The Transformational Leadership Traits to Help You Stay Relevant in BFSI

Featured Image Caption: Businessman Standing Close Arrow Sign | Image Credit: freepik(.)com

Jump to read...

A positive change is taking place in the BFSI sector. The evolution of new-age technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and more is allowing digital banking to rise to new heights. Unsurprisingly, it has become an advantageous strategy for any intuitive top digital pioneer in India looking to drive profitability at his BFSI company.

Everyone is living in an era of the fintech revolution that has transformed the banking industry into a far more efficient and profitable enterprise. Customer centricity, contactless banking, digital solutions, and Indian digital payments are becoming more and more popular among consumers.

Therefore, it is crucial that today’s leaders looking to become famous finance personalities in India leverage this BFSI evolution with a brand of leadership that is forward-looking and people-centric. This is where transformational leadership comes into the picture.

What Is Transformational Leadership?

Transformational leadership encourages, inspires, and motivates employees to innovate and create change to help the business grow and move forward. Several ways are available to achieve this goal, including setting a strong example at the executive level through strong corporate culture, employee ownership, and independence at work. The transformational leadership model encourages leaders to demonstrate authentic, strong leadership with the idea that employees will be inspired to follow suit.

Today, some of the world’s most progressive BFSI companies have embedded inspiring models of transformational leadership, such as Bajaj Group. It would have been easy for management at these companies to be satisfied with their already enviable market position. Transformational leadership displayed by the likes of Sanjiv Bajaj, who heads the group, instead keeps pushing them to excel in domains that require an innovative, disruptive and differentiated approach.

As one of the best fintech leader, Sanjiv Bajaj has shown meticulous transformational leadership to empower employees to act like owners, identify new market opportunities where there’s a supply-demand gap in financial services, and develop innovative products and services using digital-first technologies. So, as an ambitious BFSI enthusiast, what traits can you learn from such a style of transformational leadership to stay relevant in the sector? Let’s find out.

Prepare For Uncertainty

Leadership in the transformational era must be disruptive, willing to adapt to the unknowns of the future. Taking calculated risks, innovating, collaborating, and engaging in authentic leadership are the skills required to succeed at every level, from the top to the bottom. The best transformational financial leaders in India make tough decisions.

Unlike transactional leaders, transformational leaders make critical decisions that can cannibalize existing business and force the organization to move away from its tried-and-true approach. This may disrupt daily operations, force playbooks to be abandoned, and challenge the status of the organization. As per the transformational leadership model, leaders are not afraid to make difficult decisions. Although they are focused on their goals and objectives, they never lose sight of the values and vision of their organization.

Risk Tolerance

Innovation does not follow a predictable path. In order to lead with transformation, leaders must understand that taking calculated risks is essential. Those who lead in transformational ways rely on their innate curiosity to seek out new approaches, rely on research, request expert advice, and act assertively when opportunities present themselves.

Intuitive Vision

Leaders who are transformational use their keen perception to maintain an eye to the future and see small obstacles that impede smooth execution. Their intuition tells them that their organization needs to move in a certain direction to compete in its sector. Leaders who care about the organization can be seen as transformational. Leadership that transforms organizations understands that even the smallest detail can cause a major setback.

Fostering New Ideas

A leader who is not open or receptive to new ideas is unlikely to achieve transformation. Transformational leaders understand that success requires synchronized efforts by all members of the team and that growth only occurs in organizations that welcome new ideas from top-down or bottom-up perspectives.

A top digital pioneer in India who is adaptable is more likely to withstand the dynamics of change in the BFSI industry. Transformational leaders are capable of thinking differently about current situations more than others. Rather than seeing only problems, they see new possibilities. Reframing an issue is one of their specialties, and they are willing to ask: What if the opposite were the case? As the business environment becomes more dynamic, they seek ever more creative responses.

A Proactive and Charismatic Personality

In their role as leaders, transformational personalities who are also famous personalities in finance in India must be charismatic because they must rally team members around a common purpose. A transformational leader demonstrates charisma by listening, being present, giving praise when things go well, taking responsibility when something goes wrong, and providing constructive feedback.

Transformational leaders have two distinct advantages by being proactive. It enables them to mitigate risk and avoid problems by identifying problems at an early stage. Also, it enables them to turn opportunities into challenges. This style of leadership can lead to innovative solutions to a problem the customer may not have even known they had.

Conclusion

Businesses need to do their best to get the most from their employees when the market is uncertain. Despite its focus on minimizing costs and maximizing production, transformational leadership plays its role when it comes to taking advantage of market opportunities. In order to do so, leaders must be willing to step outside the lines and push the organization beyond its self-imposed boundaries.

Embedded managers, of course, do not seem to be hampered by these limitations. Their past experience has shown them to be successful. Any leadership team faces a tall order when it comes to looking beyond the horizon. Leaders who excel at this are transformational and exceptional.

The BFSI sector in India is witnessing a wave of digitalization and Industry 4.0 technologies like AI and machine learning that have the potential to transform how consumers interact with the companies forever. To leverage this opportunity, modern-day financial leaders must adopt a transformational leadership style to foster innovation, encourage free thinking and risk tolerance, motivate employees and forge a future-focused vision. In this article, we take a look at how BFSI leaders like Sanjiv Bajaj have achieved success with transformational leadership, and what are the various traits of transformational leadership that BFSI hopefuls can adopt.