Finding Your Message

Your words that inspire or message can be a slogan, a rally cry, a single word, a quote or a common shared experience.  After listening to your team you will know what it is that connects them to your customer and your mission.  In some organizations I worked with it was as simple as “Starfish” a reminder that they could make a difference one person, one case at a time.  There is the “Sneakers and Cheerios” slogan that connected team members to the children they served in their organization.  You have heard of “Delivering Happiness” at Zappos and GE’s “Imagination at Work”.  You and your team will know when you have found the words of common experience that connect at an emotional level.

Leadership as Service to Your Team 

Leaders are servants and their primary customer is their team and their respective needs.  A leader must provide service to their team members.  To improve your service to your team members, recognize them as your customer, prioritize their needs, give of yourself and be open to their suggestions and feedback.  With providing excellent customer service to your team members as your motivator you will ensure an inspired team and long term success.

Inspiring Through Empowered Delegation

As you listen to your team remember that in addition to what you say and do you can inspire your team by creating opportunities for greater participation and input.

In one organization we worked with, providing greater team member participation and input paid tremendous dividends to organizational outcomes as well as breathing fresh air and new life into an environment that was previously anything but inspired.  It was leadership support for team member innovation teams challenged with proposing ideas for organizational improvement that reenergized team member connection to the company mission and vision.  The energy was palpable.  Connecting the team to rediscovering their organizational purpose and impact on customers and community was inspiring.  You can inspire by asking team members for input, listening and acting on their ideas.

Connecting to Meaning and Value

Another way to be an inspirational leader is by giving meaning to the work being done or to more effectively communicate the meaning and value of their jobs.  The point of meaningfulness is the self creation of ego fulfillment when a team member has a belief that their work and efforts have real value and contribute to a bigger product.  When the call center representative understands the impact of their work and contribution to the overall performance, pride and ego fulfillment follow.  No one wants to be a cog in the wheel with no understanding of how their work contributes to a more holistic view of success.

You need to make an important assumption here. Everyone’s work has meaning and value.  Otherwise they would not be getting paid to do it.  Paid employment has value inherently just by the very nature of being paid and having market driven terms.

So where is the issue?  Although a team member’s work has value, many do not know or understand that value.  It is incumbent upon you to communicate this value and share it often with team members.  Whether their contribution was huge or modest, it was a contribution to the whole and needs to be articulated.  The hotel guest loved their stay.  Do we communicate that to the housekeeper, grounds keeper, front desk person and security officer or do we just keep them in the dark about their contribution to this successful customer interaction?

As a very satisfied customer, I recently wrote a letter of praise to management about several team members at my fitness club.  Not sure whether the letter would be shared with the team members I made sure to give each of them a copy.  People need to know.  Praise, appreciation, and gratitude for their efforts by customers contributes to an inspired working environment.  Remember, create a culture where praise, positive feedback and customer appreciation is shared and celebrated.

You as the leader have the primary influence that can ignite inspiration in your organization.  Tap into the emotional drivers of your team members. Listen to them and connect what inspires them with the organizational mission.  Create a culture of positive feedback and praise. Mastering these simple (though not easy) skill sets will breath new life into any organization!

Teresa Lowry is a passionate advocate for learning, growth and generating real organizational change.

Fueling that passion are exceptional communication abilities, a great training room presence and the ability to connect with people successfully in mentoring and coaching. Teresa brings successful results and implementing change from the Clark County District Attorney’s Office. She has a Juris Doctorate and bachelor’s degree in psychology.

Personally, Teresa enjoys serving on several community boards, volunteering with non-profit community groups and she is committed to achieving a healthy lifestyle through fitness. Along with her husband, you will find her in the gym every morning working out and training for distance and obstacle races.

One of the definitions of inspiration is the drawing in of breath. Working in an inspired workplace can be like a breath of fresh air. Your team is energized. Stories of positive connections with each other and customers occur frequently and are celebrated. People want to come to work.

Inspired organizations have higher levels of motivation, enhanced enjoyment, productivity, service levels and commitment. This is what you want for yourself, your team and your organization.

