I personally trust Kamila due to the fact that she will never let down those who trust her and believe in her. Knowing that she is charismatic and the confidence she shows when she talks makes me feel that everything is attainable and that I can follow her in anything she does without asking extra details. Unlike non-charismatic leaders, Kamila can make others willing to work harder to achieve high results by motivating them in various ways (i.e. by telling stories and using strong emotional metaphors). When I pass through some difficulties or problems she begins talking about a similar situation where she was in my position and explaining what she did to overcome it. While talking she is highlighting the points in where I have to act in the same way and she concludes that after any problems people always learn something and become better. While listening to her inspirational words I become positive and forget immediately about any problems.
House’s indicators of charisma:
House (1977) was another researcher to conduct his own theory of charismatic leadership. House’s research has derived some indicators of charisma which I can easily associate with my charismatic friend. He concluded that followers are willing to obey the charismatic leader because they perceive the leader’s beliefs as correct. When we are in a company of common friends discussing or working with Kamila in the same project, I know that her opinion will be the correct one as she inspires confidence to me and other people. That is why I often wait for her opinion and agree with her even if someone else is not. Moreover, I can see that people are getting emotionally involved when she speaks and that they feel affection towards her. People are always willing to listen to Kamila and in most cases they agree with everything she says. Finally, it is worth saying that by inspiring high performance goals to followers, she makes them believe that they can contribute to the success of the mission and they work harder. In contrast to the theory of Conger and Canugo (1987) the extraordinary ability of the leader is not necessary.
The Self-Concept theory of charismatic leadership talks about the leader’s traits and behaviors. I will now describe them through my personal perspective from my experience with a charismatic leader. Kamila is a person who expresses a high need for power. This does not necessarily mean that she can only exist in the highest level of an organization but it demonstrates a need to control her own future and to be able to make her own choices. As she described to me, in order to do something which is not led by her she must be motivated and inspired, otherwise she is not willing to work hard. Kamila possesses a strong conviction in her own beliefs and ideals and this makes her confident that she can achieve everything she wants to.
According to what she once told me, her core motivation in life is to ‘make her name famous to the world’. This is the main reason why she is currently doing many things at the same time (involvement in several societies at university and organizing charity events with me and other team members apart from studies). As she often says: ‘The easiest thing in university is to study only and not be doing anything to prove your abilities to the world’. The above statements made me conclude that achievement and recognition are Kamila’s primary sources of motivation. Lastly, I can say that Kamila exerted some sort of influence on me; which is the reason why we work with a common mission and why I got inspired to improve myself and do something that the world can be proud of me. I will now move on and describe how leaders influence followers.
Influencing followers:
The leadership behavior that describes how charismatic leaders influence the attitude and behavior of followers was given by Yukl (2006). The influence is done by:
- Articulating an appealing vision
- Using strong, expressive forms of communication when articulating the vision
- Communicating high expectations
- Expressing confidence in followers
- Modeling behaviors consistent with the vision
- Managing impressions of the leader
- Building identification with the group or organization
- Empowering followers.
I believe that the words of a charismatic leader are his/her more powerful bond with followers. The words must be strong, inspiring and appealing to followers’ emotions and situation. This is how I would describe Kamila’s words that always make followers emotionally connected and identified with her. I would also say that Kamila possesses diplomatic abilities as she can adapt her speech to match each situation and highlight the benefits for both sides. Her tactful capabilities make people trust her and be convinced by her words.
Generally, leaders are those who make sense of the world as they interpret the world around you (sense giving to followers). Moreover, leaders are those who form the opinion of followers. For example, the reaction of a country’s president in a situation will form the opinion of the majority of people in this country and they will end up sharing the same beliefs. Further than this, it is important for leaders to be able to control their emotions in public, as followers are waiting to form an impression according to their reaction. As I have noticed, Kamila can control her emotions and actions in public and can manage her behavior according to what impression she wants to give.
What is also important in leadership is the fact that it is not always necessary for followers to know everything behind a situation. It is often better if leaders give the sense that everything is under control –even if it’s not. Followers constantly need to feel the security under a leader’s wings. Further, the leader is the one who will give the sense of importance to followers e.g. ‘I was not thinking to build a cathedral before meeting this leader’.
