Leaders often encounter the need to transform organizations from low performance to acceptable performance or from acceptable performance to high performance. At other times, a leader is expected to move a firm from a crisis mode to high ground. To accomplish these lofty purposes, the transformational leader attempts to overhaul the organizational culture or subculture. His or her task can be as immense as the process of organizational change.

To focus our discussion specifically on the leader’s role, we look at ten ways in which transformations take place. The transformational leader makes group members aware of the importance of certain rewards and how to achieve them. He or she might point to the pride workers would experience should the firm become number one in its field. The transformational leader helps group members look to the big picture for the sake of the team and the organization.

The transformational leader helps people go beyond a focus on minor satisfactions to a quest for self-fulfillment. The transformational leader must help group members understand the need for change both emotionally and intellectually. An effective transformational leader recognizes the emotional resistance to change and deals with it openly. To create the transformation, the leader assembles a critical mass of managers and imbues in them the urgency of change. To sell this vision of an improved organization, the transformational leader must capitalize on available opportunities.