Sandra Patel-Stewart
8th March 2023
Inspirational leadership is the ability to influence those around you and motivate others toward success positively.
In my early career days, I have always believed that the ability to inspire is one of the most critical leadership skills that separate great leaders from average ones. I have been in recruitment for over 20 years, beginning my career as a graduate, and there have been plenty of admirable bosses. Still, there are only a handful of leaders who I have seen been able to infuse energy, passion and connection into their actions and behaviours. Coupled with a clear vision, mission and commitment to integrity that guides them in everything they do to make that working experience and culture thrive. For me, inspirational leadership is one of the critical factors to being a successful leader, and I have always envisioned that in my leadership style, those are the type of leaders I want to be like.
As a female entrepreneur, I should be influencing and inspiring others, but I reflect a lot and think, but how? I work in a highly male-dominated industry, not just in tech, but if you worked in recruitment in the early 2000s, the industry was very male-dominated, primarily white men. As a woman was an Indian background, I have worked hard throughout my time to be taken seriously; I have been mentored by many bosses who never looked like me and who never had the same gender.
Did that make me believe I could not have founded my successful consultancy? No, somehow, it didn’t. But could it put others off the idea? Yes!
As someone who wants to inspire the next generation of aspirational leaders, support the ecosystem and widen the skillset, it is my job to inspire others. I want my people at TP to be successful, have long-lived careers, and have goals that they tick off and complete. Recruitment can be seen as a very competitive industry, and many others would take it wildly inappropriately if they decided to go off and start their own agency. But I would not. I would see that as a compliment; I have inspired them, my work here is now done, and they can go and flourish and take on the learnings, coaching and mentoring that I have given them.
Inspirational leaders empower others to develop a passion for their work and how they accomplish it. We often invest in developing the talent of those around us, helping our business, vision and goals and inspiring them to the next leap into their own.
Research conducted by Bain found “inspired employees are twice as productive as satisfied employees.” As a result, companies experience 21% greater profitability, a 41% reduction in absenteeism and 59% less turnover. It’s a proven fact that inspirational leadership is integral to organisational success.
But how do we demonstrate inspirational leadership? My advice would be don’t be afraid to take ownership of your mistakes, remind employees you are only human, embrace vulnerability, be authentic, be inclusive, share your knowledge, invest in the growth of your people, encourage unity and collaboration and finally, be transparent.