“We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves.”
—Galileo Galilei
This book began with a story about a day in August 2012 when the three of us had a conversation that changed us. On that day, we landed on inspiration as being the thing, the resource, the X-factor—what separates a run-of-the-mill day from an extraordinary day, what distinguishes a truly meaningful and impactful career. We’ll repeat here what we said in the opening because of its importance:
What has become the great joy of our lives is bringing inspiration to our clients. Clients come to us with all kinds of requests, challenges, and pain points: struggles with culture, employee burnout, toxic communication, lack of clarity around roles, insufficient succession planning, poor strategic planning—the list goes on. We help them address these challenges by getting to the root of the specific problems. But we go beyond relieving their pain points and challenges by partnering with our clients to spark and sustain their inspiration to ensure sustainable success. We integrate the sparks and flame through the engines of inspiration into the experience and process of everything we do.
One example comes from our work with a board of directors of a major medical system. Their board was not functioning as they would like. There was dissent, factions, vying for control and resources, lack of clear strategy and common goals, and a less-than-desirable level of engagement overall.
As a starting place, we partnered to help lead a strategic planning process. We knew of the deeper issues within the board from our discovery process, so we recognized this board meeting as an opportunity to develop a strategic plan, yes, but a more important aim was to begin to produce inspiration for these individuals and for the team. We needed to break down walls (through shared experiences, vulnerability, and transparency), so they could feel a sense of unity through alignment of goals (belonging), and be excited by a compelling future together (mission and purpose)—all engines of inspiration for these board members.
On the day of the board meeting, we peppered board interactions with more engines and sustainers of inspiration: we asked each of them to share their main contributions on the board and two things that were important to them outside work. This made board members aware of one another’s strengths, and it helped them see one another as whole human beings.
They learned that their teammates were parents and spouses, of course, but also dancers, woodworkers, nature lovers. Being able to see one another as whole humans helped them build connection and enabled behaviors in the connection and trust area going forward, to help sustain inspiration. We spent time showing them how to direct inspiration across the four categories of capability that are so critical to sustaining it through extraordinary performance as a board.
We subscribe to what we call 3-D learning: using mindset, body, and emotions to make learning sticky and accelerate the integration of new behaviors and insights going forward. For the board, this meant we had them on their feet, learning through active 3-D experiences. We used music to activate emotions and had them practicing leadership presence through movement, postures, and body language—and it was fun. The exercises sparked inspiration for some (physical movement and presence) and helped sustain the physical, cognitive, and emotional energy for session. We directed this inspired energy toward an immediate practical result (and an opportunity to alleviate one of their self-described pain points)—facilitating an internal decision. The dialogue that ensued was dynamic and agile; there was great participation and inclusion; and within the set time, we came to consensus and specifics on accountability in light of the decision made. Had we not produced inspiration in the room before tackling this decision, old patterns of unhealthy conflict and disengagement would have ruled. Instead, the board members got a glimpse of what was possible for them as a team, and they gained new capabilities for repeating their success. As you can imagine, when we then turned to the first phase of strategic planning, the primary impetus for the meeting, they were able to tackle it together with greater possibility and confidence.
The way we instill inspiration for our clients is also illustrated in our ongoing work with a tech start-up that engaged us soon after their launch to help develop their company values and culture. Over our years with them, meeting for live quarterly sessions and coaching a number of executives on their leadership team, we helped integrate inspiration into the very DNA of the organization.
Some of the specific work we did with them included designing their performance management and development process (as a high-frequency, in-the-moment tool that is based on goals, aspirations, and development). We created a strategic planning process for them that mapped to the nonlinear nature of planning in a start-up. We trained them in recognizing and activating leadership strengths, integrating this 3-D perspective into everything they do. We instilled energy management resets as a frequent and now almost automatic practice for individuals and teams, and we integrated a system of communication that increased reliability of execution and helped them manage capacity. We codesigned a field sales communication and development strategy. We rode the wave of change with them that all start-ups inevitably face, equipping them with tools for resilience and learning in the face of setbacks, and we helped them celebrate success and integrate the practice of celebration into their culture. You can see the engines of inspiration and the sustaining practices that are inherent in all this work.
The sense of possibility and invincibility they established helped them pivot when their business needed to take a turn. Where many start-ups would have shuttered in the face of the product challenges they faced, this organization had the commitment and the capability to stay focused on their original purpose—around empowering women—while conducting a major shift in their product strategy to better fit the market. The business is now growing, with a positive return on investment, in the ways businesses usually measure it. But they are also stronger, more empowered, and more inspired than ever to succeed. They lost no members of their leadership team in their major shift; instead, there is increased pride and optimism about the future. This company measures laughter. They label themselves strengths-obsessed, and even their most remote field sales representatives have a pride and sense of belonging that is a significant strategic advantage. They are a living example of an inspiring organization, and as a result of their investment in building this foundation, we are confident they will continue to cultivate and sustain their own inspiration as the business thrives.
