“The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out.” – Proverbs 20:5
Do you ever feel frustrated with motivating another person to do something? An important aspect of leadership is moving a team forward with a common mission. But, what do you do when people seem to procrastinate or don’t follow-through? And at the other end of the spectrum, how do you keep your top performers encouraged and moving strongly ahead?
Connecting to the Power Source in Leading Others
The key to leading people to action is connecting to their hearts. The heart is the power source within people. It is the place of passions and purposes. As the proverb at the beginning of this article says, it is a place of deep waters. However, we do not have to be afraid or overwhelmed with connecting to people’s hearts. It does take effort, but the investment is well worth it and powerful.
How to Connect to the Power Source in Leading Others
If this is a place of deep waters, how do we even get there? If you were looking for a river in a dense forested area, you might have difficulty seeing where the water is. However, certain signs could lead you there. For example, if you were quiet and very still, as you listened, you might hear the flowing rapids of the water. As you followed the sound, it would lead you right there.
The same is true with the heart. We can listen to find our way there, and the secret is to listen to emotions. Let me share with you an example.
An Example of Connecting to the Power Source in Leading Others
Tom is a leader with high potential. He is praised for his vision and ability to communicate. However, Tom struggles with procrastination. He states that he needs to feel pressure to get something done. Even though Tom can still get his job done, this is wreaking havoc with his staff. They feel frustrated that they can’t plan ahead and have to stay late to do last minute work.
As I talk with Tom, he has a chart to keep him on track; but as he talks about this chart, he states that he “hates” it. Hate is a strong emotional word. Emotional language is a sign that can lead you into the power source of a person.
I pointed out to Tom that hate is a strong word, and asked him to tell me more about this. This question led to Tom realizing that he saw his chart as an accuser that points out all he is not getting done; instead of a helpful friend that is encouraging him to keep on track. Realizing this led to a powerful mindset change that caused Tom to engage with accountability and overcome procrastination.
Often when others use emotional language this can scare us, and we can run the other way. But when we do this, we lose out on a huge opportunity to listen and understand the power source, the heart, of another person. Is there a person with whom you want to connect at their power source? I encourage you to listen for the emotional words when they speak. Please then share what you learn through this experience.