What happens when leaders lead with excitement and motivation?

At IMAGES RetailME’s THINK! I CAN conference Victoria Tipper, Strengths Coach & Wellbeing Consultant, 2b Limitless started her speech with an example.

She spoke about a study that conducted a stress test among a set of first[1]time skydivers. As part of the study their sweat samples were collected once before they jumped out of a plane and once again on a regular day while working out. Then a different set of people who had no idea about the study were asked to smell the two samples, and brain scans indicated that the fear part of their brain lit up when they smelt the sweat samples of skydivers just before they jumped off the airplane.

Moral of the story: “The way we turn up as leaders, the emotions we reflect are infectious. It is a choice for a leader – whether to lead with fear and anxiety or with excitement and motivation,” Tipper explained.

So, why is this choice important?

That’s because today’s workforce isn’t turning up just for a paycheck, they are looking for purpose. They don’t want to be told but coached. Leaders who work as coach give their team autonomy, therein unlocking every individual’s highest potential, Tipper explained.

When people focus on using their strengths, they are three times more likely to have an excellent quality of life. They are six times likely to be more engaged in their jobs and this leads to an increase in productivity and profitability by 12.9% and 11.7%, respectively.

Yet globally only 15% of workforce are actively engaged. So, the big question is what are leaders willing to do to change this situation?