Author(s): Jeremiah Barasa,Akanni Olanrewaju
The operating environment remains dynamic, and organizations often need to transform or change themselves to cope with the changes that must be overcome to survive and remain competitive. During these circumstances, transformational leaders are necessary. Transformational leaders prepare their followers for leadership duties and responsibilities through the power of influence and not by persuasion, pressure or force making them greatly admired and emulated by followers. These leaders should be ethical, and risk takers but make well informed and researched decisions not guesswork and are future and sustainability oriented in their decisions. Transformational leaders are keen on developmental needs of their organizations and followers and so they invest significantly in staff training and retention. In their leadership style, they perform five distinct dimensions namely, vision, inspirational motivation, idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration of their followers. Transformational leadership style is best applied by organizations facing turmoil, challenges or are keen at market leadership and those that are keen in strategically positioning themselves for the future. The success of the transformational leaders is however dependent on the goodwill of their followers