Page 47 - The extraordinary leader

24 • The Extraordinary Leader

The practical implications of this are huge. For example, assume that a
leader in an organization receives the following feedback: “Your subordinates
do not see you as highly motivational or inspirational. They do not feel ener-
gized after they interact with you. They do not feel that their horizons are
expanded after meeting with you.”
The common and seemingly practical way to address this message and
change these perceptions would be to do the following:

● Enroll in a public-speaking course to learn how to be more
compelling in presentations.
● Read good texts or articles on human motivation.
● Deliberately display more enthusiasm by speaking louder and more
rapidly, and with more gestures.
● Attend motivational seminars where prominent, nationally known
motivational speakers team up to present their messages. Your hope
would be to get good content and also learn from their style of
presentation.

Our research, however, on the competency companion “inspires and
motivates others” reveals some different ways to improve people’s perceptions
on this competency. When people score high on “inspires and motivates
others,” they also receive high scores on “communicating clear expecta-
tions.” And when people receive low scores on “inspiring and motivating
others,” they receive low scores on “communicating clear expectations.”
There is obviously something about being clear that is closely linked with
people feeling motivated and inspired. So, managers who receive this feed-
back might want to work hard at being extremely clear about the expectations
they convey to others. Further, they may want to check with others period-
ically to see if their message is coming across with simplicity and clarity. A
manager could ask questions such as, “Is there anything that is not clear
about this request?” “Would it help if we went over this project description
one more time?”
Another somewhat nonintuitive competency companion is the practice of
“creating a learning environment.” Leaders who figure out ways for their
colleagues to discover for themselves how important something is, or to have
colleagues determine for themselves the best way of doing something, are the
leaders described as most motivational and inspirational. So, rather than give