Introduction
When it comes to the future advanced practice role, an effective form of leadership will require the application of appropriate skills. It is important to note that transformational leadership or TL style offers a wide range of benefits and improvements since it facilitates the development and uses essential leadership skills. These include leadership knowledge, emotional intelligence, empowerment, interpersonal relationships, and problem-solving. Therefore, transformational leadership theory influences all of these skills positively because it strives to cause a valuable change in social systems as well as individuals.
Leadership Knowledge
The skill of leadership knowledge through a proactive act of knowledge-sharing is directly influenced by the transformational leadership theory. A study found that “organizational climate was positively related to knowledge-sharing behavior … knowledge-sharing behavior was found to affect organizational learning and to be a mediator in linking transformational leadership and organizational learning” (Kim & Park, 2020, p. 761). In other words, leadership knowledge under the transformational framework improves knowledge-sharing, which betters the organization’s climate and learning.
Therefore, as an effective leader with a future advanced practice role, it is critical to facilitate the use of leadership knowledge to launch the cascade of positive changes in a team, group, or organization through knowledge-sharing. Transformational leadership is adopted in those organizations that operate in dynamic environments. Employees of such an organization are constant improvement of their knowledge, updating, and practical application, where the transformational leader supports the process of interactivity and corporatism in the organization. The efforts of a transformational leader are aimed at identifying the potential of employees, their ideas, and creative thinking, allowing them to be timely and effectively respond to changes in the market environment and make appropriate management decisions. Thus, transformational leadership translates itself within the organization through individualized attention, intellectual stimulation, and charisma.
Problem-Solving
Problem-solving is an essential skill, which is both improved by and necessary for the transformational leadership theory. It is stated that “decision-making, problem-solving, and personalities were the central … internal antecedents” which determined the degree of effectiveness of a transformational leader’s efforts (Sun et al., 2017, p. 4). The main reason is the fact that supporting and transforming one’s followers requires helping and assisting them with their problems. In some cases, a leader is required to be directly involved in solving his or her subordinate’s issue, where a mere provision of access to the key instruments is not sufficient.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence or EI has an ambivalent role in the effectiveness of transformational leadership. It is stated that “most studies provide empirical support of the relationship, with variances in identifying subfactors of EI and TL that further explicate the EI–TL relationship” (Kim & Kim, 2017, p. 377). Although there are reasonable skeptics regarding the relevance of EI to the transformational leadership framework, the majority are convinced that the skill is critical for the style. EI “is regarded as a major enabler of high performance and sound culture of an organization; from the interpretational perspective, it is a driver of people’s learning and engagement” (Kim & Kim, 2017, p. 389). Thus, as someone who wants to become an effective transformational leader, an advanced practice professional must develop one’s emotional intelligence. The reasoning is based on a direct need for a transformational leader to support and connect with his or her followers. Since human interactions involve many emotional elements, being intelligent about them is beneficial.
Interpersonal Relationships
The skill of being able to build and harness interpersonal relationships is greatly influenced by the transformational leadership theory. It is reported that “transformational leadership and interpersonal trust significantly affect innovation capability. In addition, interpersonal trust mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and innovation capability” (Hui et al., 2018, p. 1). Therefore, an effective transformational leader needs to practice his or her leadership by maximizing the use of the skill of fostering follower trust by building a meaningful relationship. A major benefit of such a dynamic between a leader and follower is an enhanced capability for innovation, which creates better competitiveness among organizations, especially businesses. In an environment of high professional demands, multitasking, and stressful work environments, the transformational leadership model focuses on meeting the needs and problems at the individual level of each member of the group, thereby emphasizing the creation and development of emotional bonds. A high share of responsibility of the leader in the process of cooperation and assistance to group members.
Empowerment
The leadership skill of empowerment is positively influenced by the transformational leadership theory as well. A study suggests that there is “the linkage between transformational leadership and work engagement is partially mediated by structural empowerment … by enabling access to information, opportunities, support, and adequate resources” (Amor et al., 2019, p. 169). In other words, being an effective transformational leader is impossible without the skill of empowerment, which is a necessary ingredient in improving engagement among the followers. The given skill is tightly tied to the previous one on leadership knowledge and knowledge-sharing, where increased access to information, as well as support, creates positive changes in a group or organization.
Conclusion
Thus, as a leader with a future advanced practice role, it is important to be skillful at empowering the followers both individually and structurally to increase their involvement, motivation, and engagement within the process or task of achieving the common goal. The first and most important tool of managerial influence on human resources is motivation, or the formation of a motivational spirit in the team. Motivation helps the leader to explain, convince and prove to employees the need for changes in the organization. The motivational model is closely related to the development of employees in the organization, and their self-esteem, which will be effective in cooperation with each other. A high degree of charisma in a transformational leader has a direct impact on employees since, at this stage of organizational transformation, their organizational behavior changes.
References
Amor, A. M., Abeal Vázquez, J. P., & Faíña, J. A. (2019). Transformational leadership and work engagement: Exploring the mediating role of structural empowerment. European Management Journal, 38(1), 169-178.
Hui, L., Phouvong, S., & Phong, L. B. (2018). Transformational leadership facilitates innovation capability: The mediating roles of interpersonal trust. International Journal of Business Administration, 9(3), 1-9.
Kim, E. J., & Park, S. (2020). Transformational leadership, knowledge sharing, organizational climate and learning: An empirical study. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 41(6), 761-775.
Kim, H., & Kim, T. (2017). Emotional intelligence and transformational leadership: A review of empirical studies. Human Resource Development Review, 16(4), 377-393.
Sun, J., Chen, X., & Zhang, S. (2017). A review of research evidence on the antecedents of transformational leadership. Education Sciences, 7(1), 1-27.