager, democratic leaders can be effective in business if they surround themselves with experienced players.

The participatory style works best with experts who know their jobs and carry out their responsibilities under minimal supervision. This is true for:

Biotech R&D divisions

Housing construction sites

Universities

Information technology companies

Yet in private businesses and government agencies with strict procedures or a high turnover of employees, the autocratic leadership style is often more appropriate. Even within these environments, though, divisions exist that function best under a democratic/participative leadership style.

Examples:

Pharmaceutical industry: Pharmaceutical companies have educated chemists who work well in collaborative teams on development projects. Such companies also require autocratic leaders who supervise subordinates in automated assembly-line operations. They demand procedures and tight tolerances that do not lend themselves to a democratic/participative leadership style.

Hospitals and labs: Hospitals and healthcare testing facilities call for a blend of leadership styles. Hospital administration - from personnel and accounting departments to facilities maintenance and insurance billing - requires autocratic leadership to ensure consistency and accountability. Simultaneously, physicians work collaboratively under democratic/participative leaders. Ditto: nurses, who employ both autocratic and democratic leadership styles to carry out team functions and individual responsibilities.

High-tech firms: The technology industry offers countless examples of companies that are well-suited for the democratic/participative leadership style. Many are startups with engineering and software development teams that work collaboratively under democratic leaders. In successful cases, these firms evolve from laissez-faire startups to democratic-led enterprises to mature autocratic companies.

Companies that reflect democratic leadership principles

Most successful companies evolve, and their leaders display a mix of leadership styles. They have autocratic leaders who run manufacturing, quality control and distribution divisions along with R&D teams spearheaded by democratic/participative leaders.

Examples of companies where democratic/participative leadership works:

Google: Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page developed their Internet search engine while pursuing their doctorates at Stanford. After obtaining initial financing, they did something unusual. Brin and Page followed the advice of experienced entrepreneurs and hired Eric Schmidt to jump-start their company. Incorporating a blend of autocratic, laissez-faire and democratic leadership styles, the Novell and Sun executive brought experience into Google's dugout. The three immediately began scouting experienced talent to set up democratic/participative teams. Today, Google remains relatively democratic in its approach to product development under CEO Page.

Genentech: A pioneer in the discovery and development of restriction enzymes to develop biological drugs, Genentech was started by Robert Swanson and Herbert Boyer. They faced competition for financial resources and talent when they launched the company in 1976. Recombinant DNA technology was a mystery to all but a few forward-looking biologists and chemists. The key to Genentech's success was instilling democratic/participative leadership values to attract those scientists. Although it's now owned by Roche, Genentech remains on the leading edge by blending democratic R&D with autocratic manufacturing leadership styles.

Mayo Clinic: A nonprofit organization with a reputation as one of the most cutting-edge healthcare research facilities in the world, the Mayo Clinic thrives on democratic/participative leadership values. Founded by Dr. William Mayo and his family, the hospital, healthcare and research facility attracts some of the most brilliant minds in the medical field because it gives them opportunities to work collaboratively among peers on democratic teams. Although the processes required in the medical research industry often call for an extremely autocratic approach, healthcare organizations like the Mayo Clinic cannot succeed without democratic/participative leaders.

Amazon.com: When it launched, Amazon was known for selling books. The company prospered by embracing all three of Lewin's leadership models. It started as a laissez-faire company, with Jeff Bezos as final arbitrator of all key decisions. He recruited a lot of veteran computer programmers from nearby software companies and quickly implemented a democratic/participative leadership model. Today, Amazon sells everything imaginable, including cloud services and big data security storage. Amazon is necessarily autocratic because of its commitment to timely customer service. At its core, however, the company retains its democratic values among C-suite executives, division heads and project directors.

Famous democratic/participative leaders

The democratic/participative leadership style works best in creative businesses, design firms and corporations driven by research and development. The participatory leadership style is also well-suited for educational institutions with collaborative environments.

Examples of leaders who exhibit democratic/participative leadership style:

Indra Nooyi: Nooyi, the CEO and chairman of PepsiCo, has endeared herself to employees. She takes an interest in the personal lives of employees and has a vision of the company's future. Nooyi made news when she sent letters to the parents of direct reports to let them know how proud they should be of their executive adult/children. When one recruit was undecided about joining the company, Forbes magazine reports, Nooyi called the candidate's mom and subsequently landed the executive. She has also made fans of investors with smart divestitures and acquisitions, such as Tropicana, Quaker Oats and Gatorade.