Emotions Drive the Train

A necessary component of your leadership skill set is to influence and inspire. Where to begin? Dale Carnegie said “When dealing with people remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic but with creatures of emotion.” Understanding that 80% of all decisions, reactions and responses are driven by emotions becomes key to your success. You may start down a logical path but at the decision point emotions become the primary driver.

Your team members are emotional humans and they need leadership that appeals to those emotions. Emotions drive attitudes, attitudes drive behavior.

Know Yourself

Leaders require self mastery and emotional intelligence and as such you then inspire others with your attitudes and behaviors. This can be through a shared vision which can include helping others, making the world a better, safer, more fun, smarter place. Whatever your company product or service there is a way to tap into your team members human desire to connect, give, and feel good about what they do. By way of example, you have at some point in your life experienced a class with someone who was inspired to teach as opposed to someone teaching just to make a living. The best are those who are inspired to teach. You know the difference. There is no comparison in the quality and impact of the experience when we are served by those who are inspired by what they do.

Connecting to What’s Meaningful

“Connecting why we are here. We are hard wired to connect with others, it’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives, and without it there is suffering.” Brene Brown.

You begin by connecting with your team. Openly seek out their input. Ask the question: What is it about our mission, our service, or product that inspires you? After you ask the question. Listen. Then listen some more. Remember that what inspires you may not be the same as what inspires your team members. You have to have a message that resonates with them.

Next time: Finding the Message that Inspires

Teresa Lowry is a passionate advocate for learning, growth and generating real organizational change.

Fueling that passion are exceptional communication abilities, a great training room presence and the ability to connect with people successfully in mentoring and coaching. Teresa brings successful results and implementing change from the Clark County District Attorney’s Office. She has a Juris Doctorate and bachelor’s degree in psychology.

Personally, Teresa enjoys serving on several community boards, volunteering with non-profit community groups and she is committed to achieving a healthy lifestyle through fitness. Along with her husband, you will find her in the gym every morning working out and training for distance and obstacle races.

I’m a huge Adam Sandler fan, and one of my favorite movies is “The Waterboy”.  You remember the movie.  Sandler plays a character named Bobby Boucher, a socially inept (but also intelligent and driven) fellow whose dream is fulfilled when he becomes the water boy for a university football team.

Bobby encounters a lot of ridicule in his new job. Even his mama is not a fan, constantly informing him about the evils of “foosball”.  But water is his passion and he continues to strive to be the best… refilling water kegs with fresh water and constantly testing the alkaline levels.

Poor Bobby has very few fans in his corner, save for his girlfriend and one other person: Townie. Townie is featured through the movie, constantly supporting Bobby by repeating one line: “YOU CAN DO IT!!!!”  At first, Bobby seems to be surprised to have a supporter, but as the movie goes on he actually seems to rely on Townie’s pep talks.  Bobby ultimately triumphs and becomes a “foosball” player, marries his girlfriend, and saves the day (I love a happy ending!).

Good leaders are the “Townie” of their team…the optimist and the unwavering supporter who is there through the tough times.  Optimism is defined as “hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something”.  Optimism, in fact, is one of the best behaviors a leader can display and cultivate.

There will be many times that a team will become discouraged.  There may not seem to be an end in sight to a project, or support and faith may be wavering.  You, as a leader, may even have moments when you feel that way (on the inside)…but, as the commercial slogan goes, “Never Let Them See You Sweat!”.  It is during these dark times that optimism in leadership is not only important.  It is REQUIRED. Your team needs to know they have you in your corner, and that you believe in them even when they don’t.

But don’t confuse “optimism” with “always having the answer”.  You aren’t going to have the answer for everything, and that is ok.  What you do need to have is belief and support in your team, and to convey and instill that. Be the Townie of your team…provide your unwavering support and let them know they can do it! Having a Townie on the team may make all the difference.  It did to Bobby Boucher.

Polly Walker is a talented facilitator, coach and expert in process improvement.  As the chief innovation officer for Aegis Learning, Polly produces many of the new ideas and creative solutions for workplace learning programs and their delivery.

Ms. Walker has two master’s degrees and has worked with some of the biggest client projects for Aegis Learning.  She is also our Townie and constantly optimistic.