Three Things a Leader Needs to Get the Mojo Back

Leading is challenging.

But it should also be energizing and exciting.

If you as leader have lost the drive you used to feel, take heart – there are three things you need to focus on in order to get back on top of your game.

In fact, if your actions don’t inspire, motivate, and empower, it is time to regroup.

Inspire

When your employees are inspired, great things happen. People follow inspiration. As you inspire, your workforce feels a sense of belonging and commitment, and they become more engaged and productive.

And, lest you think you must be charismatic in order to be inspirational, take heart. In a recent employee poll, traits such as humility, empathy, openness, and high regard for others were named among the 33 traits identified as being inspirational (Eric Garton – “How to Be an Inspiring Leader,” Harvard Business Review, April 2017 ).

Motivate

When you bring passion and positive energy to your workforce, you spread an infectious attitude that supports high morale and keeps stress at lower levels.

Incentivizing your employees to do their very best goes far beyond offering higher wages. Find out what motivates your executive team members (hint: each will have something different to share). Things like feeling a part of the company’s success, learning to move a career ahead, personal development to step into higher personal leadership, receiving acknowledgement and recognition in a certain way – these are just a few examples of what really motivates people.

Do this – and teach your team to do likewise with their own teams. You’ll create an incredibly motivated workforce and a higher level of retention.

Empower

Demonstrate trust. Clarify the ends instead of the means, provide them with any non-negotiable parameters, and then let them spread their wings.

Explore where you can delegate, outline your expectations as far as results, and simply be on hand for questions.

Don’t know where to start? Ask them. What projects or responsibilities might they like to assume in order to flex their leadership skills?

And here’s a question I use with my clients to help them think outside the box: If you decided to take a six-month sabbatical, what would you need to delegate in order to feel that the company could move ahead as per usual?

If you will work on these three areas, you will find that you have not only reanimated your workforce, you will also recapture your own drive and commitment to lead. A win-win.

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