Transformational Leadership Revisited: Digitalization and Learning by Doing... What?

Abstract

A large part of leadership research has focused on transformational leadership. The research has focused on why this form of leadership is good. However, there are few, if any, studies on how to learn this way of leading. The research question is: How do adults prefer to learn transformational leadership? Based on the theory of learning and learning style theory, this research paper discusses the findings from in depth interviews with 68 people before the completed executive courses in transformational leadership. The findings show in the learning process of transformational leadership, promoting intellectual stimulation and creativity perceives as difficult. Creating visions and being able to motivate their employees is a challenge. Learning by doing is a desired learning process, and a mixture of exercises and theory is preferred. When it comes to the way of learning, half of the informants want to learn with others, learn something new, and approach the new skills in a structured way. They also want to see what they learn from different perspectives. There is a positive attitude to learning transformational leadership, but a demanding context of learning by doing using the existing knowledge and experiences developed further by learning together by using actual problem-based situations.