Leaders Instil Inspiration

The inspirational leader feels passionate about the vision and mission of the organisation. He is also able to share the passion in a way that enables others to feel passionate, too. The nature of the vision and mission is critical for enabling others to feel as if their work has purpose and meaning beyond the tasks they perform each day. Sometimes, leaders must help their staff connect the dots by explaining the big picture to everyone. Communicating the big picture regularly will help reinforce the reason your organisation exists.

The inspirational leader listens to the people of the organisation. Talking to people about your passion is not enough. To ‘share meaning’, you must allow the ideas and thoughts of your staff to help form the vision and mission, or at least, the goals and action plan. No one is ever one hundred percent supportive of a direction they had no part in formulating. People need to see their ideas incorporated – or understand why they were not.

To experience inspiration, people also need to feel included. Inclusion goes beyond the listening and feedback; for real inclusion, people need to feel intimately connected to the actions and process that are leading to the accomplishment of the goals or the decision.

Important to inspiration is the integrity of the leading person. Yes, vision and passion are important, but employees must trust you to feel inspired. They must believe in you. Your ‘person’ is as important as the direction you provide. Employees look up to a person who tells the truth, tries to do the right things, live a good life and does their best. Trust me. Your actions play out on the stage of your organisation and your staff does the boo and cheer and vote with their feet and their actions.

Finally, an inspirational leader, within his capabilities, gives people what they want. (You cannot provide a raise in pay without company profitability, as an example, but you absolutely must share the rewards if the organisation is doing well.) The inspirational leader also understands that, while money is a motivator, so are praise, recognition, rewards, a thank you and noticing an individual’s contribution to a successful endeavour.