Components to Transformational Leadership

God has called us to transform lives. There are many components that will help the leader become transformational, but here we will consider risk and trust. The transformational leader must be willing to put himself on the line in order to develop the kind of relationship that will ensure influence. This can be a risky proposition because it goes outside the boundaries of conventional relationship. Briscoe, Larson, and Osborne spoke of leadership in terms of risk taking in there book: Measuring up: The need to succeed and the fear of failure. They assert: “Highly successful leaders ignore conventional wisdom and take chances. Their stories inevitably include a defining moment or key decision when they took a significant risk and thereby experienced a breakthrough.” Trust is another key component. There can be no productive relationship without it. Trust can only be built on the foundation of integrity and must be cultivated with care. . God puts an emphasis upon trust when He challenges all people to “Trust in the Lord…” (Psalm 37:3) God places further importance upon trust as He makes it a requisite to blessing. “Blessed are they that put their trust in the Lord.” (Psalm 2:12) Jeswald Salacuse in his book: Leading Leaders: How to Manage Smart, Talented, Rich, and Powerful People, brings this into focus by attaching trust in the relationship to productivity with his assertion that: “Positive relationships engender trust, and trust in a leader is vital in securing desired action from followers.” Certainly the components necessary to becoming a transformational leader are not limited to these, but learning to take a risk and developing trust is a good start.