The Secret to Leading from your Full Leadership Potential
You’ve probably been in the presence of a leader before whose positive energy was infectious and created a positive ripple effect throughout their team and organization. A leader who energized you and made you a better leader. A leader who was a true visionary that you were excited to follow.
This is the type of leader many aspire to be. Many would call them “great” leaders. You may have been referred to as a leader with these qualities.
This is a leader who is operating from their full leadership potential.
So, what’s the secret to a leader showing up in this way consistently?
The results of my third and most recent vitality study, where I conducted interviews with two dozen Fortune 1000 CEOs, uncovered that vitality, the positive aliveness and having access to energy within oneself, is the secret.
Surprisingly, possessing strong leadership skills is not enough without leaders having the energy to regularly demonstrate the skills. When leaders feel drained, my research showed they are perceived as mediocre.
In order for leaders to express positive leadership behaviors via their vitality, it’s essential they tap into their inner resource of physical, psychological and emotional energy. Leaders must first have an abundance of energy and then choose to share it.
Eight opposing themes of leadership performance behaviors emerged from my research when leaders are highly vital versus drained. Leaders who are highly vital display the following Positive Leadership behaviors consistently:
Transferring Positive Relational Energy
Showing Curiosity
Creating Positive Environments
Encouraging Others
Being Highly Engaged
Having High Capacity
Being Visionary
Being Inclusive
The Eight Leadership Behaviors of Highly Vital Leaders:
What do each of these behaviors look like? How do leaders positively impact others when demonstrating them? We’ll explore in detail with quotes directly from CEOs.
1. Transferring Positive Relational Energy
How leaders display the behavior: Positive relational energy is the transference of positive energy from one person to another. This was the number one way leaders in my study expressed their vitality: 65% of leaders revealed that when they were high in vitality, they readily shared their energy.
Positive impacts: When leaders share their positive relational energy with others, it results in the recipients feeling positively energized after the interaction. Additionally, such leaders are high performers and create extraordinary results for the organization.
2. Showing Curiosity
How leaders display the behavior: Leaders high in vitality demonstrate active listening skills, ask curious and powerful questions, are patient in conversations and focused on the development of others.
Positive impacts: One leader stated it’s when “I am at my best as a CEO. I’m rarely giving answers. I’m rarely solving problems. I’m just listening.”
Displaying curiosity in someone else results in creating a high-quality connection with them. When someone deeply listens to you, and you feel seen, heard and acknowledged, you build trust with that person. Trust is foundational in fostering high quality connections.
3. Creating Positive Environments
How leaders display the behavior: Leaders with an abundance of vitality create a positive environment through expressing positive emotions, having fun, being joyful, showing passion, using humor, expressing gratitude, and utilizing engaging body language.
Positive impacts: One leader explained he came across as, “very energetic, enthusiastic, optimistic, contagiously spirited. I know that I can influence if I’m in a good mood, I can influence those around me to be in a good mood.” When leaders foster a positive environment, they positively influence and elevate their team’s environment.
4. Encouraging Others
How leaders display the behavior: Leaders give more encouragement to others when feeling vital.
Positive impacts: As leaders’ behavior has a ripple effect on those around them, when leaders focus on encouraging others, it positively inspires and engages their team. A CEO spoke to how he focused on encouraging those around him: “I use the energy to point out people’s superpowers, what they’re great at.”
5. Being Highly Engaged
How leaders display the behavior: Leaders who feel an abundance of energy have a strong sense of engagement and presence with others.
Positive impacts: One CEO noted: “when I’m engaged, really engaged, that’s going to probably bring out the best of me,” which can bring out the best in their team. As a leader’s emotions are contagious, a leader’s engagement can directly improve the emotions of their team.
6. Having High capacity
How leaders display the behavior: One leader explained: “Being clear headed comes with being fully charged.” Leaders full of energy have increased mental capacity, including being: clear headed, ambitious and focused.
Positive impacts: Leaders that have the increased mental capacity make sound and timely decisions and strive to accomplish more.
7. Being Visionary
How leaders display the behavior: Leaders full in vitality have the ability to create vision, be more creative and think more broadly about the organization by focusing on the big picture.
Positive impacts: Visionary leadership increases the team’s motivation and inspires others to follow their leadership.
8. Being Inclusive
How leaders display the behavior: When leaders are highly vital, they are more collaborative, open and inclusive.
Positive impacts: Vital leaders have the energy to put others needs ahead of their own. For instance, they can more easily adjust their leadership styles based on the needs of each group. One leader shared that: “I am more open minded to the team’s feedback and suggestions.” Being inclusive helps leaders build trust and psychological safety with their team.
How to Consistently Lead with Your Full Leadership Potential:
Consistently care for your wellbeing and vitality every day. This is where it starts. By taking care of yourself, you not only serve yourself, you serve your leadership, your team and the organization. Through regularly having an abundance of energy available to self, you can consistently lead at your peak performance.
Have a team conversation about fostering wellbeing: Discussing what gives us energy and how to improve our wellbeing is energizing in and of itself. Ask your team: how are you caring for your physical, psychological and emotional wellbeing every day? What, if any, changes do you want to make?
Align your actions with your words: Ensure your own actions align with your communications on the significance of cultivating wellbeing. For example, speaking about the importance of taking time to recharge from work and then frequently expecting your team to respond to emails on the weekend sends a conflicting message.
Be a role model: Be vulnerable and communicate what you are doing to care for your wellbeing, the boundaries you’ve created and the impact. By doing so, you give others permission to take care of themselves too. When you share what’s foundational for you to lead as highly vital, you act as a role model and inspire others to do the same.
Don’t let your vitality be your secret sauce in leadership. Yes, cultivate it. Yes, lead with it consistently. Furthermore, to make the greatest impact, be a role model and encourage it. By acting as positive leader and encouraging positive leadership behaviors and language, it becomes the norm. It becomes part of the culture of the team and organization.