How Great Leaders Inspire Action: Role of Leadership

Introduction

How great leaders inspire action is an important topic to be discussed. Leaders are more likely than others in the workplace to reflect behaviors directed toward inspiring the people around them. They are more focused in motivation, and for that reason it is important for the leaders to find out what motivates their followers. When leaders inspire followers, leaders seek to gain their commitment to a certain task and then they provide the necessary support and resources, for them to successfully complete the task. When the goal of a leader is to get a job commitment from the followers, it is important to know how to influence and motivate them.

In 2010, Simon Sinek presented a webinar related to this important issue. The topics listed on the webinar mainly focus on the ability that leaders have to inspire and influence others. Leaders motivate followers and inspire them to action by showing the reason why they do what they do and supporting and encouraging followers to get involved. They should be able to create and keep a good relationship and an honest communication with followers, be a good role model for the ideas that they are advocating, and clearly setting out the benefits of getting involved. The purpose of this webinar critique is to demonstrate how leaders instill inspiration in the people they lead.

Summary of the Speaker Key Points

In his speech, Sinek (2010) reveals his powerful model of inspirational leadership. He focuses on how leaders have the capacity to inspire and make impact in the world. He explores how great leaders can inspire teamwork, trust and change. The speaker explains why some organizations and some leaders are able to inspire people where others are not, and he uses examples such as Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers, as great inspiring organization and leaders in the world.

The theory of “The Golden Circle” of Sinek (2010) defines the terms “Why?” “How?” and “What?” to explain why some organizations and some leaders are able to inspire and recognizes the “Why?” as the main reason of inspiration.

Every single person, every single organization on the planet knows what they do, 100 percent. Some know how they do it… But very, very few people or organizations know why they do what they do. And by 'why' I don't mean 'to make a profit.' That's a result. It's always a result. By 'why,' I mean: What's your purpose? What's your cause? What's your belief? Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care? Sinek (2010)

The speaker shows the importance of knowing the reason behind why people do what they do, so they can convince people to vote for them or sell their product to the public. When people know why they do something, they can explain to others the benefit of doing that. Therefore, they will inspire people to be a part of what it is that they do. “The goal is not just to sell to people who need what you have; the goal is to sell to people who believe what you believe” (Sinek, 2010).

Leaders That Inspire Action

Leadership is about influencing others. In fact, good leaders should know how to be flexible in the way they lead so they can inspire and motivate their followers. Leaders influence others only if they are inspired themselves and they know why they do what they do. Followers follow a leader not because they have to, but because they want to. In other words, they follow inspirational leaders not for them, but for themselves.

Sinek (2010) stated, leaders hold a position of power or authority, but those who lead inspire us. Whether they're individuals or organizations, we follow those who lead, not because we have to, but because we want to. We follow those who lead, not for them, but for ourselves. And it's those who start with 'why' that have the ability to inspire those around them or find others who inspire them.

An inspirational leader desires passionately to accomplish the goal of the organization. They achieve this by sharing that passion in a way that enables their followers to feel passionate as well. The ability to inspire others to do their best and succeed is a skill that leaders must have. Passion, determination, self-motivation, and honesty help a leader to be inspirational. The power to communicate that passion clearly and honestly allows leaders to inspire and motivate people they lead.

Important to inspiration is the integrity of the person leading as people will follow a person who tells the truth and tries to do the right thing. Followers must trust their leaders to feel inspired. The ability to develop trust, loyalty, and respect is something that every great leader must possess in order to influence and inspire followers. To be successful leaders should be reliable and trustworthy. They need to be confident in their ability to lead and be a positive influence to others. This will show their followers that he is capable of leading a team and the team will respect them. According to Bartram (2006) “The leader-follower relationship is an obviously important one within the realm of organizational behavior. Being trusted by one's followers may create an obligation or responsibility on the part of the leader to enable or empower a follower to perform” (p. 68). Without trust, people will typically not believe and be less likely to be fully on board.

In addition, inspirational leaders should be convincing, and have confidence in themselves and their followers. They make people believe in what they believe. They should be fair and treat everyone the same way that they would want to be treated. People admire and look for leaders who are honest, competent, and inspiring. They want to follow someone who lift them up and bring out the positive in them.

