In this month’s edition of Insight, brought to you by the IIC&M, we will be looking into “inspirational”.
When I speak for myself, I can find inspiration in many things: people, nature, animals, words, arts, travel, experiences, my own thoughts, etc. Often it is a combination of all these things and more, which somehow seem to blend together in my mind, and then all of a sudden it hits me unexpectedly. That usually happens at a moment when I can do little to act on it, like when I’m taking a shower, am getting ready for bed, or am stuck in a traffic jam. But for me, real inspiration is when that initial “hit” plants a little seed in my head, which keeps coming back to me, and eventually grows into a steady tree of thoughts and action.
Given how my mind works, and how much time that process may take, I usually find it really hard to pin point who or what exactly has inspired me. I know that there are some very important people in my life who have inspired me in some way or another, but I find it very hard to tell them exactly why, and when, and by doing what. Maybe that is why I find it such a huge compliment when I am told that I’ve been inspirational to someone.
As mentors and coaches, we often aim to inspire our clients through the questions that we ask or - when mentoring - by the guidance that we provide. We hope that our words will help our clients to explore and structure their thoughts, ideally have some valuable light bulb-moments as part of the process, and then take good decisions and plan powerfull actions as a result.
But how exactly do we achieve to be inspirational? Honestly, I have no clue! Of course, our professional skills may help us to inspire people, and we shouldn’t forget that most clients will actually be looking for inspiration when they are engaging with us. But being inspirational to me isn’t a skill that you can learn, it isn’t a tool that you can practice to work with, and it isn’t something you can intentionally decide to be. Inspiration is a very personal and private thought process, which can’t even be influenced by the receiving end of inspiration, let alone by the influencer.
But having said all that, I still find that being called inspirational is the biggest professional compliment of all. And that’s why I hope that this edition of Insight will be inspirational for you, and that it will also bring you a bit more insight into what inspirational actually is.
Warmest regards,
Denny
Denny Portier-Terpstra
Editor
Denny Portier-Terpstra
Editor of Insight brought to you by the IIC&M.
Denny is also an experienced coach and mentor, and an HR Professional.
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EDITOR'S
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