Transformational leadership in modern education administration

Transformational leadership theory dates back to the 1970s, but it remains highly relevant to leaders and policymakers in today's world.¹ At its simplest, the theory describes a leadership style that inspires followers through a shared vision, building trust and enthusiasm to encourage the achievement of positive and lasting change. The theory focuses on individualized support in the service of encouraging personal growth, aims that clearly resonate within a contemporary education setting.²

At the University of Kansas (KU), our online master's programs in educational leadership and policy studies prepare the next generation of leaders in education. Concepts like transformational leadership theory help those preparing for leadership and administrative roles to understand how established concepts blend with the latest practice to deliver effective leadership and policy initiatives in education.

This article examines the principles of transformational leadership theory and how they can be applied to transformational and inclusive school leadership in today's world.

Core principles of transformational leadership

Transformational leadership theory identifies four key characteristics of the transformational leader:³

• Inspirational motivation: Comprising both a clear vision and the ability to inspire followers (or students) to channel the same passion and motivation to fulfill the goal
• Intellectual stimulation: An ability to disrupt settled patterns of thinking and unlock creativity by eliciting an interest in new ways of doing things and excitement at the opportunity to learn
• Individualized consideration: Empathy and genuine interest in others, fostering supportive relationships based on open communication and encouragement to freely share ideas
• Idealized influence: The transformational leader is a role model for others, earning trust and respect that encourages others to follow their example

These relatively simple categories have inspired multiple independent avenues of thought and study. For example, the concept of inspirational motivation is reframed as a standalone educational leadership tool: vision casting, a term for articulating a vision to communicate a sense of shared purpose and motivation.⁴

Key roles in education administration

Transformational leadership theory is an attractive concept for education professionals because it so clearly has application to many of the leadership and administrative challenges that present themselves both inside and outside the classroom. Whether you're interested in an online master's in educational administration to implement transformational school leadership or are seeking to enter a building-level leadership role with an online PK-12 certificate in educational administration, transformational leadership theory has something to offer anyone taking on the custodianship of the careers of others.

Modern educational administration includes a variety of roles and responsibilities, each of which presents leadership challenges:

• Superintendents and district leaders: In charge of an entire school district, typically encompassing multiple schools, with responsibility for leading interaction with the Board of Education, managing district finances, and representing the district's interests at state and higher levels⁵
• Principals and building‐level administrators: Lead a school, including ultimate responsibility for managing teachers, overseeing student discipline and motivation, liaising with parents, and interacting with district-level administrators⁶
• Department heads and instructional coaches: Oversees a team of teachers and curriculum within a specific subject area, supports students, and represents the department's interests to school administrators⁷

Whether it's in the service of change in a classroom, department, school, or district, transformational leadership theory is a scalable idea for guiding any leader seeking to inspire a group of followers, employees, or students to buy into a vision and achieve a new and positive outcome.

Strategic implementation steps

Postgraduate qualifications are not intended to be purely theoretical. Much like effective leadership, advanced degrees in educational administration are designed to develop the next generation of leaders and administrators in education. That means providing graduates with the necessary tools and experience to produce actionable change in their careers.

Transformational leadership is considered a particularly useful approach when seeking to implement or manage organizational change. Effective change, particularly with regard to policy implementation, often shows up as an issue in modern educational administration.

Strategic implementation of change using principles of transformational leadership could look something like this:

• Assess current leadership styles and gaps: Look at current leadership across the organization. Are there competing styles in play? Does institutional leadership at any particular level show gaps or weaknesses that might stifle change?
• Craft a compelling, future-focused vision: Use the principles of vision casting to articulate your vision and get buy-in from stakeholders across the institution
• Build collaborative, cross-functional teams: Maximize creativity and innovation by building teams that combine multiple functions and viewpoints, and encourage collaboration as the best way to achieve the desired goal
• Establish feedback loops and reflective practices: Keep morale and efficiency high by establishing effective feedback loops to monitor progress and quickly catch and resolve problems; build inclusivity by encouraging reflective practices so that everyone shares in the sense of progress toward a common goal

Tools and techniques

Transformational leadership theory comes to educational administration from business schools, so we can use a few of their tips regarding the tools and techniques used to drive transformational change:

• Data-driven decision-making (DDDM) frameworks: DDDM frameworks are a well-established concept in the business world with a five-step process, more or less. The process essentially lays out a method for identifying problems, determining what data can inform a solution, and then gathering and analyzing the data to guide decisions (rather than "trusting your gut")⁸
• Professional learning communities (PLC): PLCs are an education sector innovation (also known as critical friends groups, professional learning groups, or collaborative learning communities). They are a form of small-group collaboration that typically involves educators meeting regularly to share experiences and work collaboratively on improving skills⁹

For leaders seeking to implement transformational change, mentorship and coaching programs can also be highly effective. Essentially, this leverages the theory's principles of idealized influence and individualized consideration across an organization by creating a large number of role models (the mentors and coaches) rather than relying entirely on the leader's example to inspire everyone.

On a slightly different note, leaders and administrators who value transparency can encourage more open communication by using technology platforms that protect user anonymity. Conversely, tech platforms can also be a way to quickly share news and attribute credit for good ideas, encouraging more people to share ideas across the organization.

Measuring impact

If you work in today's data-driven education sector, you will be very familiar with the principal methods of measuring the impact of transformational change initiatives.

The appropriate measure depends on the desired outcome. You identify key performance indicators (KPIs), benchmark those before the proposed change, and then measure them again after the change is implemented to gauge impact.¹⁰

If you're seeking to raise standards in an institution, then it makes sense to track student achievement and engagement metrics, such as test scores, attendance levels, and class participation rates. If the goal is to improve morale within a school, teacher retention and satisfaction rates become the most important things to measure. At the policy level, administrators might look at community and stakeholder feedback to evaluate whether a particular education policy has been well received by the community it is intended to serve.

Become a transformational leader in educational administration

As a set of principles designed to inspire and motivate, transformational leadership theory has a lot to offer the students, staff, and institutions that make up the educational landscape. In the classroom, it can be adapted to a highly motivational teaching style that promotes independent thought, confident collaboration, and a focus on positive outcomes. At the building level, it can help educational administrators to successfully implement curriculum changes and motivate teachers to set and pursue high standards of achievement for their students. At the district level, it can be deployed to articulate and implement policy changes.

Ultimately, education is a sector that must constantly adapt to a changing world if it is to successfully fulfill its mandate of preparing the next generation for adulthood. And at the administrative level, the challenges are no different, as no change can take place if administrators cannot win the support and buy-in of teachers, students, and parents.

The first step toward being an effective, transformational leader is adequate training and experience. Launch your career in educational administration with an online master's in educational administration and policy studies from KU. Explore our admissions requirements online and schedule an appointment with one of our admissions outreach advisors to discuss your next steps towards a fulfilling leadership role in education.