Leaders can be much more effective in implementing change if their follower trust them. Leaders and followers are usually engaged in change as change presents opportunities that can motivate both leaders and followers to better performance. Then, change is inherent in organizational life and necessary if an organization is not to stagnate. Indeed, a leader's ability to facilitate his or her organization's adaptation to change may be the most important of all leader characteristics (Allio, 2007).

Since leadership is about influencing others, leaders do so through communications. Inspirational leaders must have good communication skills. They should encourage and empower followers to be innovative and creative, so the followers become successful as well. Establishing good communication leaders build a base of good supporters. When leaders communicate with their followers effectively, they can work together in looking for ways to make the organization grows and make it productive and successful.

As a result, the way we think, we act, the way we communicate is from the outside in, it's obvious. We go from the clearest thing to the fuzziest thing. But the inspired leaders and the inspired organizations -- regardless of their size, regardless of their industry -- all think, act and communicate from the inside out. In other words, when we communicate from the outside in, yes, people can understand vast amounts of complicated information like features and benefits and facts and figures. It just doesn't drive behavior. When we can communicate from the inside out, we're talking directly to the part of the brain that controls behavior, and then we allow people to rationalize it with the tangible things we say and do.

Leaders Inspiring Action in an Educational Setting

Leaders in an educational setting face diverse challenges in today's competitive and changing environment. One of the keys to be an effective leader in this situation is the application of the necessary leadership skills. Using tactics to inspire students and employees, improving communication, and building trust, are the main leadership skills that must be applied in schools.

Based on his research, Duff (2007) established that effective leaders possess a caring attitude toward fellow employees, their organization, and their community. He argued that effective leaders ask what needs to be done and what is the right thing to do. They develop action plans, take responsibility for their actions, focus on opportunities rather than problems and obstacles, and think “we” instead of “I.”

School leaders can aspire to build positive relationships with students, faculty, and staff, and inspire them to the action if they become inspirational leaders. A satisfactory relationship will make employees feel appreciated and allows them to be an important part of the institution. A positive relationship is more likely when there is good communication. When working in team proper communication is very essential for effective performance. A supportive working relationship builds enthusiasm and commitment to continual performance improvement. To accomplish an effective relationship leaders need to find the best way to give instructions so that their actions do not affect the ability to motivate their followers, and instead they get involved in the work. For instances, leaders may use persuasive language to give the instructions, and tell the followers clearly what they want them to do. What they say and how they say it is a critical element for leaders to inspire others. Trust is a key element in building an effective relationship. Employees are more effective in implementing changes if they trust on their leaders’ intentions. They will be more loyal and enthusiastic if they work in an environment led by a leader they trust.

Conclusion

This critique concludes that in order to leaders influence followers positively, leaders should be able to communicate and relate effectively with people, instill confidence, inspire, motivate, create enthusiasm, and empower their follower. The main quality of a good leader is the ability to inspire the best effort in others. When followers choose to give their best effort, their satisfaction increases, pride develops, and innovation and changes emerge.

Inspirational leaders can create an inspiring environment by adopting effective leadership skills. Since leadership is about influencing others, good leaders should be so efficient in how they lead that they are able to inspire and motivate their followers. When leaders instill inspiration in the people they lead and inspire them to action, followers’ satisfaction is noticeably greater. They are more productive and work not only because they have to but because they feel driven and this influences others to strongly believe in the work they do as well.

References

1. Allio, R. (2007). Bad Leaders: How They Get That Way and What To Do About Them. Strategy and Leadership 38 (3): 12-17.
2. Bartram, T. (2006). Trust and the relationship between leadership and follower performance: opening the black box in Australia and China. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 12.3: 68+. General OneFile. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.
3. Duff Jr., H. (2007). Effective Leaders Do We Have the Right Answers? FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 76(3), 20-21.
4. Sinek S. (2010). How great leaders inspire action. Webinar. Retrieved from https://fuse.education.vic.gov.au/Resource/LandingPage?ObjectId=3ce45633-2b84-4885-8e5e-44ac21979042&SearchScope=All