Inspirational leadership: Why it matters and what it takes
Last post I invited you to think about what is personally inspiring you in life and work now. Today I follow up on the topic of inspirational leadership.
Why does it even matter if you are inspirational as a leader?
As leaders, parents, partners, friends we want to be inspirational as we know at some level it produces an energy and creativity that rubs off on others too. However, we may question whether we are perceived in this way by others. Perhaps we think that being inspirational is something inherent in some people and not in others. We may also feel we do not fit the normative picture of a big personality that can speak with confidence and eloquence and rally a team or a crowd. We may even wonder if it really matters and isn’t it just perception and playing to the crowd.
Interesting research by Bain and company argues that inspirational leadership is an organisation’s competitive edge. They conducted research in 2016 to better understand what behaviours and characteristics inspire people in organisations. In an HBR Article, the researchers challenge leaders to go beyond engaging their people as inspiring leaders as this often leads to them being more than two times more productive.
Whilst inspiration without performance will not get you far, in today’s complex millennial world with flatter organisational structures, a greater focus on cross functional remote working, and employees demand for meaning at work, inspiration becomes even more critical. They argue that it is hard to overstate the power of a company that has leaders that are inspiring others up, down and across the organisation. Some examples are greater innovation, greater productivity, achieving seemingly impossible feats as individuals think and act in extraordinary ways.
The great news is that inspiration is teachable and learnable and is a different skill set from performance skills that are equally critical to ensure execution and delivering high quality results.
Their research makes a compelling case for giving more focus to this aspect of leadership. So, think about leaders that have inspired you in the past. What is it that makes them inspirational? I invite you to write down what behaviours or characteristics inspired you.
I hope you have done this exercise, as it will be interesting to compare your mental model of inspiration with what the research indicated. So here goes. Bain research asked employees what they find inspirational and developed a model that forms their proprietary Inspiring Leadership Model
The model includes 33 elements that were identified as statistically significant for inspiring others. Whilst each one of us is likely to be inspired by a different combination of these elements, what their research shows is that they all collectively matter to employees regardless of their role in the organisation.
So maybe you have some questions about the model
• What is a strength?
• How many do I need to inspire others?
• How do I develop them?
• How do I determine my strengths?
Bear with me as I walk you through the technicalities of the model – there is great news at the end of this walk through.
What is neat about this model, I think, is that the skills are grouped into four categories according to the interactions they are most closely associated with.
1. Skills relevant to leading self.
2. Skills relevant in 1:1 interactions.
3. Skills relevant when you are not the formal or structural leader.
4. Skills most relevant when you occupy a formal leadership position.
They are further divided into:
Distinguishing strengths (where you are in the top decile versus your peers)
Potential distinguishing strengths where you are in the 70-90th percentile versus your peers – these are still marked strengths that you can develop overtime to become even stronger with focus and attention.
Neutral elements are where you are scored between the 10th and 70th percentile. This is an interesting departure from typical definitions of neutral as average. In this strength-based approach a large group of people is considered neutral. No doubt we each may tilt towards one or other quadrant of the model, and this does not seem to matter as the research findings point to the fact that we only need to develop a handful of strengths to have an inspirational impact on others.
Weaknesses are elements for which you are in the bottom decile; if crucial to your professional and personal responsibilities, they are worth investigating as they may negatively impact your ability to inspire.
Now for the good news: Building only 1 according to the research means that you are likely to inspire at least half of the people you work with and 4 distinguishing strengths can make you exceptional.
You may be asking how to decide which ones to focus on developing. Since inspiration is in the eye of the beholder, through 360 feedback assessments, input from others and through deep reflection using this model as a framework or guideline you will better be able to identify which of the 33 elements are strengths to build upon.
Since this is a strengths-based approach to leadership development, choose skills you may have already mastered and then keep focusing on using them; or choose those you have potential to develop or feel passionate about developing and invest your energy on deliberately focusing on this. Focusing on weakness is only useful if the impact of the weakness is going to significantly undermine your positive efforts to inspire.
If you choose only 4 and build your leadership brand around these, imagine the impact this could have on those you work with and your organisation’s competitive edge.
As always, I do enjoy your feedback and thoughts on what the article evokes in you. Hit reply and share your thoughts. I will reply if you have questions or are looking for tips to grow your inspirational leadership skills.
If you are ready to invest in building your leadership brand around your strengths , please get in touch for a no obligation conversation. I am taking bookings for executive coaching clients who want to work with me to improve their leadership impact starting in 2022.