Top 5 key points on how to be an inspiring leader at times of change:
1) Decide to be inspiring
Think about what inspiring means to you. Is it others wanting to follow you voluntarily, listening to you and feeling motivated to take some action based on your leadership?
In times of change, think about how people will be dealing with and reacting to the change and the impact you can have as a leader. If you are a leader, you need to sort out any problems you have with the change in order to be able to help and inspire others with the change.
2) Build your understanding
Be sure you understand the reason for the changes. What is the vision for the organisation, what is the impact of the change going to be? As a leader you need to be able to give clear explanation and direction about the change.
Remember to communicate the ‘why’ as well as the ‘what’.
3) Give clear and consistent messages
Be positive and realistic in how you put messages across to people. They are then able to see what it means to them, what it means for other people, where they are going and what it means to the organisation.
Remember everyone is different so it will need tailoring to different needs.
4) Focusing on the individual
Spending time with people and assessing their individual reactions to change.
How can you help them deal with it? Inspiring hope that there is a future in the organisation for them? How are they reacting to the change individually?
5) Remembering that you are a leader and they are looking to you as a leader.
This is related to role modelling. Think about what people might be thinking, seeing and hearing in terms of behaviour and actions when they look at you. Remember to act the way you would like others to act, not just talking about what you’re going to be doing. It’s about walking the talk.
3 Practical things you can do straight away:
1) Define what inspiring leadership means to you.
- Think about the leaders you have come across
2) Measure yourself against this definition.
- Conduct a measurement/assessment against the definition you made from the first question.
- Determine where you meet that definition and where you don’t.
3) Identify your development needs and what actions to take.
- What are your development needs based on the self-assessment above?
- What actions might you choose to take and by when?