Transformational leadership in non-profits is concerned not only with outcomes, but as Kouzes & Posner point out, it is also concerned with perpetuity through systemic health within the organization. This article renders a brief overview of the components of transformational leadership.
Transformational Leadership Defined
Kendra Cherry defines transformational leadership as "a type of leadership style that leads to 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." As Straker points out, transformational leaders care as much about the people with whom they are working as they do about the project that they are working upon. Transformational leaders view a project as an opportunity to grow and strengthen the people that they are privileged to lead and to work with.
Transformational Leadership and Ubuntu
Ubuntu simply means, "I am, by virtue of the many." Ubuntu is an African philosophy that believes our identity is tied up in the identity of others. It is a very communal perspective on life and has powerful implications for leadership. An Ubuntu leader believes that when the people that he or she is leading are healthy and uplifted, the leader will be enriched, healthy and uplifted. Imagine leadership that has an ubuntu perspective on life, and you have transformative leadership.
Shifting to an Ubuntu, or Transformational, Mind-set
The concept of Ubuntu states: "I am by virtue of the many." This is a radically different idea to the Descartian notion of "I think, therefore I am." Ubuntu shifts our focus from the autonomous individual to the communal individual. The autonomous individual is immensely poorer than the communal individual, because the communal individual understands that the essence of Ubuntu means that when you win, I win.
Ubuntu enriches all, the autonomous individual seeks only to enrich the autonomous individual. Now, imagine a world where Ubuntu is the modus operandi, where all who live, live to enrich the lives of others, whether materially or in some other way as individual need emerges. This is not communism, but rather, communalism. Communism seeks to equalize material wealth for everyone and actually enriches no one. Ubuntu sees all people as inherently rich and sees all people as having value, but also all as poor and all as having need, but in different ways and at different times.
Transformational Leaders Believe That Everyone Adds Value
Ubuntu is a frame of mind, a way of being, that seeks to use all that we possess to enrich others, whilst they in turn use their wealth to enrich us. This means that even the most materially poor person in the world can enrich the materially wealthiest. Imagine a world where everyone uses their personal wealth, in whichever form that wealth subsists, for others, so that in some small way, each day, through our personal investment in others, we make the world a better place!
This sense of the value of people is the essence of transformational leadership. Transformational leadership is a great asset to a non-profit because, as Vic Murray points out, eighty percent of Canadian non-profit organizations depend on volunteers to help them operate. This has certainly also been my experience with non-profits in other parts of the world. Volunteers align themselves with a non-profit and serve within a non-profit because they believe in the vision of the organization and because they are inspired by the leadership of the organization. It is also true that they trust that the leadership acts with integrity. Notice the key elements of transformational leadership, as expressed by Kouzes & Posner and Straker.
Key Elements of Non-Profit Transformational Leadership
- Transformational leaders are visionary and inspire a shared vision
- Transformational leaders have integrity
- Transformational leaders are reflexive
- Transformational leaders are motivators and encouragers
- Transformational leaders are committed to people and enable others to act
- Transformational leaders are charismatic but not narcissistic
- Transformational leaders believe that success comes through sustained effort
- Transformational leaders encourage the heart
- Transformational leaders believe that leadership is everyone's business
Transformational Leadership and Ubuntu: Powerful Foci for Non-Profit Leaders
It is paradoxically true that the non-profit leader who seeks to succeed by working to have others around him or her succeed, will always be a successful leader.
Sources:
Cherry, K. "Transformational Leadership: What is Transformational Leadership?"
Kouzes, J.M. & Posner, B. Z. 2002. The Leadership Challenge. San Francisco, CA. Josey Bass publishers. 459 p.
Murray, V. ed. 2009. The Management of Nonprofit and Charitable Organizations in Canada. 2nd ed. Markham, ON. LexisNexis. 510 p.
Straker, D. "Transformational Leadership."
Robert Elkington - Hi, my name is Rob, I enjoy involvement in many different activities such as: 1. Working with a range of faith based and non-faith ...
Join the Conversation