Inspiring Your People

SUMMARY

We all know that in this current workplace that we are engaged in, command and control does not work. Telling people what to do, and managing what they do, isn't the way to get things done. No one wants to be managed, pushed, and told what to do.

If that's the type of leadership you're still relying on, it's little wonder you're not getting the results that you want.

This week, I will help you develop your relationship management competencies of social intelligence by helping you to inspire your people.

TRANSCRIPT

Do you lead a team that seems to lack drive and engagement and you always need to pump them up and push them along to get the things that you need them to do?

Well, that's less about them and more about you.

So, stick with me because this week I want to delve into an area that will help you have your team wanting to push YOU forward.

Hi, this is Grant Herbert, VUCA Leadership and Sustainable Performance Coach, and today, I want to continue our conversation on the relationship management competencies of social intelligence by helping you to inspire your people.

We all know that in this current workplace that we are engaged in, command and control does not work. Telling people what to do, and managing what they do, isn't the way to get things done. No one wants to be managed, pushed, and told what to do.

If that's the type of leadership you're still relying on, it's little wonder you're not getting the results that you want.

In my career as a leader in corporate, I thought that all I needed to do was use my authority to get things done. However, I found that to be the furthest from the truth of anything possible. I learned that instead, people need to feel like they belong to something bigger than you.

It's not about the leader or the individuals, and it’s not even about the team.

It’s about the culture, the environment, and the relationships.

Even motivating people is not your role. That's something they need to do themselves.

As a speaker at conferences around the world, I have people who will introduce me as a motivational speaker. I quickly speak to that because I don't want to be a ‘motivational’ speaker.

Motivation is pumping you up, and the problem with that is if I pump you up, you just get all excited. You feel like you're going to do something, and then when you get back into the real world, and I'm not there to continually do that, then you are not going to have that same experience in the room.

I like to say that I inspire the audiences that I speak to. I light a flame within them, not under them, and I help them to motivate themselves.

It's what people want to move away from and towards that creates the engagement and the motivation.

They are then self-driven.

We are all human beings, and we have free will so we put in depends on what we think we're going to get out.

So, today's leader needs to be inspirational.

Yes, you need to motivate, but that's motivating yourself.

You also need to inspire the individuals and, therefore, the collective of your team so that together, you can get the things you're meant to do.

I want to give you five things to consider as you become a more inspirational leader of people.

Number one is to cast a collaborative vision.

If your vision and the way you communicate, what you speak and talk about is about YOU and what YOU want done, then people don't feel like they belong.

When you have a conversation around a vision of where you are all going and work together to achieve the end result, people will be inspired simply by the fact that they belong to something.

We've got those three universal fears that we always talk about: The fear of not being enough, not belonging, and not being loved.

When you cast a vision that says:

“We’re all in this together; everyone's as important as each other, and we're not able to actually get where we need to go unless everybody is involved." people will feel attached, aligned, and engaged.

When you get your people to a position where they are engaging themselves, you are going to have a lot more energy that you can put into things that are going to get you the results you want.

Number two is to communicate frequently.

We talked about communication a few weeks ago and how it is a mutual exchange where we need to:

Cut through all the noise.

Communicate with people who are different to us in a different way.

Make sure that communication actually takes place.

Frequently communicating keeps everybody up to date.

If you have people who need more certainty and have fears, challenges, or worries, you can alleviate those feelings by communicating with them on a regular basis.

Since communication is a two-way thing, having a framework and an environment that fosters two-way communication, where people feel free to communicate with each other and with you, is going to help people to stay inspired, overcome any thinking that could be a roadblock and stop them from moving forward so that together you can continue as a team to go in the direction that you need to go.

Number three is to develop others.

As a leader, you need to make sure that you look at the development needs of every individual.

It's not about being a leader who is focused on their own career. It's about guiding and mentoring the people that you lead.

You need to inspire them to be all that they can be and give them the opportunity to learn things they don't currently know and develop skills that will help them, not just for now, but to go to that next level.

During my previous career, I had a tendency to hold people back (subconsciously) because I didn't want them to have skills that I didn't have or have enough skills to be seen by the people above us as someone who could take my spot.

But now, I love to inspire my team to go further than they've been — to look at areas that they are strong in and continue to develop those. I also want to help them by helping them work on the gaps that would stop them from going to the next level.

Most people would ask: “What if we train these people, and then they leave?” All we're doing is helping the other organisation to have great people.”

The counterargument is: “What if we don't train them and they stay?”

A leader who inspires their people is certain about themselves. They're secure in who they are and are not concerned about people developing skills.

So, make sure that you set aside time to sit down and discuss with each of your team members where it is that they could go.

Number four is to model behaviour.

Rather than standing in front of the room and telling everybody what you want to see as the behaviour in the team, the best way to influence people to do what you want them to do is to model it.

People will take more from what they see you do and not do than they will from anything that you say.

People are inspired by the efforts of others, the progress, and the success.

So, within that modelling, the other thing you need to do is be okay with celebrating your wins along the way and build that as a culture for everyone within your team.

A leader doesn't always have to be out the front. We can lead from within or behind.

However, in terms of the behaviour you want in a team, a leader needs to lead that.

You need to be the benchmark.

If you want people to think in a certain way, you need to see yourself thinking that way.

If you want people to behave a certain way, they need to see you behaving that way.

Number five is to foster a culture of innovation.

Innovation says: “Let’s look at things differently. Let's see if there are other ways that we can achieve the result.”

It's about saying it's okay to have ideas and having a culture that says, give me those ideas because I don't know it all.

Leaders are not expected to come up with everything. They're not expected to know everything.

And it’s good that they don’t, because if they did, then their team wouldn't be necessary.

So, having a culture in your team that says: “I need the ideas from everyone so that with that, we can put together a collective plan to overcome the roadblocks that are in front of us and to get the results that we want.”

So, there you have the five things to consider. They may be things that you are already doing that you could tweak a little bit or things that you could introduce into the day-to-day relationship that you have with your people.

Inspiring others is the key to leadership. It's no longer okay to just tell people to light that fire under them or use the carrot and the stick.

People need to want to be in your team and go where you are going.

Well, that's it from me for another week. Join me again next week as we continue going through these ten competencies of relationship management by helping you to become someone who catalyses change.

I'll see you then.