Today's Business Lessons
The inspiring leader
Have
you ever been in a situation wherein a person suddenly barges into a
room, starts ordering people around and with little or no tact, presents
himself or herself as the big boss in the place?
I have and it’s not the most pleasant thing in the world.
When we encounter people like this, when we suddenly discover our
bosses to be like this, we try to be polite at all times. Because we ask
ourselves, what can we do?
But, there are times when we feel like gathering the courage and simply asking;
Who died and left you in charge?
How did you become a leader?
Were you promoted to your position because of tenure or seniority?
Are you a top-notch promoted employee because of your achievements?
Are you the only person who possesses the specialized critical business skills and no one comes close to what you can do?
Are you the only one who has the experience of leading a team?
Were you recruited and hired to come in and turn things around?
When you become a leader, the deal becomes this; no matter how you
got the title, your function becomes more important than your position
and you need to deliver results.
One of the key functions expected from you is to make a positive
impact while you carry the title and the position. As a leader, your
primary goal is to set standards of excellence that future leaders need
to live up to.
Leadership is not a tool for you to inflate your ego and satisfy your
own whims that are not in harmony to your organization’s goals. It is
to inspire your people and allow them the freedom of creative process
where they can voice out ideas that can help improve company
performance.
In my seminars, I am emphatic in saying that ideas are the currency of the future. Power transferred from position to ideas.
In a growing economic environment, competitions are set not only in
gaining market share, but also in acquiring people who are genuinely
talented. HR people know this very well; there is stiff competition in
talent acquisition and talent retention.
So what most leaders do is acquire leadership guidance for their
people to bring out and nurture their highest potentials. And it’s not
true that most people are clock watchers and lazy. The truth is that
many people do not perform to their highest potential, simply because
they are not inspired enough by their leaders.
I particularly love this quote from an anonymous source: “The real
purpose of leadership is not command and control, but climate control,
to place a climate of possibility.”
Here is an example of that quote:
Our consultancy company is called ‘INSPIRE’. The company has a
reputation of having the most impressive roster of the country’s top
trainers and communicators.
When this company re-organized just a little bit more than two years
ago, the challenges were daunting. We placed a GM who came from another
industry. But she carried great leadership potential; one with a
positive outlook and a surplus of hope and humility. I spent the first
three months closely mentoring and guiding her through the business and
empowering her to try out her own creative ideas and fortunately for all
of us, the business exploded. She changed the climate of the
organization and now her hard working team is in top fighting form.
See what I mean? Inspiring leaders bring out the best in their people.
As a leader, your job is to coach them until they reach a winning
performance. You have to make winning together a great idea. This is a
critical ingredient that many leaders fail to consider or that they
simply ignore it.
Be an inspiring leader and allow your people to surprise you with
what they can do. For after all, you cannot do everything, can you?
Now, I have a question for you, “how do you consistently exceed your
goals, have no turnover, inspire your people to be their best, have
buy-in from upper management on all your new ideas, and still have time
to play with your cat?
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