If you want to inspire and motivate others to achieve high levels of performance, tap into the power of emotion. In the research for our book, The Inspiring Leader, my coauthors and I analyzed 360-degree survey data on 25,000 leaders. We discovered that those who were most inspiring (the top 10% of the group) had something unique in common: their ability to establish a strong emotional connection with their employees.

When I discuss emotional connection with executives, I’m not suggesting excessive displays of emotion, oversharing of personal information, or getting into therapy sessions with colleagues. Rather, it’s about connecting with our teams, our peers, and our bosses as humans with emotions, not task-focused automatons. It’s the emotions that you as a leader evoke within others that enable you to bring out the best in them.

Here are three ways I’ve coached executives to harness the power of emotion to motivate the people they work with and drive better results:

1. Cultivate the energy that flows from enthusiasm.

Most of us have felt an added wind in our sails when we are excited about a project or the work we are doing. As a leader, you can channel this energy by sharing your passion for the results that need to be achieved. But first, you may need to access it yourself.

I worked with a chief data officer who was easily the most knowledgeable person in the business when it came to analytics. I wouldn’t call him negative, but certainly lacking a positive charge. His focus in meetings was like Agent Friday from Dragnet: “just the facts, ma’am.” He recognized the need to get out of the spreadsheets and use data to connect with others — both about the issues they cared deeply about solving, and the business outcomes they were excited to achieve.

2. Recognize what’s behind anger and put it to better use.

Anger has a place in leadership. It’s a powerful emotion and drives action, providing valuable energy in discussing concerns and fears and conveying urgency. Unfortunately, anger is often misused and loses its effectiveness.

Expressing anger by yelling or raising your voice, cutting people off, and speaking aggressively is likely to be met with strong defensiveness or a shut down from others. For leaders, the most effective way to express anger is by rationally expressing the real concern behind the anger. In business, anger is typically the front for worry or concern about what will happen if something doesn’t work out as planned.

Showing this kind of transparency about your feelings may be called vulnerability, and it can be a catalyst for building trust, fostering collaboration, and galvanizing teams. But for those who aren’t entirely comfortable with this term, just focus on using your anger more effectively.

3. Drive deeper engagement with a focus on development.

Coaching and developing others is statistically among the strongest competencies a leader has at their disposal for inspiring people to achieve high levels of performance. When people tell me about the best leaders they worked for, those leaders invariably took an interest in their professional growth.

Focusing on developing the people who work for you is an investment driving long-term business results. Time spent helping them perform better is what drives the emotional connection that leads to employee loyalty, motivation, and greater success for the team. As a boss who mentored me once shared, “My coaching and investment in your development aren’t entirely altruistic. I know that the better you get, the better our results will be.”

Thanks to : Scott Edinger

Summarized from : Harvard Business Review