A recent, unexpected and welcome phone call from Jane – a director of well-established consultancy and also a lapsed client – led to a cup of coffee earlier this week. (I seem to meet so many of my clients in coffee shops!) After a couple of minutes exchanging pleasantries, Jane fell silent, looked down, stirred her Americano, sighed and then explained: “it’s like this, Mark. I feel I’ve gone as far as I can in my current role. Sure, there are day-to-day challenges, but I feel I’ve stopped learning and growing. I can feel myself becoming bored, complacent and if this carries on, disengaged. When I look around the boardroom table at my colleagues, there’s nobody to look up, to stretch and challenge me – to inspire me – and I don’t really know what to do.”
Over the years, I’ve coached many clients – and myself – through variants of Jane’s challenge. Being a baby boomer who turns 60 (!) in January, I’m always reminded of a little known song written in 1972 by The Spencer Davis Group /Blind Faith/Traffic’s Steve Winwood called ‘Sometimes I feel so uninspired’ with uplifting lyrics and music on the subject, though I realize the music may not be to everyone’s taste.
A lack of inspiration is often due to unclear direction, personally and/or professionally. In turn this can lead to a loss of momentum or getting stuck (as in Jane’s case) and can be accompanied with a loss of motivation and disengagement. In some cases even depression if not checked.
So here are six questions I asked Jane and that you can ask yourself if you lack inspiration. They are designed to help you get the traction you need to move in the right direction and depend on you writing down your responses to get the real benefit…
- Looking inside yourself: what do you want for yourself personally and professionally, that will inspire you and why? Write down your responses and make them SMART
- Looking outside yourself: who and what will inspire you and why? Again write down your responses and make them SMART.
- Who in your network of contacts can you arrange to meet periodically for a coffee, lunch, drink or even just a short phone call, to inspire you?
- Who can you shadow for a day – in your organization or theirs – to give you a different perspective and that will kick-start you?
- What conferences/events/Linkedin groups are you attending/do you belong to that will ignite you?
- What are you reading, watching and listening to that inspires you?
After a couple of cups of coffee, Jane said she felt more inspired and motivated and could begin to see the way forward and she had regained the momentum she had lost. I’d like to think it was the questions that she found her own answers to and not the coffee! Only time will tell where this leads Jane – in her current role or elsewhere.
What’s your experience? What do you do to remain inspired? What do you do when you feel uninspired and lacking direction? Post a reply. It will be great to hear from you.
Leadership Insights 