John Eades* says it is generally accepted that the ability to inspire is the most important quality for a leader — but what happens when that ability fades and dies?
Stopping something good is better than never starting it at all.
Leaders do all kinds of things that show others they have the qualities of leadership.
To name a few: Creating strong trust-based relationships; casting a compelling vision, and constantly coaching for development.
While these are essential, there is one attribute that, without question, causes someone to consider you a leader, and that’s how well and how often you inspire.
Former LinkedIn Chief Executive, Jeff Weiner took the idea of inspiring people to a new level when he defined leadership this way:
“Leadership is the ability to inspire others to achieve a shared objective.”
Not only is Weiner right, but other great leaders, and studies, back him up.
Richard Branson identifies the ability to inspire as the number one leadership skill.
According to a study of more than 1,700 chief executives in 64 countries, the ability to inspire is one of the top three leadership traits.
When leaders inspire they get an engaged team that gives maximum effort and produces maximum results.
However, knowing it’s essential to inspire as a leader and doing it are completely different things.
Your potential to inspire others depends on how inspired you are.
It’s not hard to get behind the idea that inspiring others is an essential leadership skill.
However, sustaining it and doing it consistently through verbal and body language communication is difficult.
When one stops inspiring others, it’s like how you or I get out of shape.
We don’t make a conscious decision to stop working out or eating healthy.
It happens subconsciously because we are busy doing other things, or we get complacent in our position.
Suddenly, it’s been a month since we went to the gym, and pizza is a regular part of our diet.
Here is what happens when leaders stop inspiring on a timeline.
Within two-to-four weeks
Nothing significant changes. However, engagement begins to dip a few points.
The focus starts to shift from being mission and habits-focused to outcome-only-focused.
Within three-to-six months
Visible changes start to happen. There will be some bad turnover in one or two key roles.
Meetings and activities will be solely focused on outcomes and results.
Within 18 months
Significant changes start to happen. Turnover is a problem, as crucial team members and those who could have become crucial team members have left.
HR or Learning and Development has been called in, results have dipped, burnout is high, engagement is low.
Within three-to-five years
Changes have happened. The leader has been replaced, demoted, or left the role on their own accord. The work culture is deficient or even toxic.
There are many strategies and tactics leaders can leverage to “breathe life into someone else” consistently. Here are a few of my favourites.
Care about them first
To inspire your team consistently, it first has to understand how much you care about it.
To do this, you must reject the notion that words hold great power. Instead, accept the power of actions.
The first action has to be getting to know team members on a professional and personal level.
Great leaders first care about others in order to share the inspiration inside them.
Start by asking them questions about their journey, experiences, challenges, aspirations, and what drives them.
Instead of just going through the motions, be intent on listening and remembering so you can adjust your actions in the future to show them you heard.
Like all great relationships, the only way to get there is by dedicating time.
Your time is valuable, and you can’t get it back. Devoting time to someone else indicates that you care, and they are more important to you.
Communicate the cause
Everybody, whether they admit it or not, wants to be a part of something bigger than themselves and do meaningful work during their lives.
Part of your responsibility as a leader is to connect yourself to a deeper cause or mission and then do the same for those you get the opportunity to lead.
If you lead a team, do not go another minute without being clear on why your team does what it does and its purpose for existence.
It’s easy for people to get lost in the monotony of their everyday work without even considering how their work impacts the organisation and how it impacts people beyond its walls.
By connecting people to a deeper cause, you’ll magnify purpose and immediately raise the ceiling of what’s possible.
When things get difficult (and they will), this deeper cause will give your team a reason to continue, even in the most trying times.
Here’s the hard truth about inspiring others. Not everyone will be inspired. Not everyone will buy into the shared cause, and you can’t choose for them.
Your responsibility is to inspire them to action, and if they end up making a choice not to get on board, it’s up to you to find someone else that will.
*John Eades is the Chief Executive of LearnLoft a leadership development company. He is also the host of the Follow My Lead podcast. He can be contacted at johneades.com.
This article first appeared on John’s LearnLoft blog.
