4.11.2 Survey of Transformational Leadership (STL)
The Survey of Transformational Leadership (STL) is a non-commercial tool for assessing transformational leadership within substance use treatment organizations. The STL gathers detailed information on specific leadership behaviors and identifies nine distinct themes that represent various aspects of transformational leadership practices. Its purpose is to provide a reliable, valid, and free resource for organizational self-monitoring and training.
The STL was developed by Jennifer Edwards, Danica Knight, Kirk Broome, and Patrick Flynn in 2008. The instrument focuses on five core components of transformational leadership: idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, and empowerment. It consists of 83 items.
The instrument was developed through a study of 213 counselors within 57 substances use treatment programs in four U.S. regions. The study evaluated clinical directors’ leadership practices. The STL’s psychometrics were established through focus groups, factor analysis, and validation instruments. The instrument’s construct validity was assessed by comparing it against the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), Attributes of Leader Behavior Questionnaire (ALBQ), and Survey of Organizational Functioning (SOF) using the job satisfaction subscale. The authors concluded that the STL demonstrated sufficient reliability and validity for both subscale items and as an overall measure of transformational leadership.
Access
The STL is available online via the National Institutes of Health (NIH) website: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4006131/
References
Edwards, J. R., Knight, D. K., Broome, K. M., & Flynn, P. M. (2010). The development and validation of a transformational leadership survey for substance use treatment programs. Substance Use & Misuse, 45(9), 1279–1302. https://doi.org/10.3109/10826081003682834
