The Flow of Influential Leaders: What Sets Them Apart?
How is it that some people are able to get their teams to listen and follow their lead and others simply can't get their teams engaged and moving in the right direction?
They simply don't know how to monitor and improve the flow of their influence.
This post will give you an understanding of what leadership is fundamentally and how to improve your ability to influence others to follow you.
The Essence of Leadership
“Leadership is influence.”— John Maxwell
The essence of leadership is influence.
Influence literally means “flowing into”.
The ancients believed that the leader (the influencer) had a force flowing out of them and into the follower. And the follower got swept up into the current of whatever force was coming from the leader.
Today we say things like, “She has charisma.” Or “I just got swept up in someone's persuasion or enthusiasm.” Or, “That speech was compelling!”
Influence is this invisible, spirit-like force coming at you from a person. And it makes you turn and think, “I want to go with them. I want to do what they're doing. I want to accomplish what they're inviting me to accomplish.”
So leadership is influence. It's this flow coming out of you like a current and someone else decided to jump into your river.
Leaders Have A Good Flow
Great leaders are intentional about managing their flow—their influence.
Here are a few things about your flow that you have to watch and maintain to lead with a good flow.
Energy
Influential leaders bring energy.
When they come into a room, their tone of voice, body language, the way they look at people in the eyes full of positive and assured energy, people in the room want to hear what they have to say. They want to know where they’re coming from, they want to know where they’re going.
Now, we all have crummy days where we just don't want to get out and do what we have to do.
But good leaders have a consistency of energy that they bring to the table, a sense of urgency, a sense of passion. And that energy is persuasive! It's influencing.
And so if you want to have a flow, you want your children to listen, you want your family to listen, you want your audience to listen, you want your clients to listen, if you need your teammates to listen, you're going to have to bring the energy.
Belief
Great leaders believe that they are going to figure it out. They maintain a belief that the people they're working with can figure it out.
Our journey is full of problems. We're solving those problems as we go.
The leaders who believe that it's possible to solve every problem with the team that they have will give a flow that their people are going to jump into.
Consistency
Great leaders are consistent. They bring a stability to their team, a stability to their family.
Again, we all have off days, we all have bad days. But leaders consistently pick themselves up and get back on the train.
They have a stability of mood. They don’t allow themselves to behave super high one day and then behave like the worst thing has happened to them the next day. They offer stable ideas. Their approach is consistent.
If a decision is made in a meeting, good leaders will not make an opposing decision when they start to doubt or fear. They're consistent. Consistency is a flow that persuades people to follow the leader because it makes them feel safe.
Encouragement
Great leaders know how to make you feel like you can figure stuff out. They're good at making you look at yourself in a new, positive light. And there is a lot of gratitude that they're bringing to you on a consistent basis in a lot of different ways.
A good flow of encouragement from any leader will sweep people along to growth and excellence.
Love
The greatest leaders have love flowing from them into others.
I don't mean affection between two people who are “in love”.
I especially do not mean any behavior that is inappropriate in the workplace.
I'm talking about good character. Love is a commitment to treat somebody else with good character and with the respect that they deserve as a human being, a teammate, or a peer.
Love is patient. Love doesn't get irritable easily.
Love is kind. It's always looking to treat somebody with gentleness.
Love’s not jealous, threatened, and insecure when their teammates are doing great or their peers are smashing it at work.
Loves not proud or rude always wanting its own way and always needing to be on top.
Love doesn't hold grudges. It lets things go when they fail.
Love is happy when Truth wins out. Loving leaders are not trying to nail you for something that you did wrong. They're looking for stuff you did right.
Even when you have your off days and your bad days, your team will gather around you because they've jumped into your flow of love. They will send love right back at you.
Love from the leader promotes an inner dynamic in teams of fidelity and resilience.
Everybody wants to jump into that kind of flow! Everybody wants to follow that kind of leader.
Analyze Your Flow
How's your flow? Are you flowing into the person or people that you want to influence in a way that prompts them to flow your way?
If the team or family that you are leading is not flowing in a direction you want them to go, ask yourself, “Where am I flowing? What force am I putting into this system? Do I believe that these people are good for me? Do I believe we can figure this out as we go? Am I being consistent and stable? Am I coming with high energy like it's good to be here and that I like to be in this building with these people? Am I loving? Am I encouraging?”
If you see that your flow isn't that great, ask yourself how your flowing for you.
Ask, “How am I showing up for myself? What kind of energy am I talking and thinking to myself with? Do I make time for myself? Do I keep my promises to myself? Do I believe I can figure things out? Am I encouraging myself? Am I grateful for me? Am I showing myself patience, kindness, humility, perhaps forgiveness?”
When you improve your flow to yourself, it inevitably improves your flow with others in an enduring way.
If you want to increase your flow of influence more quickly and break through the barriers to your flow, hire a coach.
They are trained to help you look at the ways you're treating yourself and look at the ways you're flowing to your team. And in that professional, confidential, non-judgmental environment, you can set your mind free from the cycle of thoughts and assumptions that get you stuck.
Schedule a Right Fit call with me today by clicking HERE to improve your flow!