As you may already know, a Leader must know how to Reward and Punish.
- In a fair way.
This is commonly known as Transactional Leadership:
- To regard Relations as Transaction Processes: You do this, You get that.
That is why it is called Transactional.
It is a pretty basic conception of what Leaders do:
- Reward the ones who do it Best.
- Punish the ones who under-perform.
But, in reality, it is not as simple as that.
Let’s list the Characteristics a good Transactional Leader has:
Characteristics of a Transactional Leader
They are Fair.
- It is not simple to reward and punish fairly… always.
- We are humans; We can’t help but like some people more than others.
They are Cold-minded.
- In order to Punish and Reward fairly, you must not take things personally.
- He who deserves a reward today may deserve to be punished tomorrow.
They know what people Want… And Fear.
- Some people want money, others responsibility, others flexibility, etc.
- Offering the right thing to the right person is not as easy as it seems.
As you can see, it’s not as simple as threatening someone into doing something.
A true Leader does it in a proper way.
You may have heard of another type of Leadership, whose name is very similar, but is “supposedly” the complete opposite:
- The Transformational Leadership.
They are different, but not as much as many people think.
Difference between Transactional and Transformational Leaders
A Transformational Leader is someone who, as its name indicates, tries to Transform things and Mindsets, to achieve something.
- Usually a Vision, which is a buzzword for a Goal.
Transformational Leaders Convince more than Impose.
- Which is what Transactional Leaders are often accused of.
However, these two types of Leadership need each other.
- A Transactional Leader, commonly, also wants to change things.
- A Transformational Leader also applies rewards and punishments to those who refuse to change.
Lets see some brief examples of Transactional Leadership practices:
Examples of Transactional Leadership
Training a Dog.
- With all due respect… Training a dog and dealing with some people… is the same.
- If they behave well, cookie, otherwise, stick.
Bonus Linked to Results.
- These Bonuses encourage Performance.
- They don’t not try to convince you of anything.
Offer Promotions to the best Employees.
- Very usual reward in Big Companies.
- The “punishment” is seeing your coworkers being promoted.
Have a better Relationship with the Top Achievers.
- Although it is controversial and we do not recommended it… It is very common.
- When a Leader has a Group of “Privileged Relationships”.
- You can see this Method in Harry Potter 6: Horace Slughorn and his “Special Students”.
