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?

(Spend two inspiring days with Francis Kong learning leadership and life skills as he presents Level Up Leadership on June 24-25 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries contact Inspire at 09158055910 or call 632-6310912 for details.)