Have you ever noticed those colleagues who make you better and make you want to move forward? These are called inspirational leaders. Some are without trying to be, but the good news is that this posture is acquired. A study by the management consulting firm Bain & Company published in 2017 sought to find out what these people who inspire us are made of. A useful question when you know that an inspired employee is twice as productive as an employee who is only satisfied (*Study Bain & Company and Economist Intelligence Unit, 201).
The 33 inspiring leadership qualities grouped into 4 families
(Click on the image to enlarge)
Source : Bath & Company
1- Develop your own skills (8 qualities)
- Stress tolerance
- Emotional awareness
- Flexibility
- Independence
- emotional expression
- Self respect
- Self-realization
- Optimism
2- Forge links (8 qualities)
- Energy
- Listen
- Expression
- Humility
- Empathy
- Development
- Assertiveness
- Community
3- Set the tone (8 qualities)
- Global vision
- Tolerance
- Altruism
- Shared ambition
- Opening
- Responsibility
- Recognition
- Balance
4- Leading a team (8 qualities
- Vision
- Accountability
- Co-creation
- Concentration
- Direction
- Harmony
- Generosity
- Support
5- Refocus (1 quality)
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Inspiration, a question of subjectivity
Rest assured, you don’t need to possess all 33 qualities to be an inspiring leader. It’s even much more accessible than that.
With just two of these qualities, you have a 67% chance of being considered an inspiration. If you have four, the chances increase to 90%.
This is what the Bain & Company researchers were able to observe thanks to the 10,000 testimonies they collected over three years.
On the other hand, they must be fully embodied. And for them to be judged as your distinctive strengths, these qualities must be recognized by at least 90% of your professional entourage.
Another conclusion of this survey: no combination of qualities is better than another. Thereby, there are not one, but thousands of ways to inspire others working alongside them.
A method to become inspiring
If you want to work on yourself, and thus adopt inspiring management, you have to keep in mind that the key lies in authenticity. Wanting to eliminate one’s faults is a waste of time. According to the study, it is more relevant to identify its natural qualities and develop them. Being stress-tolerant, helpful, humble, empathetic or even open-minded are some examples of these soft skills likely to increase the chances of inspiring those around you. It’s all about making your mark, finding a style of leadership that doesn’t betray your values.
Knowing how to refocus, a lever to access other assets
It would seem that one skill is most inspiring and more coveted by employees: the ” centeredness or refocusing in bad French. Inspired by the Buddhist concept of mindfulness, refocusing would be the lever allowing easier access to other inspiring assets. To be fully aware is to be able to detect and put words to the emotions felt to more easily manage them. This state is expressed in a form of serenity, an ability to take a step back and an absence of stress. allowed by breathing exercises whose objective is to regulate the heart rate, mistress, according to Asian medicine, of our emotions and the very functioning of the brain. According to the Bain & Company study “ refocusing improves the ability to pay attention, cope with stress, listen and understand others more deeply “.
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*Bain & Company and Economist Intelligence Unit study, 2015.
Article originally published on June 1, 2017. Updated on April 25, 2022.