The Case for Inspirational Leadership
Inspired employees are:
- 2 times as productive as satisfied employees.
- 46 percent more satisfied with their jobs.
- 32 percent more committed to their jobs.
- Less likely to experience burnout.
Inspired organizations experience:
- 21% greater profitability
- 41% reduction in absenteeism.
- 59% reduction in employee turnover.
Source: McKinsey, Bain
Only 20 percent of employees globally say they feel engaged at work.
Less than 50 percent of employees agree or strongly agree that their leaders are inspiring/motivating.
Sources: Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2021 Report, Harvard Business Review
Behaviors Learned
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Use storytelling to inspire, guide, and persuade others -
Build a library of impactful stories to draw from when needed -
Spark intrinsic motivation in others — through autonomy, belonging, growth, and purpose -
Get audiences to understand, buy in, and commit to your ideas -
Uplift people’s gaze to make them see promise and possibility in all moments
Core Ideas
Inspiration is the invisible fuel that drives great organizations. When people are inspired, they become more motivated, resilient, creative, and collaborative.
We should aim to inspire people not just in epic moments, but also in everyday moments.
To be a force of inspiration for others, we first need to inspire ourselves.
Mentora’s program on Inspirational Leadership includes four principles:
INSPIRE = MOTIVATE + RELATE + ELEVATE + CAPTIVATE
Motivate
Focus not just on extrinsic motivators like promotion, salary, and benefits, but on intrinsic motivators as well — including connection, growth, and appreciation, for example. Nurture these motivators in people every day.
Relate
Develop a library of stories and relate them in a compelling way whenever you need to inspire people to move forward on a chosen path.
Elevate
When your team encounters hurdles, setbacks, and uncertainty, help them lift their gaze beyond these challenges to the desired future they are working to create, and then take them on a hero’s journey toward this desired future.
Captivate
Help your audience not only understand your message, but deeply believe in and care for it. They should walk out feeling that your message is their own message — that you have not imposed it on them, but awoken them to it from within.
