A few days ago I had the opportunity to speak with a visionary leader. He shared with me that when building up a leadership team, his first and foremost criteria is for the incoming leaders to bring the right culture into the organisation. In his opinion this was far more critical than industry experience or relevant subject-matter expertise. It was an inspirational chat, and he got me thinking.

I have seen inexperienced HR managers turn away brilliant candidates because they couldn’t find relevant industry keywords in their CVs at first glance. It’s even worse when recruitment companies use automated keyword search on CVs to shortlist potential candidates. If managers get hired this way, how can corporations ensure building the right foundation for themselves? How will your team ever imbibe fresh out-of-the-box thinking into its culture?

A recent survey by IIC Partners revealed that the number one skill companies and Boards of Directors seek in senior executives is the ability to motivate and lead others. 68% of the top leaders surveyed (n = 1,270) said they preferred a senior executive who could motivate and inspire others more than they desired an executive who consistently performed well. The price of entry to corner office could be competence, but the measure of success is inspiring others. In an earlier post I had shared a similar sentiment about discovering the purpose of work. Leaders should be meaning-makers, and not motivation-breakers.

Clueless companies often expend tons of effort and resources conducting that once-a-year farce of an exercise called Employee Engagement Program. A lot has been written and debated about the skepticism of this practice (good read here in this article). But what most employees truly need is inspiration. They want to see their leaders walk the talk. They want to be motivated by managers who lead by example.

Ever wondered the distinction between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty? If I was your customer and I told you that your product/service was “satisfactory”, does that make you feel good? Anyone can satisfy a customer, but winning customer loyalty is priceless. Loyalty is an affirmation for the future. On a similar note, there is a clear distinction between an engaged employee and a motivated employee. A motivated employee will be committed to the future of the company. Motivating your people will go a long way toward building a high performance team than merely “engaging” them.

Are you are a manager who believes engagement is good enough? Motivation is not your cup of tea? Here are 3.5 things you can continue doing:

1. Keep on talking about financial results

Your Board cares about your company’s financial performance, but what about your employees? Studies have shown that many employees care more about the impact their company (and their work) has on the society than about its financial performance. Great leaders will build a culture where they mould their teams to think more than just stock prices and profit dollars. By motivating this way, their teams will elevate their mind-set and loyalty from ‘engaged for money’ to ‘motivated by purpose’.

2. Dig deep in the blame game, and forget the “We” mindset

Managers often ask “Why are you doing this… Why are you not doing that…” questions when things don’t go well. To unmotivated employees these questions appear as blame and criticism. There is always a reason or two behind employee non-performance. Inspiring managers will approach on the ‘We’ mindset instead to uncover those reasons. “What can we do to help?” and “How can we fix this problem together?” This approach avoids the blame game, and instead gives team members the opportunity to reconnect with their company, and also learn and develop further.

3. Spend more time micro-managing, and less time inspiring

One common trait of busy managers is they spend a lot of time attempting to micromanage and control the activities of their employees. Individuals who work for such managers are often less committed and unproductive. I admit that it might appear more productive to micromanage their work, or even roll-up your sleeves and do things yourself, while it can be difficult to take time out of your busy schedules to spend quality time inspiring others. But remember that leaders who take an inspirational approach form closer relationships with their employees and have more focused, more motivated, and highly committed team members working under them. These employees also stay in their jobs longer than the unmotivated ones.

3.5. Apply the same inspirational approach on everyone

Ok, so you have outgrown the micromanagement and employee-engagement mindset. You are a budding inspirational leader, and you have set aside quality time to motivate your team. What next? The question you need to ask yourself is If I could do something to influence the emotional state of the people around me, what would it be?. The answer: It depends on the individual. Some of your team members may need the feel to be connected, some need to feel informed, and some others competent. You can’t apply a one approach fits all theory here. List out your team members and write down the emotional state you plan to nurture in each of them. Your inspirational leadership radically changes when you value your team’s emotional states, and motivate them appropriately.

Building the right culture is indeed the most critical element in setting up a solid foundation of any successful organisation. Everything else will follow. Hire inspiring leaders who can think and act strategically. Let them inspire and motivate their teams to deliver best in class performance. Be maniacal about inspiring your team, but don’t be a micromanaging maniac who destroys the team’s motivation.