Inspiring Leadership Skills

November 9, 2009 by admin
Filed under management

What is the best way to lead? Do great leaders plow on with their own particular style, or adjust it to circumstances around them?

You may intuitively know that you get the best results through inspiring others, motivation, relationships, rapport, respect and trust. You may have seen the results of this approach but can’t seem to get there yourself. How valuable would it be if there was a way to describe how and why this less authoritarian mode of leadership works, and coach others in it?

Over the last 25 years such an understanding has been growing in acceptance. This principle-based understanding and description of the way all human experience is created cannot be proven ‘intellectually’ but only seen, known and understood experientially. Yet just like gravity, whether one is aware of it or understands the principles of gravity they still apply at all times. Much has been written about the traits and attributes of highly successful teams and leaders; three notable books are Lessons from the Top, A Time for Leadership and Good to Great. The common thread is that these leaders have embraced the need to get things done through relationships rather than force, not just within their companies, their shareholders and their clients, but also through establishing often surprising alliances or partnerships.

Having successful role-models is important and points us in the right direction. However, even this only helps us start to emulate the behaviors which are visible. But try and look like you have inner peace, a lack of ego, full attention on those you are with and a balanced life when you don’t, and other than expend a lot of energy, you’ll end up even more harassed and stressed.

Reflect for a moment on the times you have been around one of these truly graceful memorable leaders or teams who effortlessly get on with people, are good to be around, inspire those around them and get results, even when all around them go ballistic – almost as if without breaking a sweat – and it is probable that they exhibited some, if not all, of these qualities.

Imagine for a moment what impact it would have if you could have more of this healthy and effective way of working brought into your team or company?

The radically different ‘Essentials of Peak Performance’ approach we use is very simple and addresses our state of being and the ‘process’ of our thinking. It works because it helps people recognize how they are creating their experience – that is, how they feel, what they see, what they do and what results they get – by the moment-to-moment state of mind they are in and the thoughts going through their heads. There is no need to reveal and work through limiting beliefs or re-experience past situations.

As we learn to recognize thoughts and how they are often sourced from our historical insecurities, fears and the resulting ego, and how they take us away from being fully present in the moment, we learn the source of inner peace and clarity of thinking.

With increased awareness and mental discipline, we find an escape from worry and stress, which allows more of our natural wisdom, creativity and common sense to come out especially whilst under pressure. This ability also has the effect of helping others regain their bearings and calm down in the middle of a crisis. When we connect with this inner bedrock of calm, we also connect powerfully with those we are talking to and working around us. The combined effect of accessing these qualities and connections is inspiring with correspondingly inspirational results.

Experiment:

* Learn to be more present and fully focused whoever you are with and in whatever you are doing.
* Take shot periodic breaks away from your concentrated efforts. When we are concentrating hard on a problem for prolonged periods of time without a break, we often miss important events around us.
* Look up occasionally and really notice what is happening around you – you might be surprised. You may also find this break will help you discover the breakthrough you were looking for with the problem or challenge you were struggling with.

We learn to think, analyze, reason and make decisions as we grow, however, we do not typically learn how to use our minds in a conscious and disciplined way. However we can learn to understand the effect of our state of mind on our state of being (at the heart of inspiring leaders), its influence on the way we see things in the moment and how well or not we connect with others. This heightened skill and awareness develops a consciously authentic leader who inspires others and the impossible becomes possible.

Andrew Gallop: Expert article writer: Writes and compiles articles on
leadership skills. There are more articles, videos, lots of free stuff
and products at, Leadership Skills Books.