I have had many conversations with my clients about the effectiveness of their leadership over the years. I’ve written some really good stuff about what leadership REALLY is and how to get good at it. Check it out if you want. Click here =>
In a nutshell, a leaders job is to create and articulate vision, goals and objectives. In doing so, they should create an enthusiastic collective focus. In other words, good leaders get people engaged and inspired to follow and support the vision of the organization.
Let’s not over complicate your role and responsibilities as a leader. If your people are not bought into the direction of the business you are not leading. Oh yes, they show up everyday to work. They may even offer some lip service to suggest they want to see the company succeed. But the reality is they are there for the paycheck. And that my friend is not leadership. You are just paying people off. Sorry for being so direct.
Now you might be okay with that; paying people off that is. And I’m not going to deny the fact that getting a paycheck is a key motivator to get people to show up and work. However, there are literally hundreds of 1,000’s of non-profit organizations, churches and religious organizations that rely entirely on volunteers who are passionate about the cause and will freely give of their time and money to be involved.
Can you imagine if you could actually get people excited, motivated and compelled to be at work. Do you think you might have a more fulfilling and successful business environment? What if you could create an environment where people wanted to work for your business. Not because you pay or offer better benefits than everyone else but because people wanted to be a part of what your business is doing.
Leadership is hard work. Leadership requires listening and understanding what motivates people. Leadership requires communicating in a way that creates understanding and buy-in. Leadership requires diligence, focus and consistency in order to get your people engaged.
The question I often get asked is how do you know your people are engaged? How do you know your leadership message is inspiring people? How do you know they really care?
One of the ways to evaluate your leadership effectiveness is to observe the quality and quantity of your Vision Viral Lift. I made the term up so you won’t find it on Wikipedia, yet.
Vision Viral Lift is like a popular video on Youtube, a big story in the news or a public relations message. The message is spread through word of mouth and communication from individual to individual. When a Youtube video is good, interesting, absurd or whatever, people talk about it and share it with others.
I never once saw an advertisement for Google Earth. A friend introduced me to it. If you haven’t seen it it’s awesome. You can see satellite imagery of any location in the world. Check it out =>. This is an example of viral lift.
One of the indicators that will help you assess how well you are leading is by observing if there is a positive Vision Viral Lift in your business. You will hear people talking about your goals, vision and direction, independently and enthusiastically.
Here are a couple to tips to get you started to create some Vision Viral Lift.
1- Study your people. Think about what really matters to them. Consider what will motivate them to want to get engaged in the growth of your organization other than more money or a paycheck. Be creative and consider what will emotionally drive people.
Call me if you want some ideas to spark your thinking. 623 551 5469.
2- Write down your vision as it relates to your employees primary motivators. Create a compelling written story. I didn’t say it would be easy.
3- Come up with some creative and some direct methods of sharing your vision with your people. Don’t stop with one or two times. Keep telling the story until they either understand it fully and embrace it or understand it fully and reject it. The fact it there is no in-between. You have the responsibility of helping them understand until they can make a decision if they want to follow you.
Here is my number again. 623 551 5469. If you would like to talk more about this topic or need help creating your Vision Viral Lift, give me a call. I’d love to help you.