“I need a challenge. I need the intellectual stimulation. I’m a member of a community on each film, working in concert to try to bring an idea to life. It’s a great job.” ~Harrison Ford
The fourth and final element of transformational leadership is intellectual stimulation.
Leaders have a responsibility to challenge others to learn, grow, and stretch beyond their current capacities. This expectation increases innovation, creativity, and adaptability to change.
Great leaders promote rational and careful problem solving, and never settle with sticking with the status quo.
In doing this, leaders help people think for themselves and make great decisions. This decentralizes decision-making and allows teams to act independently without unnecessary oversight.
In order to grow an organization or a team, the individuals inside of it must grow too. Building a culture of learning, improvement, and innovation through intellectual stimulation is one way to do that.
As a review, the four elements of transformational leadership are:
- Individualized Consideration
- Idealized Influence
- Inspirational Motivation
- Intellectual Stimulation
When you put these together, you have four strong elements of a leader that can help a team move beyond what needs to get done, and transform and become something great together.
See more in the video below!
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