There are two ways that leaders can inspire their team...either via a beautiful vision which fills the heart and soul with joy or by fumbling around in the dark, cautious of what lies ahead and blinkered or disinterested in the ultimate goal. The most successful leaders are the ones who share their deepest dreams with their team, who fill them with the same sense of awe that they feel when the dream is recalled. The leaders who struggle are the ones who keep these beautiful images to themselves but still expect the people around them to turn that vision into reality.

So what is a dream? It is not a goal which needs to be achieved. Goals are stepping stones which lead to an accomplishment but without the will, the motivation and the drive that dreams propel, goals can become nothing more than a means to an end. Nowhere can this more true than when a team leader is the only one charging forward on his chariot with focus and determination and the rest of the team are merely working in the background, fulfilling their roles according to the demands thrust upon them.

Leaders who read this article may flounce at the idea of tapping into people's dreams. Many prefer the textbook approach of setting defined goals in a bid to complete a project with very few hurdles along the way. The great Martin Luther King announced "I have a dream". He did not say "I have an aspiration to..." or "I have an ambition to..." This is where leaders should recognise the difference between a dream, an aspiration or ambition.

Ambitions and aspirations are desires which are always there but do not often become fulfilled. This means that when leaders are talking to the ambitious part of their teams psyche, they are flicking a spark of inspiration. If they were to connect with the part of the mind which draws out their dreams and brings them to life, they would hone into the heartwood of each and every employee's motivational centre. This would enlighten their deepest and passionate longings and would tap into the hidden depths of their true identities and provide you with the opportunity as a leader to show how they can make some of those dreams come true. Talking to their dream centre can cause miraculous things to happen.

A dream is something which stirs emotion, passion, desire and action so it makes sense to take time to understand the dreams of every single team member so as those motivational sparks can be turned into a flame. Show them that you can help them attain those passions and back it up with positive thoughts and suggestions to inspire motivation. When people feel that they are consciously working towards achieving a dream they forget the hard work it may take to get there. Team members will enjoy every single task which is set before them and will find work a joy rather than a chore. With this kind of trust shared amongst each and every team member divisional walls are knocked down and everyone can work together in a relationship which is strong, determined and focussed. If all of that motivational energy were to be used as electricity it would probably lighten the streets of a whole continent with its powerful force.

People often confuse dreams with fantasies...however a fantasy is something which may never materialise. Having a degree is a dream....becoming a CEO is a dream...Having the office block located next door to our home for eight hours a day and then disappearing after 5pm is a fantasy. Dreams really can come true...fantasies are usually unachievable. A dream is something which uplifts, gives strength and prompts motivation. Even people in concentration camps or prisoners serving life sentences have dreams which keep them going and help them through the most difficult of times.

Teach your team members to work towards their dreams and show them that they really can take the controls of life and steer it in the direction that they want to go. When you have instilled this belief, it is easy for team members to work through tasks efficiently and effectively and reach those goals in record time. You will also find that a united team will be dedicated to the entire project and will emit so much positive radiance that good luck will spill over. Money for projects will suddenly appear and hurdles will be easier to overcome.

If you all think along the same lines, you could call this camaraderie a shared dream and make it even more motivational. With dreams working their magic, team members will act differently as they will see the purpose and meaning to their working day. Clients also respond favourably to positive attitudes which results in healthier looking figures at the end of the financial year. Keep the dream alive and you turn up the intensity button which motivates to the extent that one good opportunity after another will start to raise its head.

Not only will you be helping people to achieve their dreams but you will also be building on their experience and increasing their confidence. Let's take an example which can be easily found within the world of education. A young lady dreams of becoming a paediatric nurse but is unable to attend nursing college because she does not possess the necessary entry requirements to be accepted for training. This means that anyone wishing to enrol on that course has to have acquired the standard of education relevant for that area of study. As a result, many people who would make excellent children's nurses will never have the chance to fulfil their dreams.

At the same time, some of those people were told that they had to pass a tough examination to ride a bike which involved plotting compass points and navigating complicated and challenging routes before being able to take to picturesque country lanes which are surrounded by luscious green grassy carpets and the sounds of nature embracing their very soul. My guess is that there would be a lot of people buying compasses and taking an interest in geography to get those feet on the pedals and breath in that refreshing country air. This goes to show that a dream is something which is so overwhelmingly strong, it motivates you to do even the most mundane of tasks because the end result is worth the sum of its parts.

In many cases, those areas which are difficult, challenging or just plain boring become a learning curve which extends on experience and leads to even greater things as new avenues are created which reveal new opportunities. By quoting the phrase "opportunity first, knowledge second" you will motivate your team to dream, learn and naturally fulfil their dreams.

Dreams become most vivid and believable when we are children. As we grow, we are taught to live in the 'real world' and push our daydreams to one side. Society instils in us the belief that education is the route to success and that our dreams can wait. However, it is ironic that our achievements are the result of our dreams in the same way as our successes are the result of our failures. Parents, teachers and friends expect us to succeed without failure. This way of thinking is killing the powerful motivating factor that dreams provide.

When we are in a dream-like state we are relaxed, focussed and living the life which matches our innermost thoughts, feelings and beliefs. However, the moment that we convey these thoughts to the world we are bombarded with comments such as "Whatever did you dream about that for?" If our bubble hasn't been burst and we allow our dreams to still drive us, the impossible really can be achieved and people will stop throwing those hurtful comments at us.

It takes a lot of determination to make a dream come true, especially if people mock our vision or we are given little encouragement. Take the Wright Brothers; no-one believed that there would ever be an invention which would enable people to fly like a bird. The US Army even revoked the idea and Wilbur and his brother were mocked and ridiculed. How did they keep the dream alive? By instilling trust in only those people who shared the same belief in their dreams as they did and were able to assist them in their vision. This gave them the motivation to charge forward and prove that flying really was something that could happen. It was only at this point that onlookers swapped the word 'loopy' to describe them for the word 'genius'.

Leaders need to motivate people, this means finding out what their dreams are and helping them to become fulfilled. When you know what your team want and you motivate them enough to want it badly enough, they will do everything in their power to get there!