Ward Komers

Engaged employees are critical for an organization to meet its goals and for its overall success. Indeed, many studies suggest that engaged employees have enhanced performance, exceed expectations, and achieve results, which positively affects organizational effectiveness. Therefore, it is worthwhile for leaders to look for ways to ensure employees are engaged in their work.

One style of leadership that has been shown to be effective in fostering employee engagement is transformational leadership. As a transformational leader, it’s important for leaders to support their followers and regularly communicate the organization’s mission, vision, and values. Moreover, transformational leaders must build trust with their followers, act with integrity, be inspirational, stimulate innovation, and be a coach and mentor to their followers. So how does a leader accomplish all this?

The Leader’s Compass by Ed Ruggero and Dennis F. Haley provides transformational leaders with a practical approach to let followers know “what you expect, what you value, how you’ll act, and how you’ll measure performance.” After a brief fable, the book guides leaders through creating their own “leadership philosophy,” which serves as a communication tool that leaders can share with their followers. If you want to improve the effectiveness of your leadership and your organization, give The Leader’s Compass a read and then implement your own leadership philosophy.