Bill George: George was a senior executive at Honeywell and Litton Industries before joining Medtronic as CEO. Now a professor at Harvard Business School, George says he felt hamstrung by the bureaucratic processes before joining Medtronic. Although he acknowledges the necessity of autocratic procedures in businesses with tight manufacturing controls, George applauds Medtronic's innovative approach to healthcare technologies. Noted for its heart stents and mechanical heart valves, Medtronic would not have thrived under George's tutelage from 1991 to 2001 had he not been devoted to the principles of collaborative research efforts, baked into the democratic/participative leadership style.

Tommy Lasorda: A successful baseball pitcher before coaching, Lasorda bonded with his players. As manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1976 to 1996, Lasorda won two World Series championships, four National League pennants and eight division titles. Considered a player's coach, Lasorda's decision to let Kirk Gibson pinch-hit during the 1988 World Series against the Oakland A's remains one of the most memorable moments in baseball history. Most managers would not have sent an injured batter to the plate against an ace pitcher. Lasorda did so because he trusted his player's judgment and his own instincts. Both are hallmarks of a successful democratic/participative leader in action. Gibson hit a home run and helped the Dodgers win the series.

Ginni Rometty: As CEO of IBM since 2012, Rometty has demonstrated a methodical approach to managing and a democratic/participative leadership style. She has made the tough decisions expected of IBM CEOs, such as selling its profitable but slowing server business and reducing staff. She has also committed resources to IBM's big data efforts. IBM is partnering with healthcare companies, government enterprises and social media firms to leverage its strengths in cognitive computing.

Muhtar Kent: Known as a democratic/participative leader, Kent is CEO and chairman of the board at Coca-Cola. He has a reputation for seeking input from others on key decisions. Kent has an inclusive style that reflects his commitment to diversity. The New York-born executive is as committed to improving managerial processes and manufacturing efficiencies as he is to teamwork. He worked his way up the corporate ladder, in part, by doubling Coca-Cola's bottling operations output. As CEO, Kent built collaborative management teams to address slowing sales growth and tackled challenges from global competitors, reflecting a blend of autocratic and democratic styles.

A major characteristic among democratic/participative leaders is inclusiveness. Democratic leaders seek participation from a wide range of people, including women.

Democratic/participatory leadership quotes

These leaders are known as big innovators and strong collaborators. Many of them blended different leadership styles or evolved to adopt the characteristics of democratic leaders. Here are some quotations that reveal their devotion to democratic and participatory leadership:

Thomas Aquinas: "If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever."

Jeff Bezos: "I strongly believe that missionaries make better products. They care more. For a missionary, it's not just about the business. There has to be a business, and the business has to make sense. But that's not why you do it. You do it because you have something meaningful that motivates you."

Dwight D. Eisenhower: "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."

David Packard: "Take risks. Ask big questions. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. If you don't make mistakes, you're not reaching far enough."

Steve Jobs: "One of the keys to Apple is Apple's an incredibly collaborative company."

Ginny Rometty: "I ask everyone's opinion when they don't speak up. And then, when they have an opinion, I'll ask others to talk about it."

Mahatma Gandhi: "Honest disagreement is a good sign of progress."

Tommy Lasorda: "I believe managing is like holding a dove in your hand. Squeeze too hard and you kill it, not hard enough and it flies away."

William J. Mayo: "Lord, deliver me from the man who never makes a mistake. And also from the man who makes the same mistake twice."

Bill George: "You'd sit in a business meeting and say, 'Is this product good enough to go to patients -- so 100 percent of all patients who get it are going to have their lives improved? If it's not, we're going to have to go back to the drawing board.'"

Thomas Jefferson: "Delay is preferable to error."

Jerry Yang: "Certainly Yahoo wouldn't exist without the sort of environment that Stanford gave us to create it."

Sergey Brin: "Solving big problems is easier than solving little problems."

Tip O'Neill: "It's easier to run for office than to run the office."

Jimmy Carter: "The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself - always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity."

Democratic leadership case study: Twitter

It should come as no surprise that a company devoted to instantaneously spreading the word about anything and everything in 140 characters or less has a reputation for being collaborative.

