Building Engaged Organisations takes Inspirational Leadership
Employee engagement pays off. Gallup suggests that high engagement teams lead to:
10% higher customer ratings
22% higher profitability
21% higher productivity
In addition, high engagement reduces:
turnover (25% engagement in high-turnover organizations, 65% in low-turnover organizations)
shrinkage (28%)
absenteeism (37%)
safety incidents (48%)
patient safety incidents (41%)
quality defects (41%).
Alarmingly, research indicates that on average 75 % of employees are neither engaged nor dis-engaged - they sit on the fence! This provides us with an opportunity as they can swingboth ways. Preferably towards becoming ambassadors!
Leadership is at the heart of driving such engagement, and inspirational leadership is required. “I am not the inspirational leadership type” one executive recently told me. She was though - just didn’t know - because inspiration comes in so many different ways. An interesting study by Bain identified as many as 33 elements of inspirational leadership. Too challenging perhaps if we need all 33 elements in order to be inspirational! The good news, however, is that having one of these helps and having 4 (any four!) will lead to approximately 90% of colleagues perceiving you as performing inspirational leadership.
This corresponds well with our coaching experience: use what you have! It’s so much more effective to further develop an existing and distinguishing strength, than to neutralise a weakness. Focusing on strengths helps the individual, the team, and the wider organisation. The odds of employees being engaged are 73 % when leadership focus on the strengths of its employees, versus 9 % when they do not.
Is Visioning a strength you have, use it – develop it! It drives Inspiration. Openness, Balance, Flexibility, Caring, Optimism …. They all work. In this process we assist with coaching, assessments and with feedback from people around you.
So, is Inspirational Leadership a leadership responsibility? Well, yes and no according to Our Professor Rune Todnem By: we have plenty of leaders, but lack leadership. Leadership is too important to leave to only a small number of formal leaders - it is the responsibility of every member of the team!
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Thanks to: Gallup's 2016 Q12 Meta-Analysis & Bain, 2016 ‘How leaders Inspire: Cracking the Code’