Defining a New Way of Leading

		President-elect Barack Obama. “I think he is a transformational figure … and for that reason, I’ll be voting for Barack Obama,” said Colin Powell when he was interviewed on NBC’s Meet the Press. A lot of theories have been written about leadership styles. The two most often contrasted are transformational leadership and transactional leadership. "A transformational leader takes a visionary position and inspires people to follow. This vision may be developed by the leader, by the senior team or may emerge from a broad series of discussions. The important factor is the leader buys into it, hook, line and sinker.

“The next step, which in fact never stops, is to constantly sell the vision. This takes energy and commitment, as few people will immediately buy into a radical vision, and some will join the show much more slowly than others. The Transformational Leader thus takes every opportunity and will use whatever works to convince others to climb on board the bandwagon.

“In order to create followers the Transformational Leader has to be very careful in creating trust and their personal integrity is a critical part of the package that they are selling. In effect, they are selling themselves as well as the vision.

“The transactional leader works through creating clear structures whereby it is clear what is required of their subordinates, and the rewards that they get for following orders. Punishments are not always mentioned, but they are also well-understood and formal systems of discipline are usually in place.” (http://www.changingminds.org)

Transactional leadership has its roots in the military. With the fire service being a paramilitary organization, it’s the style of leadership that dominates. But throughout the fire service, transformational leadership is also exemplified every day. We see it in those leaders who are committed to bringing prevention to the forefront. We see it in those leaders who have no tolerance—in policy and practice—for discrimination, hostility, harassment, disrespect, shunning, isolation, and hazing. We see it in those leaders who model and reinforce a respectful work and living environment where mutual trust, support and teamwork flourishes. We believe that it’s not an either/or choice nor an awkward balancing act. It’s taking the best of our organizational structure and their underlying assumptions and expanding them to encompass new ones that ensure our learning and growth.

• A clear chain of command
• Discipline
• Selfless service
• Inclusion
• Diversity

Barack Obama’s election is a historic milestone. It’s also, in our opinion, the beginning of a new way of leading!