Taking up the theme of transformative leadership, this
posting will review what research has found to be the type of person who is
likely to be a transformative leader. That
is, the following is a list of personality traits that are associated with the leadership
style we can categorize as transformational.[1] Five traits are particularly strong in their
association: extraversion, openness to experiences,
agreeableness, conscientiousness, and, in a negative relation, neuroticism. Let me share descriptive information about
each.
Extraversion has two main attributes, affiliation and
agency. Affiliation is the need of a
person to be involved and/or belonging to social groupings. This is not so much to feel association with
particular groups, per se, but the
emotional desire of belonging for its own derived satisfaction. Agency, on the other hand, is a need/desire
to act independently. These two “drives”
are a bit at odds with each other, but the person in question works out a cohesive
meld of the two so that this personality trait of extraversion provides a
strong motivator to lead and to lead in a transformative way. This trait was found to have the strongest
relationship to transformative leadership – among the factors listed – in the
cited study by Bono and Judge. The trait
is a source of inspiration in the leader-follower relationship.
Transformative leaders are not shy and do not avoid new
experiences. Instead, they seek out
experiences. Again, this trait is made
up of two attributes: creative
expression and emotional responsiveness.
These elements entice the leader to develop a “big-picture” perspective
of an organization and what it is attempting to accomplish. As such, the trait helps a leader avoid
tunnel vision or a parochial view of what his/her organization is about.
Transformative change, change that calls for people to either
place higher levels of importance on some values already held – and by implication,
place lower levels on values held more dearly – or to adopt new values. This is likely to be challenging for a person
who is going through some process of change in which this upending of values is
demanded. It helps greatly for such a
person to be led by someone he/she finds agreeable or likeable. That being the case, it is not surprising to
find that agreeableness, as a personality trait, is found to be positively
related to successful leaders, particularly for transformative ones.
The fourth personality trait is theorized to be an influence
on good leadership due to its consequence.
That is, conscientiousness does not have a direct influence on how one
is perceived as leader, but it pushes a leader to be a disciplined hard worker
and to do what the job demands. The ways
this dynamic unfolds has many aspects, but overall, transformative leadership
calls on a leader to be obsessive over details concerning the needs of
individual followers, emotional interactions between followers, and the needs
of the organization, including the demands on those in authority.
As I indicated above, the fifth is a trait a leader
definitely does not want. Neuroticism is
a negative personality trait if one aspires to be a transformative leader. Medical News Today associates the following
mental states with neuroticism: guilt,
envy, anger, and anxiety. The main
reason why a person suffers from neuroticism is its anxiety producing quality,
especially when it comes to meeting productivity demands. Not only does this trait hinder productivity
initially, but it also tends to induce the lasting effect of lowering
self-confidence and lowering self-esteem overall. This is a far cry from the leader who
instills confidence in others as a reflection of his/her own self-confidence. A person with a neurotic trait is likely to
shy away from leadership roles. Instead,
what one wants in a leader, especially a transformative one, is emotional
stability, which is in short supply if the person is suffering from significant
levels of neuroticism.
Simone T. A. Phipps[2] has come
up with the clever designation for these “big five” traits: OCEAN – openness to experience, conscientiousness,
extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism/emotional
stability. In my next posting, I will
add a few more thoughts on this topic of transformative leadership and
supportive personality traits.
[1] See Bono, J. E. and Judge, T. A.
(2004). Personality and
transformational and transactional leadership:
A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89 (5),
901-910. Access: http://m.timothy-judge.com/Judge%20and%20Bono%20personality-TF--JAP%20published.pdf .
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