“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, become more—then you are a leader,” said U.S. President John Quincy Adams. Had John been more blunt (and less eloquent), he might have said, “If you are not inspirational, you can forget about calling yourself a leader.”

Inspiration Increases Energy and Productivity

The latest Aspire 2010 Leadership Report found that the ability to inspire is one of the must-have characteristics of today’s leaders. Research by Gallup Polls in 2009 confirms that the ability to inspire others is critical to performance in today’s economy. Followers need “hope for the future” alongside trust, compassion and stability in order to be engaged and committed to succeed within their organization.

And yet being inspirational is one of those frustratingly intangible measures. Typically, leaders know (or are told) that they need to work on the skill, but aren’t sure how to go about it.

So, why must inspiring yourself and others be so high on your agenda as a leader? First, because if you are inspired, you will automatically be more inspiring to others. Second, because an inspired team is an energized team, and an energized team is a more productive team.

If you have managed to capture hearts and minds, excite and engage people, they will in turn feel more motivated and energized to take action. In our fast-moving world where productivity is king and time is endlessly squeezed, focusing on increasing energy levels (your own and your team’s) is a lot smarter than trying to expand time.

As Annie Perrin, Senior Vice-President at The Energy Project, puts it: “Time is finite—energy is not.” And feeling inspired is the biggest energy booster going.

So why should anybody be inspired by you? There are probably lots of reasons already. Do a quick inventory of those reasons right now. And if you want others to be even more inspired by you, focus on getting to Y-E-S!, which stands for You-Easy-Sustained!

The YOU of Inspiration

It’s amazing how many leaders try to inspire others when they are feeling pretty flat themselves. In order to inspire, first you have to be inspired—it’s contagious. If you don’t feel inspired, no one else will. Your focus needs to be on being inspired rather than on acting inspiring.

Be clear about what inspires you and what inspires your people. Think about where it is that you want to see change and where you will have to take a risk, or stick your neck out, in order to be inspiring to yourself and others.

If you’ve got to convey a difficult message, or inspire your team to deliver a project, think first about what about it inspires you. In even the toughest situation it is possible to find something. If you have to make redundancies or pull your team up sharply on underperformance, you may be able to find inspiration in the longer term vision of having the right people in place, or of the business surviving and thriving.

Be alert to the differences between you and your colleagues. For Jane Chesworth, former Chief Operating Officer of the world’s leading art business, Christie’s International, “What inspires me in business is a major challenge—to attempt things in the business that have never been done before. I love that!” But, she goes on, “I also recognize that other people in the business may be scared of those plans and ideas and are not inspired by the same thing as me.”

When Jane first arrived at Christie’s, she was clear what inspired her—the vision of significantly increasing the value of the business through sales growth, and through introducing a more cost-conscious and profit-focused culture.

“In one of my first presentations to the senior executives I said that, in order to survive and grow, we had to address risk management, cash flow, profits… as I went on, I thought, ‘Am I just losing everyone?’ But afterwards, people came up to thank me, saying that it was the first time they’d been treated like adults, without sugar-coated messages.”

By keeping in mind what inspired her (the vision of a successful, profitable company), Jane was able to deliver a powerful and inspiring message. She not only told her audience how it was, but also told them the way out of it, giving them hope for the future.

Make time for self-inspiration. Playing to your strengths and passions and doing what you believe in is a sure-fire way to feel inspired. Include activities that stimulate fresh perspectives and creative thinking: read, attend a speaking event, go for a walk at lunchtime, volunteer in your organization’s pro-bono projects (or create one yourself)—whatever it takes. Notice what gives you energy and expose yourself to more of it.

The EASY of Inspiration

Simple, powerful words and images inspire. Complex corporate jargon does not. People, however intelligent, are most inspired by real, easymessages. Clearly this does not mean that everything you say must be easy to accomplish, easy to accept, or dumbed-down. But it does mean that, in order to inspire, you need to make things easy to understand.

“Be brave, be bold and be different—and if any one of you is told ‘it can’t be done,’ just say ‘up yer bum!’,” advised Body Shop Founder Anita Roddick. Some of the most inspiring speakers say it like it is, and it doesn’t matter if they fall over their words. What is inspiring is that those words are delivered with integrity more than with polish.

Become a great translator. Learn how to convert what Drayton Bird, former vice-chairman of the world's largest direct marketing agency, Ogilvy & Mather Direct, calls “the tidal wave of high-sounding tripe [that] people come out with” into language that your people truly understand.

He cites a research report revealing that 26 percent of executives admit to using expressions they don't understand in meetings and a recent email that urged him to “leverage each others strengths,” which he acidly remarks, “means help each other and has an apostrophe missing.”

Ann Convery, author of the teleseries Speak Your Business In 30 Seconds Or Less™, calls them “unhearable words.” What unhearable words can you delete from your conversations?

Make strategies, projects and plans easy to digest. While a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Jane Chesworth was appointed for two years to London’s Takeover Panel, which regulates all takeover activity for public companies in the UK. “We would meet with senior investment bankers and lawyers who would outline plans for extremely complex takeover transactions. Everyone would spend time trying to understand what would need to happen to make these deals work. In my experience, they never got off the drawing board!” she recalls. “Keeping things simple is one of my mantras. Take one step at a time. Don't try to jump ahead five steps at once.”

To convey the importance of working together and of everyone’s role in making a difference, Jane used to tell her people at Christie’s that a world-class team has to run like a world-class orchestra, with everyone, from the triangle player to the lead violinist, understanding the importance of their role. “Even though it’s a little ‘ding-ding,’ the triangle still has a critical part to play!”

“As a leader, I likened myself to the orchestra conductor. I had to inspire everyone to understand that their role was essential. It didn’t matter if they were the doorman or the chief specialist in modern art,” she recalls. “When it all came together, everyone knew the part they were playing, played great music and delivered fantastic results in harmony. Now that’s inspiring.”

Delivering SUSTAINED Inspiration

Inspiration is not a podium performance. Sure, you may take to the podium to deliver presentations and talks that inspire others. Those incidents will be important and, if you get them right, they will be hugely inspiring to others.

But a truly inspiring leader keeps the inspiration sustained. She walks her talk. She (selectively) shows her vulnerable, human side. She knows that an inspiring role model is created over time, through all the little actions, comments and gestures. As Jane Chesworth puts it, “Being inspiring is a consistent way of operating for a long time.”

“You have to deliver a very consistent message, confidently and calmly,” Jane advises. “If you’ve got through the tough times in the last year or so, your job is now to show and persuade people that you know how to get everyone and the business through the next period, and that it will lead to great opportunities for all in the future.”

Sustained inspiration delivers results. The result for Jane? During her leadership, the Christie’s team delivered sales growth of 300 percent and a 600 percent increase in profits.

Put the “Y-E-S! of Inspiration” into action and it will soon become clear why others should be—and indeed will be—inspired by you.

About the Author

Rebecca Hourston, MA, CPCC, is Director of Programs at Aspire, an internationally recognized, award-winning leader in research, executive coaching, leadership development and consultancy related to women as leaders. An inspiring, warm and grounded coach, speaker, writer and facilitator, Rebecca specializes in working with women leaders who want to increase their presence, profile and impact and have a more balanced life. Visit Aspire to download your free copy of Aspire’s latest leadership report, Tearing Up the Rule Book: A New Generation of Women Leaders for 2010. You can also sign up to receive regular free copies of ASPIRATION, tips and tools for career and leadership development and/orTHINK, innovative ideas on how to build a diverse and successful organization.

Read more articles by Rebecca Hourston!