Inspired Leadership: How to Inspire Your Employees

There was a time when the word inspirational was attached to poetry, art, hymns, and other forms of music. Now you find the term inspirational preceding words like leadership.

Inspirational leaders engage.

Inspirational leaders ignite action.

Inspirational leaders retain talent.

Yet, I know there are more than a few individuals in leadership positions out there who roll their eyes when they see the word, Inspire under the Responsibilities section of their job description.

 I can almost hear them now, “I don’t have time for all that fluffy, foo-foo stuff!”

While others bemoan, “I am not here to inspire people to work, isn’t that why we are all here? It’s called work after all, right?”

My guess is that these senior level employees simply do not have a clear definition of the word, inspire.

It is through the understanding of words that we come to know what is possible with their use. To know what is possible when you inspire someone, I offer up four definitions of the word, inspire found in dictionaries. Each of them alone can spell success for your team. Collectively, they have the power to propel your leadership forward.

BREATHE IN (AIR), INHALE.

Imagine equating going to work and doing our jobs as a breath of fresh air? Think about your work as being aligned with the feelings you get when you inhale deeply to take something in completely. The process of inhalation fills our lungs and oxygenates our systems so they function in an optimized state. What leader wouldn’t want that for their team?

This definition also lends itself to a translation that says, “breathe life into or give life to.” Consider what levels your employees could reach if the interactions they had in your presence were considered, lifegiving or life-creating?

 FILL (SOMEONE) WITH THE URGE OR ABILITY TO DO OR FEEL SOMETHING

Many of the executive leaders I work with view employee engagement as one of their top challenges. “How do I motivate my team?” is a common question. I can simplify the answer and drill it down to one word - inspire.

What’s the ROI on inspiring your team if it translates into filling someone with the urge to do something? When something becomes an urge, we act quickly. How might that speed and agility in performance positively impact productivity or expedite goal execution?

When I dive beyond the surface of this specific definition for inspire, what comes up for me is the powerful seven-letter word, ABILITY. When we inspire, we actually fill someone with all that is necessary to be able to do something. No one is able to do something if they never get started. Inspiring employees may just prompt them to start because now they feel that they can.

TO STIMULATE GREATER OR HIGHER ABILITY

Today’s leaders often complain that their team members do not have adequate skills. Some tell me they would like to change out the whole roster. Rather than take on the added cost of recruiting new employees, what if you added inspire to your soft skills toolbox.

Wielding the power of inspire in the workplace has the potential to invigorate your employees and revive what is already there. How well do you know your employees? What lies in their skill toolbox that they haven’t used since joining your organization?  Imagine not only restoring someone’s abilities but propelling them to greater or higher levels as the definition of inspire would suggest?

GIVE SOMEONE THE DESIRE, CONFIDENCE OR ENTHUSIASM TO DO SOMETHING WELL

Corporate culture can be heavy in some workplaces and those employees will say the work environment is anything but full of light. What if your initiative to inspire resulted in a contagious enthusiasm pervading the workspace? Visualize your inspiring words, actions, and attitude infusing both confidence and the desire for team members to do well.

The word that strikes me most in this definition for inspire is the word, give. Have you ever considered that taking on the task of inspiring employees would be received as a gift? To me, the word inspire embodies the phrase, the gift of your presence.

Like the familiar advertising slogan, “the gift that keeps on giving,” injecting inspiration into your leadership toolbox or taking up a call to action to inspire, will be the gift that keeps on giving for years to come because inspired employees are synonymous with retained employees.

Curious to know more about inspiring your employees? Schedule a discovery call with me https://pamknoxcom.as.me/Discovery