It is remarkable to say that before meeting Kamila I was not sharing the same beliefs and ideals with her. As leaders exert some influence on subordinates, I was influenced in a significant degree by her. As a charismatic leader, she articulated an inspirational vision and managed to internalize beliefs and attitudes that motivate me to carry out our common mission which I will talk about later in this essay. While before I was thinking that is very important to study and be concentrated only on that, she taught me that it is important to be notable among others and to involve my self in many extra curricular activities. While talking she was using inspirational words and strong language that immediately raised my enthusiasm and inspiration to do something great. In order to inspire me she described how people since school years indirectly compete with each other, trying to make a name for them and gain as much experience and awards as possible. Her words made me realize that people are constantly searching for achievements and that I should start doing the same as soon as possible.
Favorable situations for charismatic leaders:
Charismatic leaders are more suitable for projects that require talent and high levels of energy. Examples include drama assignments, sports-related tasks or art projects. These are some activities that could be very successful when led by a charismatic person. Kamila as a charismatic person who loves organizing events has a unique ability of bringing people together and make them share a common purpose. She is very talented in communication with all types of people and she can complete any project with extraordinary success. She believes in teamwork and she has a distinctive ability to see opportunities that others fail to recognize. As a charismatic leader she will never accept failure but rather she will come back and do it again until it becomes a success. She will often say to me: ‘If you don’t give up you don’t fail’.
Kamila has strong interpersonal skills; she can easily communicate what she wants to others. She knows that in order to motivate people to work hard she must find a way to reach followers desires and link their personal interests to the common mission. According to Robert Bacal (2007), charismatic leadership is ‘leadership based on the leader's ability to communicate and behave in ways that reach followers on a basic, emotional way, to inspire and motivate’. Yukl (2006) agrees with this statement as he states that ‘followers are more likely to attribute charisma to leaders who inspire them with emotional appeals than to leaders who use authority or a participative decision processes’. As Kamila once said, she will first try to understand what motivates each person and then try to link their source of motivation to the task.
Attribution Theory of Charismatic Leadership:
Subordinates pass through an influence process with charismatic leaders. Through this process the leader has a high appeal to followers who are being influenced in various ways. According to the Attribution Theory of Charismatic Leadership, the primary influence process is personal identification. Due to the leader’s self-confidence, dynamic energy and unconventional behavior, subordinates end up idolizing the leaders. Also, the follower has a desire to imitate and please the leader. For example, while writing this essay I have an inner desire to please Kamila and make happy by reading what I wrote. However, I will feel disappointed in case she doesn’t like something I mentioned or if she will point out that I did not describe her correctly in a situation.
One of the reasons I believe that Kamila is a notable example of a charismatic leader is due to her unique personality that makes people identify and distinguish her from others. As a follower I was in the situation where I felt that I have to be like her, not to be like all other people. Moreover, when I do something I always wait for her approval – in order to understand if I have done something worthy or not. Theoretically, ‘leader’s approval becomes a measure of the subordinate’s self-worth’ and it is ‘followers’ primary source of motivation’. Her opinion will either make me work harder next time to avoid disappointment or make me want to keep up to her expectations in the near future.
It is important to mention here that according to Shamir (1995) ‘the attributions of charisma for followers who have close contact with the leader differ in some important ways from attribution made by followers who view the leader only from distance’. That is why other people may describe Kamila as a different type of leader. According to historical accounts, many charismatic leaders find it difficult to implement their vision within an existing organization or the existing organization does not satisfy the leader’s requirements. As a result they go on to establish a new one. This happened in the case of Kamila where the existing societies and clubs in university did not seem ideal or appealing to her. This is the reason why together we have created a new organization – KPK Entertainment Group – where we are now organizing various events for charity purposes. The organization is our common mission and I consider my self lucky to work with a charismatic leader like Kamila, as she can always inspire and motivate me when I need it. Kamila is the person who always leads the organization to the next step and right direction while she inspires the team to achieve higher results. Her ideals and beliefs are successfully communicated to the rest of the team so as to share the common vision.
Kamila as a transformational leader:
Bass (1985) defined according to how the leader affects subordinates, who are intended to trust, respect and admire the transformational leader. He concluded that there are three ways in which the leaders transform the followers:
- By increasing their awareness of the task importance and value.