Twitter, which has seen fits and starts since its founding nearly a decade ago, has a shared leadership style that starts at the top. Founded by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass, Twitter began life in 2006 as a democratic/participative enterprise.

It remains so today.

Each of Twitter's co-founders had a different vision of what the company should become. That vision ranged from a rebellious underground domain to a kind of brand central station where any company or individual could spread the word about their products and aspirations to thousands of followers.

Dorsey, who has been called "the real core co-founder," never wavered from his vision of Twitter as a text-messaging service that would change the world as we know it - or as the young Dorsey knew it when he started coding Twitter two decades ago.

Dorsey is both a democratic and a laissez-faire leader. A consummate multitasker, his family and peers know him as a utilitarian hipster with fashion sense. He dislikes all waste and cherishes his haircuts. He grew up listening to C-band radio dispatches of emergency personnel responding to crimes and fires, false alarms and deadly events.

Although Dorsey has returned in the role of executive chairman, Twitter remains minimalist and collaborative.

Both Dorsey and Twitter represent the new wave of democratic/participative leadership in business. Like Dorsey, Twitter has taken several years to find its compass.

Twitter's strength?

Brevity is imperative in the new world of social media.

Democratic leadership has many names. They include:

Participative leadership

Shared leadership

Open-book management

Participative decision-making

Democratic management style

The democratic/participative leadership style has some similarities to laissez-faire leadership, but there are also significant differences.

Laissez-faire leaders allow subordinates to decide how to complete their tasks and projects, but not to make organization-wide decisions. Participative leadership not only accepts subordinates' comments, ideas and suggestions, it also encourages their input on decisions and strategies.

Both of these styles depend on the leader having skilled, educated and experienced employees. Using the democratic leadership style with inexperienced personnel is asking for trouble unless the workers have an extraordinary intuition for what needs to be done.

Still, most of the noted democratic/participative leaders throughout history have succeeded because they encouraged their staff to get involved in the discussions about major and minor decisions.

Democratic leaders are highly rational

Noted organizational psychologist Bernard M. Bass studied Lewin's big three leadership styles: laissez-faire, autocratic and democratic. In "The Bass Handbook of Leadership," he pointed out successful leaders typically exhibit many traits from different leadership styles.

Bass, a professor emeritus at Binghamton University and founding director of the Center for Leadership Studies who died in 2007, observed that democratic leaders are factual and rational in their approach to problem-solving and evaluating staff performance. He also observed that democratic leaders "de-emphasized social distance," while autocratic leaders exhibited their higher social stature among subordinates.

Social standing is one of several key distinctions between autocratic and democratic leaders. Although both styles can be effective, autocratic leaders are authoritarian because they often supervise inexperienced subordinates, or they're charged with training experienced people to perform new tasks quickly - such as learning an innovative software program or adopting an updated quality-control process.

By comparison, democratic/participative leaders are:

Egalitarian types who feel comfortable rolling up their sleeves

Team-oriented captains who view experienced staff as peers

Consensus builders who like to mediate disagreements

Flexible explorers who share decision-making with key staff

Peter Drucker on leadership qualities

Peter Drucker, renowned management consultant and best-selling author, wasn't big on labels. But he understood the distinctions among different types of leaders.

In one of his last interviews, Drucker discussed business ethics with Forbes magazine. Drucker's advice for executives, particularly democratic/participative leaders, still rings true.

Democratic leaders are superb multitaskers. As Drucker points out, productive leaders are extraordinarily accomplished because they rely on experts to make suggestions without relinquishing control of the decision-making process.

In 2004, Drucker said:

"Don't take on things you don't believe in and that you yourself are not good at. Learn to say no. Effective leaders match the objective needs of their company with the subjective competencies. As a result, they get an enormous amount of things done fast."

What are the characteristics of democratic leaders?

Democratic/participative leaders share common traits with laissez-faire leaders, such as delegating. The key distinction is their involvement in the decision-making process.

Democratic leaders don't simply hire experts to run divisions or projects and then wait for the results. They insert themselves in the process and stay informed. They often rely heavily on data, but they are not slaves to metrics. They balance the instincts of experienced team leaders with the realities of the marketplace.

