How to be INSPIRING even if you are unsure of yourself

I talk a lot about how true team momentum comes when you and your team are aligned behind an inspiring vision.

“What’s an inspiring vision?” You may ask?

Great question!  An inspirational vision is a clear “destination” where you want your team, business, organization, division, branch, to walk towards.

It could be as transcendental as: “we’re going to colonize mars” to something more local: “we’re going to be the #1 sales team west of the Mississippi!” But more on that on a different post.

Today we’re going to talk about being INSPIRING! 

I’d like to think each and every one of us has been inspired at some point in our lives, though take a quick reflection:

When’s the last time you were inspired? Could be something big or small.

For some it could be a dose of motivation to write a big email to the team, for others maybe an epiphany in the shower, or in my case on a long ruck walk.

Stop reading and think about that time.

Did it come from a person? If so – describe the person.

Competence and Character: What it takes to be Inspiring.

In an ongoing theme for my life, I like to keep things simple – as simpletons usually do 😉. When I reflect on “what it takes to be inspirational” I boil it down to two straightforward words, Competence and Character.

I truly believe that when you are both competent with your skills, (and it’s important your target audience agrees) and you are a person of good character – then you have the two biggest foundational pieces to be inspirational.

Competence

When’s the last time you worked for a boss that quite clearly had no idea what you do, how you do it, or how your efforts worked with the organization?

Take a step back, what if they had no idea how significant portions of your business worked at all?

When they ran in meetings, they would offer the most perplexing and inaccurate information, provide little value, or focus on trivial and unproductive issues? (while writing this I am having flashbacks to the strawberry ice cream issue from “The Caine Mutiny”)

How did these people make you feel? Did they seem like they were worth following? Probably not.

What you can do about it.

A little oversimplified here: Be competent!

Find opportunities to ever increase your competence of how EVERYTHING works in your business, team, etc… Read ALL policies, laws, and regulations that affect your team until you have a strong understanding of the inner and outer workings of your business.

Don’t just stop with “the business” be competent with your team too – get to know them and their abilities, struggles, dreams, etc.

How will you know you’ve arrived? People will eventually come to you as the authority for this knowledge, and if you’re paying attention, you should notice this and allow this to shore up some confidence: “yeah, it looks like I do know what I’m talking about”

This is extremely helpful in your day-to-day because…heck… YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT! 

However, the smartest person in the room still won’t get very far if no one wants to be in a room with you…

Character

I personally cannot stand liars or leaders who refuse ownership of their situation. In my day-to-day working in the construction industry, I often interact with CEO’s and other senior leaders and those that acknowledge fault are some of my favorite people to talk to, even with a contentious issue.

Leader A: “Yeah, we’re behind schedule so we’re pulling some additional resources to try and catch up, let me get back to you in a couple days with a good plan.”

“Leader” B: “The only reason we’re behind is because your team has been slow, obstructive, and they are some of the worst people I’ve ever worked with.” (spoiler alert, my team is amazing, and those guys need a basic class in scheduling)

The former makes me want to work with them because they are genuine and I want to be a part of that success; whereas the latter is just listening to their lawyer and not admitting anything. Guess who’s going to have a harder time getting work with our team?

Now, think back again to some of your worst bosses, the ones that lied, cheated, and just felt…slimy.

Maybe they were subtle about it, but you could always tell that maybe they weren’t that great of a person.

Did you trust them?

Can you trust someone like that to keep your best interests at heart?

Did that make you want to follow them anywhere? Probably not.

What you can do about it.

Check in with your character, are you the type of person that truly cares about your people and relationships?

Do you follow through on your commitments? (your Say-to-Do ratio)

Do you find yourself stretching the truth often?

Are you the type of person your dog thinks you are? (assuming you have a dog, and the dog likes you😊)

Can you take personal feedback well? (i.e. without blaming others?)

Does your work have a 360 degree review tool? One that can solicit anonymous feedback on how your team views you? (if not, you can make a google form pretty easily)

These are excellent options to get unfiltered feedback – but again, you have be able to take it.

If you’re not the person you want to be there’s never a better time to change and be aware: changes in character take a long time to be noticed.

A rule of thumb is you need to change your behavior 100% before someone notices 10% - I know it doesn’t seem fair, but trust takes a while to build and it’s totally worth it.

Wrapping it all up.

Now, what about the second part of the title? For those feeling unsure of themselves I can promise you this, if you’re competent in your abilities and you genuinely care about your team all that’s left to do is to start SPEAKING UP!

That’s right.  Time to put yourself out there with a little more confidence.

Now, I give you permission to start small with writing and sending memos to your team, however to meet the vision in your mind – where you want your team to go – now’s the time to LEAD them.

Remember: Competence – “I know what I’m talking about” and Character: “I genuinely care about my team and want to be someone worth following”

Thank you for your time today,

Joe

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