Tips to Inspire Those you Lead

“Good leaders make people feel that they’re at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organisation. When that happens people feel centred and that gives their work meaning.” Warren G. Bennis

As a leader, your ability to inspire the people you lead is directly related to your willingness to allow them to shine.

Inspiration is never about impressing people with your own intelligence or ability, or of proving a point. In order to inspire the people you lead, you need to recognise their unique abilities, and reward them for expressing their own creativity and dedication. Inspiring people means letting them be great, and letting them know that you know they are great.

Here are 5 tips to start inspiring the people you lead:

1. Begin a practice of taking individual members of your team aside from time to time, ask for their insight or opinion about something important. Let them think about the challenges and problems that you think about, and allow yourself to be impressed by the insights they contribute.
2. Make a point of acknowledging people for the work they do, but especially for the work they don’t think you know they do!
3. Interact personally with people at every level of your company. You may not realise it, but your team want to be with you and get to know you, and they want you to know who they are. Interacting with people at every level of your company’s hierarchy helps get rid of any resentment between the ranks and create a culture where everyone feels like they matter.
4. Let other people be right from time to time. Since you’re the boss, you get to be right even when you’re not. Give people the experience of being heard and making a significant contribution by giving them the benefit of the doubt once in a while, even when you disagree with them.
5. Give members of your team opportunities to lead. Let them express and develop their own leadership by playing to their strengths. If a particular project is well-suited to someone’s unique abilities, let them provide leadership by contributing their expertise.

Being able to inspire the people you lead is critically important to creating a vibrant and productive high growth culture. It’s not just about making people feel good. It’s about what people are capable of producing when they believe in themselves.