As a leader, your energy affects the energy of your team and — when you’re senior enough — the energy of your entire organization.
You can affect whether your team feels excited and purposeful — or anxious and nervous.
They observe the energy in how you speak, how you act, and whether or not your tone matches your words. They pick up on subtle shifts you may not even realize you’re making.
While you spend a lot of time focused on your external communications to clients and other critical stakeholders, remember that your team takes their cues from you: from your body language to your words to your energy.
One of my favorite leadership experts, Hall of Fame Speaker Cy Wakeman, says “Leaders don’t manage people; they manage the energy of people.”
I think about that concept before every email I send to my team; I may need them to fix a mistake, but I also want them to feel valued, trusted, and confident after receiving constructive feedback.
How can you move from tactical to visionary leadership? How can you uplift and inspire your team so that they want to take action as opposed to feeling forced into action?
Pay attention to the following 5 cues:
1—Your words. Instead of ordering your team with language, such as “We need to” or “you have to,” focus more on more collaborative language such as “Let’s try it this way” or “What if we did it that way?”
2—Your voice. Instead of dryly communicating material, infuse your voice with energy and intention, smiling occasionally to soften the harshness of your voice and create a feeling of psychological safety.
3—Your pauses. Instead of immediately jumping in with the solution every time your team comes to you with a problem, first ask them probing questions which invite them to come up with their own ideas.
4—Your gestures. Instead of pointing a finger at your team when you speak to them, which makes it feel like you’re attacking them, open your hand so your gestures are more collaborative and invite them into the conversation.
5—Your story. Instead of jumping straight into the message that you are communicating, first explain the WHY behind the message. Use your Why You? statement to tap into your own personal motivation, in order to create a feeling of connection with your team. Vulnerability leads to connection, which leads to psychological safety, which leads to trust.
How confident are you in the model you are setting for your team?
The next time you have to deliver a message, ask yourself how you can maximize these 5 cues so that you can tap into visionary leadership and positively inspire your team.
