Are Transformational Leaders Born or Made?

An often debated question is whether leaders are born with the skills required to successfully lead a business or organization, or whether those skills are learned. In truth, it’s a bit of both. A successful transformational leader displays a number of behaviors that can engage employees, create a strong vision for the future—both for employees and the organization—and believes in developing the skills of people around them.

While a person might be born with certain tendencies that align with a transformational leader, these types of behaviors and skills can also be developed through coaching and learning. The most important thing when developing leaders in your organization is to establish a baseline. By measuring what behaviors a person currently possesses, you can better develop a personalized training plan and have a benchmark with which to compare future assessments.

Envision Global Leadership (EGL) has developed a statistically valid Leadership MultiRater (LMR) assessment that identifies a person’s leadership traits and behaviors. It can also identify derailers—which are behaviors that could reduce leadership influence. Assessments only take about 25 minutes to complete and are completed online through our EGL Member portal.

LeaderNAV^TM is our proprietary leadership software that is used by HR, L&D and talent managers at organizations across the country to help track leadership progress. Our software is able to compare results from all employees taking the LeadershipMultiRater assessments and can help track progress. LeaderNAV^TM can be licensed by companies in order to provide ongoing access to the software and we work with HR professionals at the organization to properly administer assessments and interpret results.