Week 5: Transformational Leadership at CommonLit

Along with shared-leadership, CommonLit’s CEO (and founder) and the values she has instituted show strong transformational leadership in the organization. One of the main values CommonLit has adopted is the idea of using radical candor, an idea from a book by Kim Scott. The idea is that there are different ways to provide feedback, ranging from being obnoxiously aggressive about every flaw to ignoring mistakes and flaws to protect the person’s feelings. Radical candor is the middle ground. Its two main principles are caring personally and challenging directly. This idea of radical candor reminded me of a transformational leadership approach, especially in terms of individualized consideration. The goal is to build trust with those you work with and learn how to give feedback to each person, so everyone gets the feedback they need in a way they can respond to. I’ve mentioned this relationship-oriented approach in previous blog posts, and I think radical candor strengthens this approach and reflects part of transformational leadership.

Another prong of transformational leadership is intellectual stimulation. At an educational nonprofit, this is a huge part of day-to-day life as we constantly read and research and find materials to put online, but CommonLit has also made it part of the mission to constantly be educating each other. They use the acronym SLAY to encompass their values: Sweat the Details, Learn and Share, Align Yourself and Yield to the team. The L, Learn and Share, encourages the team to constantly be sharing their knowledge, and during each Friday staff meeting, someone does a type of show and tell presentation about something they think would benefit the rest of the company. This constant search to gain more knowledge through both the work and through teaching each other shows how employees are always intellectually stimulated.

As for the other two parts of transformational leadership, our CEO strives for idealized influence and inspirational motivation. In every meeting or around the office, she always goes back to the core values of the company and reminds everyone of the importance to SLAY and implement radical candor. She wrote an article for Forbes on the importance of a positive company culture and seeks to practice what she preaches every day. She fosters the relationship-oriented environment and uses the aspects of transformational leadership to create a workplace full of smart, dedicated, passionate employees who work hard every day to improve the educational experiences of people who use the site.