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Want To Be An Inspirational Leader?

Guest post by: Michael Hume

Article Overview: What might you be doing to bum out your team? Here are a few simple self-diagnosis questions you can ask to check yourself out.

Want To Be An Inspirational Leader?

Start By Eliminating Your Demotivating Behaviors Good doctors start with a simple principle when they treat a patient: first, do no harm. Leaders would do well to adopt the same principle; especially those who, like many of my coaching clients, want to be more inspirational for their teams.

Many well-intentioned leaders, even those who consider inspirational leadership to be part of their "brand," unknowingly engage in behaviors that not only undermine their efforts to motivate their people, but worse, leave team members frozen in apathy. In some cases, the leader has even angered members of his team. In those cases, even if the alienation was unintentional, the leader may have created exactly the opposite conditions he sought to create: his team goes to work each day not with an inspired vision to meet goals, but with a smoldering vendetta that might rise to the level of sabotage. They're out to get not only the organization, but the leader himself. It's personal. And its deadly to any business unit's chances for success.

What might you be doing to bum out your team? Here are a few simple self-diagnosis questions you can ask to check yourself out.

Are you visibly committed to the long-term success of your team members? Your folks must see you as their guide, their cheerleader, and their champion. If they see you instead as a policeman, or as someone who does nothing but check up on them, they'll get the notion that you're only committed to your own career. And they might be right.

Are you doing anything that could possibly be viewed as taking personal credit for your team's efforts? If so, that's one of the fastest ways to demotivate talented folks who might otherwise go the extra mile for the cause. It's also one of the most common mistakes leaders make, and tends to lead to a ticked-off team!

Do you walk your talk? Good role-modeling is the best way to convince your people that you believe in your mission and that you mean what you say. Bad modeling is a fast route to convincing them of the opposite. One of the most effective ways to present a reliable image to your team is to commit yourself to a personal initiative that has nothing to do with work, but which can be visibly demonstrated in your everday actions. My favorite has been the "health kick." I'm on a permanent health kick, and my people have always known it. I never let them see me eating junk; I consistently hit the company gym before work and let them see me on the treadmill. Don't go out of your way to trumpet your health habits - that's just annoying. But do behave consistently and encourage similar efforts on the part of your people. It's a great way to show, through role modeling, that you're the sort of person with the courage and conviction to walk her talk, even when it's tough. Even when they know you'd rather be snorking down those doughnuts!

How aware are you of what's going on in your people's lives? Don't let your team give you a nickname like "Oblivia." Here's the sort of exchange Oblivia might have with a talented member of her team: "So how are you doing?" "Well," says Talent, "I'll be great as soon as I can get my daughter out of the hospital." "That's great!" responds Oblivia. "And how about your sales figures for the month?" Be focused; but you have to be sensitive and empathetic, too, or all that focus is not only useless, it's potentially destructive.

How aware are you of what your people think of you? Here's a crazy idea: ask them. Ask for feedback on how you're doing. Better yet, ask a team member for some coaching! When you make them a partner in your own leadership development, everybody wins. It's possible to turn a disgruntled employee completely around... last month he spent his time watching you, judging you, and talking to others about what a weenie you are... this month, he's still watching and judging, but now he's thinking about what he can do to help you! Your results may vary, but I've seen it work exactly that way.

Do your people have clarity around how their work fits into the larger mission of the unit? You may think you've done everything that can be done to make that clear... but have you really? If someone who is smart enough to be on your team doesn't "get" the mission, you need to work harder to express it. Paint them a picture. People learn in different ways, and you have to find what turns on the light for each member of your team.

Are your messages more about fear than hope? Talented people do their best work when they're shooting for something great. Almost no one does super work when the main motivator is to keep from being laid off. Hope-driven behaviors are positive, innovative, and filled with creative energy. Fear-driven behaviors are defensive, protective, and filled with anxiety. You might be able to diagnose how your own communications are being received by looking at the way your folks spend their time. Are they dreaming and doing great things, or are they writing each other memos to cover their backsides? It doesn't take much effort to get a lot smarter about what's really going on.

There are many other ways you can get a reading on how you might be unplugging your team's energy without even knowing it. But these few questions are a great start. Do you have a problem in any of these areas? If you feel you'd benefit from more coaching, feel free to contact me or someone else who can help you. It's rare that a leader who has a real problem keeping their team engaged can turn it around by themselves. Get help. Get encouragement. And get your team pointed in the right direction and pushing hard for success.

Related Articles
  Inspirational Leaders Aren't Angry People
  Great Leadership Requires Inspiration, XVIII
  Inspirational Leadership: The Art Of Appreciation
  Be An Entrepreneur This Year
  We Can Do This
  Great Leadership Requires Inspiration, XVII
  Appreciate Your Adversaries, VII
  Take Care Of Your Business, V
  Inspirational Leaders Challenge Themselves
  Inspirational Leaders Are Driven By Values
  Inspirational Leaders Are Great Listeners
  Great Leadership Requires Inspiration, XIII
  Appreciate Your Adversaries, VI
  Inspirational Leadership: Do It Your Way
  Help Somebody Today
  Personal Responsibility: Bloom Where You're Planted
  How to Be an Inspiring Leader
  Great Leadership Requires Inspiration, XIX
  Inspirational Leadership: The Art Of Appreciation II
  Don't Be Defeated By Inaction

Article Tags: entrepreneurship, health wealth and happiness, inspirational leadership, personal responsibility



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