A transformational leader with vision leading group

7 Core Traits of a Transformational Leader

Entire sections of bookstores are devoted to books on effective leadership. And over time, we see new trends and hypotheses on what makes for a good leader. But is it possible to identify what makes for great transformational leaders, those who doesn’t just lead an organization but who help it to change, develop, and transform into something greater than it was?

Experts on transformational leadership seem to be a dime a dozen, and everyone’s got their unique flavor. I work in this space and have seen what works and what doesn’t, and while this is not meant to be a treatise on the subject, I hope it serves to provide a few key must-have attributes that are required when building teams and methods to lead people through a major transformation.

The most important traits of a transformational leader

1. You must embrace uncertainty

If we learned anything from the pandemic, it’s that there is no solid ground, especially in business. Things shift, sometimes from one day to the next, and project plans must adapt or fail. Those who are resistant to change and uncertainty will quickly find themselves struggling to keep up.

Fearless transformational leaders are excited about setting out for new lands while drawing the maps along the way. This type of leader is agile and constantly looking to the future to plan (or modify plans) accordingly.

2. You should run toward problems, not away from them

The firefighter who runs screaming from a burning building is one who will soon find himself or herself out of a job. Some roles require that you roll your sleeves up, don a fireproof suit, and step into the chaos.

To make order out of that chaos, while moving quickly, takes a compulsion to create structures and measurements. The mindset that breaks down problems into causal chains and networks of relationships, and then synthesizes the pieces into all possible contingencies, is one that can find multiple paths of least resistance when expediency and problem-solving are required.

It’s also helpful to have a knack for seeing the multiplicity of future possible paths to be able to inflect from one to the next while still moving in the desired direction. It should be like having a Choose Your Own Adventure book in your head. Should you turn to page 26 and hire a new team member, or page 95 and rethink the project scope?

3. You must have vision when building teams

Building a great team requires finding dynamic utility players, and requires going beyond grabbing the cleanest cookie-cutter resume. In fact, the well-treaded path is rarely where you find the right people.

Being an attorney by education and experience, I’ve ended up a partner of a management consulting firm. How did that happen? My passion has always been the intersection of seemingly different things and boundary conditions, so this led me to business transformation enabled by technology, and I’ve found a role that allows me to play in this space.

Be smart enough to see the potential an individual has for your company beyond what their LinkedIn profile tells you. Look for people with a wide range of varied experience that has provided them with a reservoir of general intelligence and an aptitude for succeeding at doing novel things.

A business writer who is an expert in a specific niche area may not be helpful to your project on paper, but one who can take that analytical framework and port it over to data strategy one day and technology architecture the next is the person you are looking for. A former hockey coach who only thinks about hockey doesn’t really seem to have anything to do in consulting, but a person who understands how to build effective teams and counsel people to get each to perform at their best is going to be a key asset in driving a global team working in a remote environment.

The key is finding folks who are good problem solvers and have a demonstrated record of tackling new or challenging situations that they were not necessarily expected to do. You’re building a team that will need to solve problems that haven’t even been fully defined, so you need to select for high degrees of executive capacity and emotional intelligence—after all, they will need to lead many different types of people in stressful situations, and be able to translate different concepts and perspectives into solutions.

4. You should foster a “why not?” environment

We all know what resting on our laurels does, and for the leader who’s mired in how things have always been done, there’s not much room for innovative growth.

To join the ranks of transformational leaders, you must encourage a culture of iterative solutioning and never being satisfied with where things are. This is what drives businesses—and leaders—to success.

You cannot sacrifice quality for the sake of novelty, so a good way to position the message is “this is what good looks like, and you are expected to perform at this level, but if you have a better way of doing things, let’s hear it.”

The corollary here is, if you see anyone is stuck on a similar problem, then repeat the mantra “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result,” and start finding ways to approach the problem differently.

First principles get thrown around a lot, but they are a crucial mindset to foster the culture you want. Ask yourself and your team: “What are we really trying to accomplish?” and “what is the ultimate goal? Forget the how.”

When in doubt, break down the problem even further, and don’t bottom out until you get a new perspective.

5. You need the right soft skills

Soft skills go beyond you having a certain leadership style to accommodate your staff. They’re what determine whether your team is willing to go into battle with you or not.

Compare two bosses: one is known for being tough and demanding. Productivity is high, but several people on the team are stressed and overwhelmed. The other boss is equally as demanding but makes time every day to chat with each team member about their life. She takes them out weekly for happy hour. They respect and trust her, and therefore, are more willing to put in the hard work she requires.

Authenticity is key here. We all have different quirks, limitations, virtues, and weaknesses. Being authentic and encouraging it from others is key. At the end of the day, you hired smart, dynamic people, so honor the commitment to having authentic professional relationships with them.

Focus on understanding what your people need and want. Make your job about enabling their success and they will do the same.

6. You must understand and respect technology

It’s not necessary that you be a technologist, but you should at least “speak” the language of technology and understand the role that it plays in your company.

You need to clearly communicate the message “no Luddites allowed” among your team and as part of your culture for the simple reason that we live in a highly technological world, and having the required interest, appreciation, and understanding of how technology works is a key indicator for whether everyone is on the same page about the need for continuous learning, embracing new subjects, and generally having the propensity to “look under the hood.”

You should also hire a well-balanced team of tech-savvy people who understand both the intricacies of the technology as well as the importance of it from a business perspective. Transformational leaders need to speak all of the languages used by their team, including tech. You cannot tell good from bad if you cannot parachute in and understand the given subject matter quickly.

7. You should develop core trusted teams

When deploying projects, start with a core trusted team (one that has worked together successfully before) who can keep the project on track and minimize personnel conflicts. Going into a new, large-scale business transformation, you simply cannot do everything yourself. Bring with you the people you know will work in productive ways, understand your expectations, and cover as much territory as quickly as possible.

Whether you’re managing this team daily or are several steps removed from it on the organizational chart, stay tuned in to what’s happening by getting regular updates and/or sitting in on meetings weekly. If you’re speaking “the same language” as your trusted people, this is a quick and precise exercise because you know the right questions to ask, and they know the right answers to equip you with the information you need to make the best decisions.

So focus on building squads of people who work well together, and rotate your squad members to give you the flexibility of being able to create new team configurations. Encourage your core team members to do the same, and foster this series of concentric relationship circles to create flexibility without sacrificing trust among the various combinations of your teams.

Are you ready to become a true transformational leader?

At the end of the day, being a great leader of a transformation project requires tuning into how each team member ticks, understanding technology, and being comfortable with uncertainty and problem-solving. Whether you have an authoritarian or laissez-faire leadership style matters much less than how you turn pandemonium into something beautiful.