Are your leaders at every level of your organization able to engage, develop and inspire their teams and people? We suspect they know the theory but are poor in implementing it.
We notice that leadership programmes do a good job at teaching the theory of managing people and teams. However when it comes to on-the-job interactions, leaders are poorly skilled, unprepared or not sufficiently confident to have the conversations that engage, develop and inspire their teams. Some are not brave or committed enough to step out of the box and lead.
We wonder how your managers would respond if we proposed any of the following common dilemmas to them:
- I am not sure why I do this any more?
- I am feeling exhausted and burnt out?
- I have been looking around for a new role……
- I am committed to improving my skills in the next year. What L&D do you think is most suitable?
Many leaders find the responsibilities of inspiring, teaching, engaging to be very daunting and find many excuses to avoid these responsibilities including lack of time, lack of resources or they believe and sometimes even say that ‘it is just not my style’. Gone are the days however, when you as a leader in the company can rely on the company incentive trips or the CEO’s quarterly update to inspire your people.
Your people are facing adversity and challenge and like a swarm of mosquitoes, the challenge comes in 50 emails before 8am, organizational restructurings, peers in a matrix and new competitors. People are desperate for direction and inspiration inAll Posts these times of change and challenge. The leader is unlikely to be able to offer a higher salary or improved benefits to keep their best people.
The leader needs to engage with their people in such a way that they are inspired to continue to work in that team and for that company. The leader needs to be ready with language, ideas and stories that can change how another person views their world. I am sure like us, you have met some inspiring leaders and speakers who have at their fingertips inspirational stories and words. The average leader however needs to take time to become fit to inspire. They need to reflect on why they joined the company and why they stay at the company. The leader needs to prepare to speak about this in a way that moves others. The leader needs to be able to share facts about the company together with sufficient heart to inspire another. The leader needs to share their story so that others feel inspired to work with them.
Leaders at all levels of the organisation need to be fit and ready.
The following tips for leader-led development can help your leaders impart valuable learning to their teams every day:
- Make engaging with your people part of your routine
- Set aside time to inspire and develop your team
- Lead with questions
- Learn to teach
- Be informed about what is happening in the company and what is available for your people
- Share stories and share your why
And most importantly leaders need to PRACTICE inspiring and engaging others. Like a runner who needs to get out there on the road to develop fitness, a leader needs to speak and engage with their people, notice the impact they are having and adjust their words and style until they obtain the desired results.
Leader Fit facilitated by Potential At Work
We teach leaders the skills to engage, develop and inspire their people in Leader Fit. We provide opportunities in our skills lab to practice engaging, developing and inspiring others. The programme participants reflect on their own thinking and engagement levels using the toolkit provided. They then practice using those using those ideas and skills to engage, develop and inspire others.
Speak to one of our team for further information on this Leader Fit programme.