Week 5 Reflection– Transformational Leadership

I believe that according to James McGregor Burns’ theory of transformational leadership, my supervisor at ILA, Marcia, is not a transformational leader. According to Burns, transformational leaders produce qualitative effects as well as quantitative effects. Also, according to Burns’ theory of transformational leadership, transformational leaders practice reciprocal leadership. This means that leaders change their followers for the better, but followers also have a positive effect on their leaders. Transformational leaders usually have very open communication and they make decisions with their followers’ best interest in mind. 

From what I have observed in my internship at ILA so far, my boss Marcia is not a transformational leader. That is not to say that Marcia is not a good leader, but she does not qualify as a transformational leader according to Burns’  theory of transformational leadership. 

I have found that Marcia does not emphasize communication in her relationship with her followers. For example, as a follower I meet with Marcia weekly to discuss what I am working on, what she needs me to do and what I need her help with. However, beyond these meetings I do not hear from her consistently throughout the week. Sometimes I do wish I was a little more clued in as to what ILA is working on. A transformational leader in this context would make more of an effort to communicate openly and consistently. 

Furthermore, Marcia is very focused on the quantitative effects of the projects that we work on together. She is primarily focused on signing as many members up for ILA as possible. This makes sense because that is the main goal of her job. A transformational leader, however, would be more interested in how ILA’s members and ILA’s staff are succeeding and what the leader can do to help them. 

Finally, transformational leaders are impacted by their followers. As a follower, I do not feel that I have had any kind of profound impact on Marcia. This could be because I am working remotely and it is hard to make that kind of connection over zoom, but in general I feel like transformational leaders are so focussed on connecting with their followers that this type of impact comes naturally. 

For these reasons, I do not believe that my supervisor at ILA is a transformational leader.