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Whether in daily life or digital marketing, we are sure you know actions speak louder than words. Far louder, the greatest action you can take as a creative leader is to inspire your team. Once tapped, a source of inspiration can spread like a winter storm blanketing everything in its path.
But you must first be that source, and we are here to show you that inspiration is an open door. Just as the best education can be teaching, you must first be inspired to become inspiring yourself.
Let’s stick with the concept of winter for a simple comparison.
Have you ever tried to learn ice climbing? Hard to imagine, hanging from a frozen waterfall on a mountainside, fifty-something feet in the air with nothing to hold onto but the picks in your hands and the spikes on your feet. Yet confidence in your guide is confidence in yourself, and ultimately you will be rewarded with one of the most exhilarating experiences imaginable.
Now imagine that your guide is disinterested, as though he’d rather be elsewhere? Perhaps he is overly critical, or perhaps he’s only interested in showing you how good of a climber he is instead of teaching. Even worse, perhaps he’s not a good climber at all, merely a beginner and in no place to be entrusted with your life.
As that climbing student, it’s going to be pretty hard to feel confident as you’re hanging there in the freezing cold. Your confidence will soon be replaced by insecurity; and eventually inspiration’s greatest nemesis will take hold: doubt.
A good guide knows that getting his team to the top is not about how well he can climb, but how well he can keep his team climbing.
In the office it is no different, as a creative leader must realize that his best work is achieved by helping others to be their best. It is the number one way to ensure that a team will deliver the best results. The key to this is to remember that a leader works for his team, not the other way around
In the unforgiving terrain of winter, ego can cost lives. In the office, it can cost you your livelihood. Too often talent has been squandered by the ego of a leader who mistakenly believes the team’s job is to serve him.
One doesn’t need to top out triple pitch ice climbs to be inspiring after all! It’s far less complicated, and can be summed up in six tiny letters: W-h-a-t – I-f?
Try it on for size. What if there was a way to climb on ice? What if we built the tools that could allow a human to climb on ice? What if we sent a team out into the Himalayas with these tools, and that team wound up standing on the highest mountains in the world?
Starting to get the gist?
Beware that doubt, inspiration’s arch nemesis, can manipulate those six letters to his own will.
Doubt will try to use “What If” to get you to focus on fear of risk, rather than the strides forward that can occur when a risk is taken. Fear is doubt’s greatest ally, and they will work together to destroy an idea by replacing inspiration with insecurity.
Yet when nurtured, inspiration can create amazing things in the face of doubt. Just remember: you can’t ask your team to be more creative. It’s like asking them to get younger by simply not aging anymore. It just doesn’t work that way.
Instead, inspire them to create by giving them the tools they need to do so.
Give your team the equipment they need to climb. Help them into their harnesses, and tie into the rope together with you at the lead. And when you hit the crux of your climb, hoist them onto your shoulders so they can see the top before you do. We guarantee that these are the actions that inspire. And we’re pretty sure that everyone will enjoy the view from the top.
Socialfix Media is a full service digital marketing agency that offers over 200 years of combined business, marketing, design and development experience, our team will deliver out-of-the-box online branding, strategy, web development, and social media outreach. We are not just consultants with nothing vested. We’ve tested and implemented our methods on our own businesses and always have our eye on our customer’s return on investment! Give us a call to see what we can do to bring your business to the forefront!