They are problem solvers. If there is no demand for a great idea, democratic leaders will often pass on it. They take risks, but they know when to cut their losses. Democratic/participative leaders are:

Egalitarian

Fair-minded

Adaptive

Engaged

Role models

Forward-thinking

Team-oriented

Consensus builders

One of the key selling points about democratic leadership compared to other styles is that it works well throughout an organization.

The autocratic leadership style, by comparison, works within certain departments but not necessarily from the top down. Authoritarian leadership can be stifling and demoralizing if it exists throughout an entire organization.

The democratic/participative style can exist at every level in some companies. This style can work well in an organization that is focused on growth, research and talent acquisition.

Private companies, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations in expansion mode are well-suited for the democratic/participative leadership style because it encourages collaboration. Participatory leadership rewards success and fosters a collegial environment.

Smart, talented people love collegial environments. It's up to democratic/participative leaders to recruit them, encourage them and monitor their progress just enough to ensure productivity.

If there is one caveat to the participatory leadership style it is this: Too much consensus building can lead to stagnation.

At the end of the day, someone has to take responsibility for the decisions.

Successful democratic/participative leaders step up to the plate. They make the final decisions.

The best ones are prepared. They know when they're going to hit one out of the ballpark. They not only trust their teams, but they stay informed about workflow progress on a regular basis.

In theory, the advantages of democratic leadership are obvious to subordinates. Most people prefer to work within a leadership structure that encourages thoughtful discussion and rewards collaborative processes.

In reality, not all organizations lend themselves to the democratic leadership style.

Executives, board members, trustees and investors have expectations centered on productivity. For them, the participative leadership style may seem inappropriate.

In some companies and organizations, where internal processes are highly focused, strictly controlled and often perfected, other leadership styles, like autocratic, are a better fit.

It's up to leaders to determine the best style for working groups within their companies and institutions. Here are some considerations:

Democratic leadership pros

Employees have increased job satisfaction and a sense of empowerment.

Relationships are built on mutual trust between labor and management.

Absenteeism is lower among employees with a stronger commitment to performance.

Productivity increases as a result of a solutions-centric workforce that has input.

Creativity and innovation increase among employees through team collaboration.

Democratic leadership cons

Leaders can become overly dependent on the expertise and experience of subordinates.

Collaboration can consume valuable time getting input from people who aren't in agreement.

Fast, incisive decisions may be difficult or even impossible, resulting in missed deadlines.

Relying on consensus from people who are misinformed or lack accurate data can be costly.

Leaders can become burdened by the challenge of overseeing experts on collaborative teams.

The democratic style requires a special type of leader, but it also requires a special group of participants. Everyone has to be on board with the participatory process. This requires an extremely intuitive and observant leader who acts decisively when conflicts arise among team members.

Participatory leadership traits

Although some democratic leaders are charismatic, many are not. Because they tend to be highly rational, democratic leaders are often even-keeled. They are not prone to sweeping inspirational speeches or motivating staff with a gung-ho style aimed at attaining short-term goals.

Democratic/participative leaders are self-confident, but they're also pragmatic. They surround themselves with like-minded people who set realistic goals and achieve them.

The axiom "train your replacement" may apply best to the democratic leadership style. Effective democratic leaders are so adept that their staff appears to function well without them.

It would be a mistake, however, to assume that participatory leaders are easily replaced.

The best democratic/participative leaders are great multitaskers. They are able to handle the challenge of working with experienced people on collaborative teams without losing sight of objectives or deadlines.

Democratic/participative leaders are focused on accomplishing goals. Productivity is the key to adopting this leadership style. To be successful, democratic leaders must have productive teams that meet expectations.

Sources:

" Kurt Lewin: groups, experiential learning and action research"

John Gastil, " A Definition and Illustration of Democratic Leadership"
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The democratic leadership style is based on mutual respect. It is often combined with participatory leadership because it requires collaboration between leaders and the people they guide. The democratic/participative leadership style places significant responsibility on leaders and their staff. This is true for all organizations - from private enterprises and government agencies to educational institutions and nonprofit entities.

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Transformational Leadership in School Counseling 

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Transformational Leadership in School Counseling 

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Carolyn M. Shields, Colette T. Dollarhide and Anita A. Young

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Transformative Leadership in School Counseling on JSTOR

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Transformative leadership is a leadership paradigm that addresses the need for systemic, equitable change in education. We propose eight tenets within this para...