Are you an inspiring leader?

Good day, my dear Coffee friend
Thanks for joining me today for Coffee Conversations. I do hope you have a steaming cup of coffee with you☕.

Are you an inspirational leader?

Being appointed to a leadership position does not automatically mean that you are an inspirational leader An inspirational leader achieves people AND business results.

Even if you have NOT been appointed as a leader, you can still be an inspiring leader!

What is inspiring leadership?
“Inspiring leadership is about enabling ordinary people to produce extraordinary things in the face of challenge and change, and constantly to turn in superior performance for the long-term benefit of all concerned” (Charlton,G. 2000).

Leadership is about ENABLING ORDINARY PEOPLE. It is about helping ordinary people to be something or do something today that they could not be or do yesterday. Leadership is about noticing and acknowledging other people's small efforts to do and be their best. If you enabled an ordinary person with a lifelong skill, no one can take it away. You made a difference....forever!

Part of your enabling... is that it will lead to something EXTRAORDINARY. If you assist someone in mastering a challenge, inspire someone to continue although they feel a failure, or give someone a reason to take the pain and hardship...something EXTRAORDINARY will be produced despite CHALLENGES AND CHANGE. If you show an ordinary person their value, it will always lead to them displaying extraordinary performance. Purposefully thanking and praising the cleaning staff in the ICU for the sluice room that is always exceptional will result in a sparkling sluice room in future.

An inspiring leader turns the ordinary into something SUPERIOR. Inspiring leadership gives the people in your team a reason to be their best, give their best and strive to become the best. An inspirational leader will always give their best, not because anyone is watching, but because it is the right thing to do. An inspiring leader will “create more work” by shaving a patient or washing a patient's hair if the previous shift did not because an inspiring leader will always give their best.

Inspiring leadership will result in LONG-TERM BENEFITS, long-term growth and long-term rewards for ALL CONCERNED. The reward of a true leader is not in the benefit of important people but in the benefit of ordinary people. An inspiring leader wants to inspire and benefit everyone, not because you wait for the reward, the thanks, the high five or your name being mentioned...No! Because you are an inspiring leader!

What are you going to do today to make a difference? Please let me know.

Enjoy you coffee ☕

Reference: Charlton,G. 2000. Human habits of highly effective organisations. The Human Race. Cape Town: Van Schaik