- By making them focus first on team or organizational goals, rather than their personal interests.
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By activating their higher-order and ambitions.
Bass theory of transformational leadership is a good description of Kamila as a transformational leader. Kamila has influenced me in such a way as to admire, trust and respect her in a high degree. By working with her I have realized that it is very important to work for the organization’s goals and to pay high attention on the team rather than being interested for personal gain only. I would describe her as a transformational leader due to the fact that she always tries to transform people for the better, to inspire them and to activate their higher-order needs as a means of motivation to achieve something in their lives. If she doesn’t like something she will say it openly and will ask me to change it. Because I trust her opinion I will often ask Kamila whether she liked something I did or not. Bass (1985) also believes that effective leaders use a combination of transformational and transactional leadership. However, it is true to say that transformational leadership can increase motivation and performance more than transactional leadership.
Tichy & Devanna (1990) identified some characteristics of transformational leaders that I can associate with Kamila’s characteristics. First of all, transformational leaders see themselves as change agents. Whatever they don’t like or believe it should be different they try to change it. Moreover, transformational leaders are visionaries. They have the ability to dream and translate their dreams and images so that followers can share them. I would definitely say that Kamila is dedicated to her own dreams – as a result she talks about them everyday. Further, Kamila is a life long learner. She is not afraid to talk about her mistakes and ask other peoples’ opinion on that. She does not see them as failures but as life learning experiences. She would always say that ‘I have to learn from everything in life’ when I pass through some difficulties. As she always says ‘Life can only get better’. As a transformational leader she believes in people and their value. She works toward the empowerment of others and tries to motivate them to work harder. She is willing to take risks and she shows high degrees of courage.
There are four types of transformational behavior:
- Idealized influence
- Intellectual stimulation
- Individualized consideration
- Inspirational motivation
Kamila has the ability to raise strong emotions from people with her words and at the same time make them identify with her (idealized influence). When she talks with someone I can see that the person is identified with her, sharing her emotions and experience. Moreover, she can influence others to see problems and situations from her own perspective whereas she can raise awareness of problems when others do not see them (intellectual stimulation). Unlike transactional leaders, she can always provide support to me or other friends, to encourage us and she is ready to advice us when we need to (individualized consideration). Last but not least, Kamila is always the person to motivate people to start something, encouraging them while communicating an appealing vision according to the situation (inspirational motivation). It is not one time when she encouraged some friends to start their own society in university, providing innovative ideas to them to implement.
Yukl (2006) constructed a table of guidelines for transformational leadership. According to Yukl a transformational leader will:
The above guidelines show how Kamila is approaching tasks in the organization. She communicates a strong vision of how she wants to see our next project, explains how this can become possible and expresses confidence in the team members. She is always acting confidently and in an optimistic manner and she constitutes the leading example of how we should work on our own. Moreover, Kamila knows how to emphasize key values and to show the importance of tasks. That is I believe she is a bright example of a transformational leader.
Conclusion:
Some people will leave their lives without noticing that there is something bigger than what they can see in their horizon. Leaders are the ones to inspire them, to show that in life you can be or do whatever you wish to. Followers need the motivation and guidance by strong leaders in their lives. I believe that charismatic leaders are the bright stars that show the way to followers when they need it. I consider my self very lucky to have found a person who is a unique combination of charismatic and transformational leader. Kamila is the person who inspired me and gained my trust and respect with her leadership and guidance. I am thankful to have met a charismatic leader who transformed my life…
References:
Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectation. New York: Free Press.
Conger, J.A. & Kanugo, R. (1987). Toward a behavioral theory of charismatic leadership in organizational settings. Academy of Management Review, 12, 637-647.
House, R.J. (1977). A 1976 theory of charismatic leadership. In J.G. Hunt and L.L. Larson (Eds.), Leadership: The cutting edge. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, pp. 189-207.
Shamir, B. (1995). Social distance and charisma: Theoretical notes and an explanatory study. Leadership Quarterly, 6, 19-47.
Tichy, N.M, & Devanna, M.A. (1986, 1990). The transformational leader. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Weber, M. (1947). The theory of social and economic organizations. Translated by T. Parsons. New York: Free Press.
Yukl, G. (2006). Leadership in organizations. Sixth edition: Pearson International edition.
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