Shine!
By Leanne Crain

We'll let you in on a little secret. People want to be inspired. For that, they would like inspiring leaders. Is this a strength you already possess, or do you need to work on it a little? Do you feel your team is excited to come to work every day?

This is not an impossible task! It's time for you to shine! Let your leadership abilities come through, and you will inspire people. This little secret is not just for managers and CEO's - anyone can use these tips.

Imagine if you will . . . you wake up in the morning excited to go to work. At night your mind races with ideas for projects you are working on. You feel like you are part of the "bigger picture". You feel respected. You have a lot of fun at work, even though you work hard. If your whole team felt this way - the possibilities would be endless.

If you have already started using some tips from our previous articles, you are probably well on your way! If not, well, it's a brand new year, and there's no better time to begin.

1. Be passionate about your work. In order to make your team passionate, YOU need to be passionate about it. If this is a struggle for you, take a moment and jot down all the things that do excite you about your work. Think back to when you began, what got your adrenaline pumping about your position or company? Write it all down. Every day, try to think of more and write them down. When you are feeling less than inspired, sit down with your list and read them over. Inspiring leaders ooze enthusiasm for their work.
2. Roll up your sleeves! Don't give your team anything to do that you yourself wouldn't do. To prove this point, roll up those sleeves and show them you can do front line work too. Think of a fast food establishment . . . on any given day it's likely that one of those people flipping burgers, or taking food orders, is actually the general manager of the restaurant. How often have you done the work your team does? Sometimes it's not as easy in a big office or industrial setting, so be creative and find ways to get involved with the day to day operations when you can.
3. Have fun! Who said work had to be boring? When was the last time you had a good laugh with your team? Now, we're not suggesting you have elastic wars or anything, (although we have!) but try to make things a bit more fun. Here, we work very hard, but at the end of the day we all have a funny story to go home with. Are we less productive because we enjoy our days? No way! If anything we all work that much harder because - it's fun!
4. Be available. Talk to your team; make sure you are all on the same wavelength. Be accessible for open sharing of ideas. Above all, act with honesty and integrity. Implement a "Let's Talk" program. Allocate 20 minutes per quarter for individual team members to spend quality time, one-on-one, with you to discuss anything of their choice.
5. Be a positive influence. Everyone gets to make the choice of what kind of influence they are going to be on their team. When you are given a task, take the positive approach to it, instead of weighing the team down with a negative attitude. There is a story that has many versions and has travelled long and far from an unknown author. It is known as the Starfish Principle. We've included it below to demonstrate having a positive attitude on others. Enjoy!

Walking along a beach one day, a man noticed that hundreds of starfish had been washed up onto the sand as the tide withdrew. Among them, a little girl carefully tip-toed, concentrating on her task. As he watched with amazement, she bent down, picked up a starfish, and hurried over to the water. Drawing her arm back carefully, she flung the starfish back into the ocean. Turning, she ran back to the other starfish drying in the sun and picked up another. He watched as over and over again, she calmly repeated this process, returning one starfish at a time to the sea. Finally he could stand it no longer; he approached the little girl and asked "dear, what are you doing?". Without pausing in her work, the little girl answered "I'm throwing the starfish back into the water because they'll die if I leave them here." Shaking his head, the man responded "But there are far too many! You can't possibly make a difference!" Pausing for a moment the little girl studied him. Then she looked away, and drawing back her arm, threw yet one more starfish into the ocean. Turning back to the man she said "I made a difference for that one."

Let's see those inspired teams! For more leadership ideas to inspire your team, contact Gary Gzik at ggzik@bizxcel.com or 613-342-2200 ext 108.

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Leanne Crain is a Marketing and Administrative Assistant for BizXcel. Her background is marketing and tourism, and she has over 12 years experience in the sales and marketing field.