The theory of Transformational Leadership (TL) claims to have positive correlations with individual and team level improvements in performance.[1] However, linkages between TL and improved performance have yet to be clearly mapped and carefully studied in complex and diverse contexts. [2] “Transformlead@21” is a design-based research (DBR) project that will be used “to generate complex interventions” employing relevant methodological approaches in order to understand and nurture transformational leadership.[3] The chosen intervention will be based on the efficacy of knowledge-building capabilities found in Communities of Practice (COPs). Transformlead@21 will be a DBR project that will pragmatically test linkages of transformational leadership theory to performance through the creation of a cloud-based online sociotechnical infrastructure ecology of learning around context-specific innovation projects along the principles of CoPs. The HEAD Foundation (Singapore), a charitable foundation spearheading leadership and leadership programs in Southeast Asia, and the Universitas Negeri Jakarta (UNJ) (State University of Jakarta), one of the leading Higher Institutes of Leadership Training for Educators in Indonesia are the partners in this venture. Transformlead@21 will benefit UNJ in enhancing its existing leadership development programs. For HEAD Foundation, Transformlead@21 is consistent with its ethos of developing leaders and educators.

[1] Wang, G., Oh, I.-S., Courtright, S., & Colbert, A. (2011). Transformational Leadership and Performance Across Criteria and Levels: A Meta-Analytic Review of 25 Years of Research. Group & Organization Management, 36(2), 223-270.

[2] Ibid.

[3] The Design-Based Research Collective. (2003). Design-Based Research: An Emerging Paradigm for Educational Inquiry. Educational Researcher, 32(1), 5-8., p.7