People in leadership roles have egos. There's an inner belief in their capabilities. They've gotten to the level they're at because of their ability to get things done. Many times, this is a specific, technical skill (e.g. sales prowess) that has helped them get promoted.
However, that ego, created by their technical proficiency, can get in the way of empowering people to do the best they can do their unique skillset. Such an ego may bring forth the behavior of being an Oracle of Information or the person that takes over to fix things.
Humility and the ability to clear obstacles rather than being one is a key to catalyzing people and an aligning an organization.
My previous post is about What Love has to do with Work. Connecting with others and caring for them enough to want them to grow and succeed makes great leaders. Humility is similar.
Humility allows the following mindsets:
- It's not about me,
- I don't know it all, but I bring value in many areas,
- There's strength from our collective capabilities,
- Team success will show well on me as well,
- We can lift more and run farther together; and
- My ability to communicate and get agreement is enhanced.
Humility is strength. Humility is openness. Humility is collaborative. Humility is empowering for you and those around you. Humility breeds trust. Humility helps other connect with you, your strategy and the organizational mission. Greater alignment and performance occurs.
Your way or the highway doesn't work. It creates bottlenecks. It breeds discontent. It disconnects people from the mission because they don't feel ownership. It encourages good people to leave your organization.
Humility takes practice, even if you are skilled at it, as is true with all leadership qualities. Each person will have a certain amount of innate humility. However, training is needed to hone how to use it, when to not use it and how it's weaved in with other leadership techniques.
Take time to step back and analyze situations for how you could have practiced greater humility. Engage in a coach or mentor to help you develop your leadership skills and those of your team so you can have a plan in place to practice humility in various situations and see what happens.
You and your team will be the better for it.