Transformation means a series of interdependent initiatives and interconnected aimed at reinventing the organisation and discovering a new business model based on a vision of the future.

Here are the factors that facilitate it:

• Intellectual stimulus

By shaking things up and asking questions, transformational leaders continuously challenge the status quo and are not afraid to fail. They aspire to an environment where it is easy to be confrontational, voice new ideas and be creative. They challenge cultural norms and work to inspire passion within their groups and among their peers.

As Rucker (chairwoman of the CIO Executive Council's Executive Women in IT) points out, they are adept at turning 'my moments' into 'our moments'.

Shipley, Vice President and CIO for Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Kansas City, says that managers who possess an authoritarian, control-oriented leadership style achieve obedience, but only in the short term. In this way one can be very successful, but one cannot maintain it for a long time.

A better approach, Shipley argues, is to lead your team but let them solve their own problems on their own.

• Individual Consideration

Is the golden rule flawed? Probably not, but consider the following: "Don't treat people the way you would like to be treated, treat them the way they want to be treated". People are different and what motivates and stimulates one person is different from what might motivate and stimulate another. "It is therefore necessary to learn to adapt one's own style to match the skills of the people in one's team', states Rucker.

• Inspirational Motivation

Be aware of where you want to go and create a strategy to reach your goal and then formulate, with optimism and passion, a vision to show others how it all matters and fits into your larger plan.

"It is important to communicate to others why you are doing what you are doing. I find great satisfaction in understanding my co-workers and grasping what motivates them," Shipley says, adding this analogy:

Two guys were digging a ditch, so I asked one of them, "What are you doing?" One replied: "We are digging a ditch, what does it look like we are doing?". I then asked the other boy the same question. He replied, "I am building a hospital.

It is very important that people understand that whatever task or task they are doing, they are not just completing a task, they are part of a bigger project. To quote Shipley again: "They are not just digging a ditch or programming a code, they are changing the way our country delivers healthcare'..

• Idealised influence

"Separated from ethics, leadership is reduced to management, company policies and mere technical operations', writes Burns.

Transformational leadership requires decision-making skills that work for the 'greater good'. One must be a mentor of all kinds and be able to inspire by example. "To implement sustainable changes values-based leadership is needed because these same values ensure that the results achieved are backed by solid ethical and moral foundations that will stand up to any judgement or resistance to change,' says Stewart.

• Perseverance during conflicts

Experts agree that transformational change is bound to create conflict. There will be people who will oppose it or ignore it. "One has to be able to manage one's role by looking for the best way to involve the people working next to one's self. By doing so, the position you hold is transformed into the power you need to bring about change in the company,' says Rucker.

Are you ready to don the clothes of the transformational leader? You don't have to be a magician to become one because, as Ford says, "Everyone can be a transformational leaderIt is a contextual phenomenon of scale'.