What Is Inspirational Leadership?

Inspirational leadership is not a style of leadership per se.

An inspirational leader may well adopt various styles of leadership depending on what the situation calls for, without ever sacrificing the inspirational aspect of their approach. It is about using the right methods at the right time, and taking into account the needs and motivations of those you are leading.

In some cases, the highly directive approach will be precisely what is required, and will be what inspires your reports. Other situations will require a less directive approach, where employees are encouraged to take the lead and push for change themselves.

Inspirational leadership, at its core, is about finding ways to enhance the potential of those you lead in a way that works for them, and inspiring others to push themselves, achieve more and reach that potential. The methods by which this is done will vary from person to person, and business to business, but the outcome is always the same – people developing a greater confidence in what they can do, and applying this confidence in a way that benefits the organisation they work for.

Does it differ from traditional leadership?

In the past being a good leader was about pushing the business towards its goals, regardless of the impact on the workforce; being ruthless and determined were considered to be traits of good leadership. This has changed over the years, as we now recognise that the real driver behind a business’ success is its employees and that consequently, in order for leaders to propel their organisation to success, they need the buy in of employees.

This transition has culminated in what is now called inspirational leadership; a focus on finding ways to inspire and engage those you lead to drive change, and more importantly, want to drive change, on their own.

Who can be an inspirational leader?

Anyone has the potential to be an inspirational leader, but it’s certainly not something that will come naturally to everyone.

The key to inspirational leadership is awareness – both self-awareness and awareness of those around you. You cannot inspire others unless you first inspire yourself, which means knowing what it is that inspires you, and using this as a catalyst to inspire others.

Of course, the fundamental purpose of a leader is to lead others, so while self-awareness is essential, you also need to be conscious of what others find inspirational; what is it that motivates your employees?

Effective leadership has always been a cornerstone of success for a business.

Inspirational leadership is driven by values, and ensuring those values are clearly demonstrated in the behaviours you display. It is by acting in accordance with your own values that you will inspire others to act in accordance with their own. This obviously becomes far easier if the people you are leading share similar values to you, but leaders can still be inspirational when these don’t align completely.

Those who actively work to understand their own values, motivators and inspirations, alongside those of the people they lead, are most likely to witness success as an inspirational leader.

Once you know these two pieces of information (bearing in mind they may change, and employees especially will have a diverse range of motivations) you can start to understand what ‘inspirational’ means in your specific context.

Why is inspirational leadership Important?

Effective leadership has always been a cornerstone of success for a business, but as the working world has evolved being able to inspire others has become increasingly important in order to achieve desired outcomes.

All businesses and teams can benefit from developing inspirational leaders, but there are certain scenarios in which inspirational leadership is particularly valuable:

Those managing remote workers

With the evolution of technology remote working is becoming an increasingly common way of life for many employees.

As a result managers and business leaders are likely to have far less direct contact with their workforce, meaning they have to find ways to inspire their workers to perform to their maximum, without regular or substantial interaction.

Without this regularity and depth of interaction the direct influence a leader will have over their reports will naturally diminish, and as a result they will be required to encourage and motivate employees from afar.

Leaders with no direct reports

There is a similar challenge for those who are leading departments but have no direct reports.

This is particularly common in areas such as Project Management, where a project manager may be responsible for the outputs of a range of people, but not directly able to influence them, or have any authority to elicit consequences of their actions.

In this scenario, being able to inspire people to achieve the goals of the project, because they are able to recognise the value in it, and feel inspired by the vision being communicated, will enable positive outcomes that aren’t always guaranteed using a directive approach.

Galvanising a workforce during change

Engaging and supporting your employees through periods of change and unease is a hugely important, but often tricky, skill to master.

In uncertain times people typically retreat into defensive mode, and fight against upcoming changes; this leads to resentment, internal disputes, and a great deal of stress for everyone involved.

Inspiring a team to approach change and uncertainty in a more positive light is essential in order to ensure progress can be made, and requires leaders to communicate effectively, support people to understand the benefits of the change, and to get behind the long term vision, in order to achieve cohesion and unity.

Driving performance

In many organisations a gradual shift is occurring from a performance management mind-set, to a performance motivation one.

Businesses are recognising that people perform better when they are given the freedom to explore their capabilities within a safe and supportive environment; part of being an inspirational leader is being willing to provide an environment that encourages this type of development.

Employee engagement

Anyone who has felt inspired by another, whether that’s a friend, colleague, boss or famous figure, understands the power that this inspiration has to galvanise action, and sustain momentum.

The influence that having an inspirational figure can have on behaviour and engagement at work can be profound, making it highly important for leaders to develop their skills in this area, not only for the benefit of the employees they inspire and engage, but also for the benefit of the wider business.

Self-inspiration

Developing the skills to be an inspirational leader of others is a highly beneficial from an organisational perspective; however it is equally important for leaders to also inspire themselves.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to being an inspirational leader

If what you advocate doesn’t truly align with your personal values, then you will always struggle to inspire and motivate those around you. As highlighted previously, one of the key components of being an inspirational leader is a strong conviction in your values, and unless you live in accordance with these on a daily basis, and continually inspire yourself to strive for bigger and better things, you will never achieve true inspirational leader status.

Read Next