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Inspiring action
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Successful organizations have leaders who not only generate great ideas but also passionately and relentlessly drive them. Inspiring action is all about giving life to ideas, vision and values. Inspiring leaders have whole organization rallying around great business ideas. The act of stimulating people towards a business idea starts from crafting an enthusiastic vision statement which gives everyone in the organization a definite direction – a common goal. Leaders articulate vision to give shape to their ideas about the future of the business. Detecting opportunities in the marketplace and deriving great ideas is only one aspect of leadership. Ability to articulate the ideas as enthusing vision and
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communicating the same in a meaningful way that inspires the people in the organization is what differentiates great leaders from the rest.
Articulating & communicating vision and values
Leaders generate intrinsic appeal for vision and values – essential standards of behaviour – through persistent communication exercise that captures emotions of the people across the organization to such an extent that the message is etched in the memory and influences their day-to-day decisions. To reinforce the commitment of people to vision and values (highly acceptable activities and ways) and to instil the confidence of accomplishing the future goals, leaders use metaphors, analogies and stories to inspire and stimulate their imagination and emotions. After articulation of enthusing vision and communicating it in meaningful ways, it is the ability of leaders to verbally communicate the message that will be remembered and acted upon in day-to-day operations through out the organization is what distinguishes great from ordinary.
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Walking the talk - true test of leadership character
Well articulated and communicated vision may still fail to inspire people into action, if leaders fail to walk the talk. Living the values and enabling people to live by them is the area where successful leaders outclass others. Any negative behaviour on part of leader with regard to his espoused ideas will be treated as a sign of triviality, which quickly manifests itself as tolerance for underperformance at every level, eventually killing whatever effect was created through articulation and communication of ideas by the leaders. Walking the talk can be more appropriately termed as leadership discipline. Any wrong signals here are strongly interpreted as indiscipline that cascades throughout the organization.
Inspiration every where
The key to inspiring people at all levels is through developing leaders at all levels in the organization, who can look beyond the present problems and emerge with new possibilities. Building trust and empowering people to solve current problems at each level in the organization goes a long way in developing a strong team of leaders who can take on the future challenges.
Leaders through their ability to dream, articulate, communicate and live by them are able to garner support for their ideas and transform conflicts into constructive challenges. But what are those attributes that make leaders really inspirational? Some of the personal characteristics that are assets for inspiring leaders are courage, confidence, focus, passion, persistence and honesty. Also leaders’ outlook matters a lot. For example leaders who can think laterally, focused on customers, not perturbed by pressures and highly accessible are more successful at inspiring others. Finally leaders who can relate emotionally to their people are the ones who can arouse inspiration across the organization for transforming a vision into reality. Such leaders exhibit their involvement with people during crisis and share joyous moments while having fun and recognizing people, they care for people and most of all they trust their people to deliver the results.
Leaders inspire people and bank on them to take the organization to a higher plane of performance by creating an environment of trust and empowerment.
Related articles:
Leadership and people management
Leadership and organizational values
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