Are you a traditional leader? Do you perform traditionally expected tasks such as managing, supervising, organizing work and monitoring performance? Or, do you consider yourself to be a transformational leader, breaking through the status quo to set strategy and drive change?

Promotional Consultant Today shares these tips for crossing the bridge from traditional to transformational leadership.

1. Personalize Your Management Style

Adapt your leadership style to the different personalities, needs and skills of your team. Act as a mentor or a coach more so than a boss. Assign and delegate work based on talents and interests, but also challenge their comfort zones. Support their career development independently of their tenure with you and show concern for their well-being as people not just as workers.

2. Encourage Creativity

Foster innovation by challenging assumptions about what can and cannot be done. React to mistakes and failures in a way that shows that you condone risk-taking. Give your support, provide resources and remove barriers to change. Approach problems as learning opportunities. Think twice when people agree with you; show you value independent thinking and reward people who challenge you.

3. Guide, Motivate and Inspire

Guide your team in the direction you want the group to go by setting a vision, strategy and goals. Motivate them to bring their best by expressing your passion, communicating with confidence and optimism, and connecting tasks to a greater purpose. Your work doesn't stop there; inspire them to act by continuously engaging their talents, re-recruiting their spirit and celebrating successes.

4. Be A Role Model

Act with integrity and ethical standards in your behaviors and your words. Just as small children mimic and emulate their parents, your team will take note of what you do and use it as a template for how they act and behave. It happens automatically and subconsciously, whether the behavior is positive or negative—people will follow your example. It will happen with intention for transformational leaders—people will strive to be like you.

Source: Eva Rykrsmith is an organizational psychology practitioner. Her passion lies in bringing a psychology perspective to the business world, with the mission of creating a high-performance environment.

Bonus: Sign up now for a live webinar that teaches the unconventional secrets of high performance management. Expert Troy Harrison says most managers perform three activities: hiring, firing and dictating. In this 60-minute webinar, he teaches a management method based on relationships and persuasion-one that generates better results, lower employee turnover and higher performance from your staff. It's free for PPAI members and $15 for nonmembers. Mark your calendar for October 28 at 1 pm central time. Register here.