One final example of how clients have integrated inspiration into their organizations comes from an ongoing leadership development effort at a biopharma research firm. Our initial engagement with them focused on performance management, where we helped them shift from a traditional, primarily deficit-focused annual performance review process to a more frequent strengths-based pulse of check-ins and feedback. This new approach keeps employees excited about their goals, aspirations, and development.
After integrating the new pulse-feedback process into their culture, they subsequently came to us seeking a plan to develop leadership skills throughout the organization. They were coming up on what they knew would be a challenging year of great opportunities and wanted to support their talent in preparation. Although they weren’t asking for inspiration per se, we knew that it would be a critical resource for them at all levels to navigate successfully through these upcoming opportunities.
We partnered to design and implement a multiyear inspiration campaign comprised of live experiences, practical tools, coaching, and webinars that were tailored to various leadership levels while also touching every employee. All of our contacts with them, face-to-face and virtual, were based on building awareness and capability in the engines of inspiration—from invoking their inspiring purpose around serving others to noting achievement and progress, empowering them to overcome constraints within the organization, using their strengths, and many more. We’ve learned that once you are cognizant of the engines of inspiration, opportunities to bring them in and combine them are everywhere. Conversely, the engines are also a powerful diagnostic when results aren’t being produced; we ask, what are the engines that are missing in this situation?
Our efforts to sustain these sparks of inspiration, while addressing their requests for culture and leader development, are designed around translating inspiration into results via the four core capabilities that drive success (driving to results, intentional alignment, connection and trust, vision and innovation). We launched the whole effort with an all-hands keynote address to the whole organization on “having your best day more often,” through using and acknowledging character strengths in one another.
Then, once per quarter, we focus on one target theme driven by their strategic priorities that quarter and the company values, including what it means at their company, the behaviors and capabilities within it and tools and strategies to reinforce it throughout the culture. For example, in the quarter focused on directing inspiration toward driving to results, we delivered live experiences, webinars, and follow-on microtools and videos on using strengths to set and achieve aspirational goals. By activating their sense of greater possibility and invincibility, they set goals that are more ambitious and more meaningful to them. Some unique inspiration practices we baked in from the ground floor included having all employees take a character strengths assessment and using strengths-based language in their team meetings and interactions, tracking and celebrating progress and achievement in their work, and giving and receiving aspirational feedback. In addition, we introduced the inspiration sustainer of energy management via resets with music and walking meetings, showing them how to practice individually and on teams as a proactive way to get focused and boost energy.
This multiyear partnership is already yielding desirable results. The organization is better poised to navigate the turbulence inherent in their industry. We see new connections being built across the organization promoting unity and belonging among leaders who sometimes feel siloed away from other parts of the organization. Leaders are understanding how to embrace and lead change for themselves and their groups, rather than be discouraged or frustrated by it. We trained everyone to be a leader and that a leader’s first job is to inspire one’s self. As a result, individual contributors—leading from where they stand—are taking greater ownership of their roles and their contributions to the company’s success.
Over time, we’ve realized that although clients want the pain points alleviated, a faster and more sustainable path to drive success—and what they really want and need—is more inspiration in their organizations. To know the most powerful leverage points to start, we use our Inspiration Index to assess their strengths and opportunities at individual, team, and organization levels to better spark and sustain inspiration entity-wide.
As we interviewed leaders, we heard again and again how seriously people take their own inspiration and their responsibility to inspire others in today’s world of work. Inspiration is the common denominator that integrates for people what they care about the most in their work and their lives outside work. It’s something we collectively experience as human beings and, therefore, connects us all.
When we work with our clients, we start with what we envision is possible for them when they activate inspiration as a resource throughout their organization. Of course, this inherently addresses the pain points along the way. But addressing the pain is not enough; we want our clients to thrive and flourish in inspiration. We want the same for you.
We trust this book has been a discovery process for you, that from the stories and leaders we featured, the Work It activities and tools provided, you’ve experienced:
• Ways that you get inspired,
• How to spark your own inspiration more often,
• Practices to sustain your inspiration over time, making it stronger like a muscle, and
• Creating plans to bring inspiration to your team and organization.
Our hope is that this book activates in you new ideas about what’s possible for you, your team, your organization, along with a sense of invincibility to achieve it.