11 October 2008

How To Have Inspiration - Leadership Course 2

In my earlier post on how to become a great leader, I have discussed about how a humble person is personified as a leader. In this part of the leadership episode I will want to share something that will leverage you to be noticed as a strong leader. If you can happen to see the many posts of leadership in the internet, I think they have touched on this point. Yes I am going to touch on the second most important point in any leadership quality – Inspiration.

Most bloggers have more or less gloss over this important point without a clear explanation on what exactly is inspiration and how it can change the ‘bad’ aura of a personality to a ‘good’ one. We are all humans. Even a leader’s inspiration meter fluctuates like the stocks and share market- Boom and slump-. In the process of knowing what is inspiration is all about the influence or impact it creates in a personality change is great. If we say two persons cannot be having the same personality, we are actually targeting their character rather than physical features.

What we want here is a behaviour change in an individual. Behaviour is the variable which can be altered to suit the environment we live in and it is mostly influenced by our thinking process. Thinking process can be altered by inspiration. Once you have understood this vital point then it is easy for you to inspire others – your children, spouse, staff or even your employer or the company you work in.


Understanding Inspiration

If I say that what you are doing is wrong then what I am doing is right. Technically there is no right and wrong in whatever we do. It is our minds that aspire certain ‘orthodox’ perception of life and we proceed to think along that line. I have the occasion to share my blogs with my ‘friends’ and these are the following answers :


‘hey you a lot of time to do that’

‘hey it will not get you anywhere’

‘what is the use of writing such blogs?’

‘simply waste of time’


Two kinds of Inspiration

What I am proposing is that there are two kinds of inspiration generated. One is expected from outside. If it is not possible to find an external inspiration then be ready to be self motivated. I will discuss about self motivation in future.

Inspiration happens when the subject thoughts and actions is touched upon, motivated, lifted up, accelerated, stimulated, provoked or encouraged with a multiplying effect.


Identify


(a) Subject likes & dislikes

You can built a strong observation of the things the subject ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’. The person who is keen of growing rich financially can be inspired by showing successful people who have reached financial freedom. If you have observed around, this is the favourite aspiration among many people. That is why we have lots of blogs out there writing about personal development.

(b) Offer solutions

A simple way to identify what to inspire is to give solutions to the subject’s difficulty to a problem. It can be a work related or personal matter. If you happen to sense the subject has a problem- it is the opportunity for to offer a workable solution which can inspire for him to get around with his problem.


Communication

Right words

Communication is the tool for finding and giving inspiration. Words are the most powerful tool of any communication. Like what I am doing right now. If you are going to get inspired from this post all I have to do is to choose of right words to convey the message. In other words, in order for a subject to be inspired the person who wants to inspire has to communicate the right and corrects words to the subject.
It is not about eloquence but rather the appropriate words to elaborate.

Do not rush

It is very important that when the subject is targeted for an inspiration it is best to choose at a time when the subject is available. If the subject is not available there is no point of the whole exercise. The listener has other important things to do rather to hear you words of inspiration. It will not work when someone is busy.

Use analogy

This is an important part of communication. It will help the subject to visualise the part he is in compared to the entire environment. He is either the light bulb or the brake or the chain in a bicycle. Once the subject realise his position then he gets inspired.

Do it over lunch or coffee

The best time to inspire a person is when he is in the comfortable zone. Offer lunch to the subject and you will get his cooperation to listen to you.

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