Five Ways to Become a Transformational Leader

Posted on October 01, 2019
Five Ways to Become a Transformational Leader

Change in business is increasing at breakneck speed putting pressure on leaders to look into the future and adapt.

Never before have senior executives been faced with such a rapid pace of innovation and disruption. The demands on leaders to see trends, anticipate risks and chart a new program for their enterprise is at an all time high.

There are five key areas of competency required to navigate these challenging times and few leaders are skilled in all of them. Shoring up weaknesses and building on strengths in these areas is paramount to not only survive in such a dynamic environment but to transform yourself and your organization and prepare it into the future.

Managing and Leading Change

As many as eight out of 10 change initiatives fail. To be successful, transformational leaders must learn when and how to initiate change in the organization’s life cycle, understand the eight phases of change management process and achieve sustainability through proper application of change management principles.

Innovation & Digital Transformation

A key driver of the disruptive change most organizations are experiencing is digital technology. Today’s leaders must not only be skilled in their particular field, but also be able to understand and anticipate the impact of digital disruption, the role these technologies play in transforming organizations and the impact they have on individual employees and society in general.

Strategic Leadership

Reacting to change is not enough, transformational leaders get themselves in front of it by linking leadership, culture and structure to effective execution of strategies. They make themselves familiar with the tools of strategic planning and understand the core processes of strategy implementation. Change results need to be long lasting and play a major role in sustaining the company’s competitive advantage.

Financial Planning

Any senior executive has learned about bottom-line responsibilities, but a transformational leader goes beyond that to create buy-in from stakeholders by ensuring the components of capital projects are based on sound financial principals grounded in reliable data. They understand the importance of evaluating performance and integrating financial and non-financial key indicators into their plan to increase shareholder value and manage operating cash flows.

Advanced Coaching Skills

Most importantly, a transformational leader understands the central role people play in achieving all of these goals and learns how to apply a systematic approach to coaching for optimal results. It is essential to develop the people who are going to carry the torch for sustainability. By acquiring a coaching toolkit of proven templates and techniques for skill development and succession planning at all levels, a transformational leader proactively identifies, manages and overcomes resistance to ensure change is successful and sustainable.

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Created exclusively for senior managers, directors and vice-presidents in corporate and public sectors, the Executive Program in Transformational Leadership (starting Oct. 28, 2019) is recommended for executives with at least five years of management experience who seek global leadership competencies. All Reach Series programs deliver a combination of cutting-edge business theory along with highly relevant case studies and techniques for practical application. For more information and to register, visit the program website.