One of the biggest traps I experience with clients is that leadership is a term not universally understood and that leaders don’t know how to lead. We have been taught that leaders must have all the right answers and know what to do. That paradigm sets leaders up for problems. No one person knows every right answer or every right tactic. We have teams to fill in our gaps. The trick is to know how to create and sustain a collaborative culture. This defines Transformational Leadership.

In order to define the culture, it’s important to define ourselves as leaders and note how we function. Below is a list comparing controlling leaders with collaborative leaders.

Controlling Leader:

Uses power of position

Keeps control of information

Top-down decision making

Is “always right”

Dictates

Solves problems at executive level and informs others

Creates “silos” of independent work

Depends on a “rules”-based culture for limiting activities

Attacks and blames people

Uses the annual review to criticize

Collaborating Leader:

Uses power of influence

Shares information openly with team

Co-creation of decisions