Helping managers to engage and inspire people has long been a passion of mine. Creating trust is at the centre of inspirational leadership I believe. There’s a fabulous little article in the latest Edge magazine (Institute of Leadership & Management member’s mag) that I find a great summary:
- Be authentic (don’t be afraid to show your vulnerabilities or ask for help)
- Connect with others dreams
- See in others the abilities & talents they don’t see in themselves (notice it, name it and nurture it – often we’re oblivious to our greatest gifts because they’re so close to us!)
- Speak and live with credibility (such an important point – you must lead with moral authority and walk your talk or you’ll lose respect faster than Homer Simpson!)
- Inspire with great stories (not about yourself, but about people who have overcome great challenges such as famous mountain climbers or a true rags to riches story)
- Help people to live for a purpose (there’s more to life than work; we each have, or can have, a purpose – when it’s crystal clear to us it guides us like a lighthouse. Our work can contribute or be the vehicle to achieving that purpose.)
- Create a culture of inspiration (be committed to excellence and character development, not blinkered to only look at and make decisions based on the bottom line. Chasing numbers tends to make us reactive and impulsive)
When I think of the inspirational leaders and managers that I’ve worked with over the years, they certainly tick all of these boxes. If you’re a leader, or want to be, I think one of the great challenges is that the old style of ‘command and control’ leadership just doesn’t work any more. If you use that approach (and I know plenty of people who still do!) you may get compliance, you may get performance. But you won’t get respect, you won’t get loyalty and it’s unlikley you’ll get trust.
In these challenging economic times many corporate managers are under pressure to increase performance with less resource - that’s a conundrum that only inspirational leadership can solve.
Inspirational leadership is a core part of my Project Manager Masterclass Series, or to get beyond the theory and into how YOU can tweak your own style of leadership and management to be more inspirational please book a free Strategy Session with me. I’d love to help.
