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Humility –=
A
Leadership Reference Point <=
span
lang=3DEN style=3D'font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:"Lucida Sans";mso=
-ansi-language:
EN'> With so many investing so much of who
they are in what they do at work today, being “wrong” has bec=
ome taboo.
Being expert is deemed important. “I don’t know” is a
phrase happily avoided in meetings or manager / employee conversations. Also, have you noticed how “bei=
ng a
leader” seems expected of everyone, from official management roles =
to
technical roles alike? In the past 3 weeks I have had numero=
us
conversations with a range of people from friends and family to clients a=
nd
an interesting theme has emerged. Humility. The American Psychological So=
ciety
defines humility as: A modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank, =
etc. At work, people talk about wanting to
create great team environments, generate a real vision for the future that
people will get behind, and become the kind of leader that can achieve gr=
eat
things. I have heard leadership talked about from a place of purposefulne=
ss,
passion and energy. The are great qualities. And what I have heard is that
where many existing leaders that fall down, and some aspiring leaders fea=
r to
tread, is humility. I have come across many organisational
leadership and competency frameworks and there is seldom a direct referen=
ce
to humility. Consider:
These are all qualities - for better =
or
worse - that we share as people. So why do we pretend that we don’t=
? We
can find it hard to devalue our contributions, acknowledge others contrib=
utions
and to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes, and yet this is
precisely what’s required. Dwight D Eisenhower put it perfectly =
in
the context of war time “Humility must always be the
portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his follow=
ers
and the sacrifices of his friends.” There is no personal success without =
the
success of contributors. Humility is about acknowledgement of those who
achieve with you. It is about knowing what others want to contribute. Abo=
ut
recognising their contributions. And, importantly, about recognizing your=
own
contributions to mistakes and failings before pointing out the mistakes a=
nd
failings of others. Doing this takes the capacity to see yourself in othe=
rs,
and to understand that position, acknowledge and to accept. Are these the kind of words or sentim=
ents
of leadership in your organisation? <=
span
style=3D'font-size:8.0pt;font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'>Th=
omas
Merton said “Pride makes us artificial=
and
humility makes us real” Humility leads to long term success, =
whether
you are in an official leadership position or not. Interested in learning more? Then cal=
l us
today to discuss how our leadership coaching services make a fundamental
difference. Email james@=
thecatalystgroup.com.au
or call him on 0403 311 176. |
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