Inspiring vs. Draining Leaders

We’ve all worked for draining leaders. One may come to mind immediately, or someone may pop in to your thoughts as I describe one of the worst bosses I’ve ever had. Let’s call him “John” for sake of anonymity! John was a charismatic salesperson who started a side hustle and recruited me from my part-time job in college to be his administrative assistant. I was so excited for the fancy title until I was about a week in.

See, while John was excited about his venture, he wasn’t an inspiring leader. In fact, it was draining to be around John because he just expected me to know how to do a job that I was never trained for. He would fly off on business trips, send me a list of 35 “urgent” emails that needed to be addressed and provided zero clarity on how to attack each one. He was wishy washy about expectations and when I asked him which email was the most important since they were all marked urgent, his response was “they’re all critical.” Talk about overwhelming and demoralizing! I remember smoking a pack of cigarettes a day working for him because I was so drained from John’s ego and expectations. I didn’t feel appreciated and I didn’t fully understand my role! He arrogantly told me one day that I was overpaid for what I did – gesh!

You’re probably thinking of a boss who treated you poorly too. Chances are that they share a lot in common with John.

Now think about your very best boss and why he or she was awesome to work for. Chances are, she was clear about her expectations of you. She was mostly firm and had high expectations but was also fair and allowed grace when you needed it with timelines. She probably went out of her way to make sure that you felt seen through coaching and checking in on you. Perhaps you even felt a boost of self-confidence because she made you stretch just outside of your comfort zone to expand your thinking and you started creating a new normal for what you were capable of.

The most inspiring leaders share common traits. They are clear about expectations; they push their people to grow but not to set them up to fail. Instead, they push their people because they see greatness in them that can only be lived out by making courageous moves. The most inspiring leaders recognize that they don’t have all of the answers either. They are willing to admit when they need outside support. They have no qualms about asking someone else on their team for advice and they graciously share the spotlight with others.

As leaders, we have to be evaluating how we show up and if we’re inspiring our teams! One of the best ways to do that is to be intentional about how you want to show up as a leader. One tool that leaders in our SigmaU community are loving is The Intentional Leader journal https://www.growwithsigmau.com/intentional-leader-journal If you want to inspire your team, this is an awesome place to start!

Can we be inspiring each and everyday? Probably not. We’re human; we face the same challenges and setbacks as our team members. But by being intentional about how we intend to show up and working towards showing up as our best selves each day, ego left at the door, we cannot help but to inspire those we’ve been gifted to lead.