(Cont'd)

Transformational leaders engage the hearts and minds of employees by using participatory decision making to involve employees in the process of shaping the organization’s vision and reaching agreement about strategies and tactics.

Their words, symbols and stories build contagious enthusiasm that energizes people. While their approach is often bold, they are able to find significance and vision-relevance in even the most mundane of activities. Transformational leaders demonstrate a ‘can do’ attitude and ‘walk the talk’. They expect, get and reward innovative thinking and action from others and model that behavior themselves.

They rely less on hierarchy and more on interdependent work relationships. Transformational leaders express genuine interest in their staff. They invest time and energy in mentoring and guiding staff members toward the highest unfoldment of each individual’s skills and abilities. Developing the people around them is important to them. They pride themselves their ability to on nurture the growth of others.

Transformational leaders subordinate their own personal goals for the benefit of their staff, organization and/or the lofty goal being pursued. Loyalty on both sides of the equation is high. Followers share their leader’s values and vision, they admire the leader and see him or her as a role model. As a result, they continually strive to match the leaders high expectations of them to gain and keep their leader’s respect. In doing so, they outperform even their own expectations, literally moving mountains in the process.