Tips for Humility in Your Leadership

Last week, we talked about the importance of having Humility in Your Leadership.

Studies are clear that being a humble leader helps to create a sense of psychological safety with you and your team. This in turn, builds teams that trust one another, are more engaged, less stressed, and have a sense of belonging.

In last week’s post, we gave suggestions of what humility in your leadership could look like and some of you asked us to provide you with additional details and examples. So today, we’re doing just that!

Being humble in your leadership can look like:

• Influence
  • You are willing to be influenced by others’ thoughts and ideas.
  • For example, either before or after leaning in to share your thoughts and ideas, you lean back and get curious.
  • You could say something like, “My idea is one of many and I’d love to hear your input on how we might move forward.”
• Pause
  • You pause to interrupt your reactivity.
  • For example, when you feel yourself getting reactive, you PAUSE to interrupt that reactivity.
  • In that moment of pausing, ask yourself, “Is what I’m about to do or say in alignment with my goal?”
• Vulnerability
  • You’re open to being vulnerable and admitting when you’ve messed up and/or need support.
  • For example, when you’ve made a mistake or need support, you own up to and model that it’s safe to do so.
  • You could say something like, “I take responsibility for that issue. I made the decision to move forward with Option A and can see now that we should have gone with Option B. It would be great to do an audit with the team to talk about any learnings and takeaways.”
• We-Focused
  • You are open with your team about the importance of creating a sense of we.
  • For example, you seek opportunities to collaborate and get input so that people feel they are creating something great, together.
  • You could say something like, “We’ve hit an obstacle, so let’s get together and plan how we can best move forward as a team. Let’s lean in and come up with a new solution together.”
• Mattering
  • You demonstrate to your team that they matter to you.
  • For example, you consistently let them know you value their skills and contributions, and you care about them as a person.
  • You could say something like, “I appreciate the great work that you’ve done on XYZ projects, which has helped this company successfully launch a new product. I’m here to support you in your career progression and I’m curious, what would support from me look like?”
• Emotional Agility
  • Emotional agility can be when you acknowledge when things are tough and encourage the team to lean in to support one another.
  • For example, when a project is thrown off course, the company’s sales are down, or people are burned out, it’s important to name it and then support each other.
  • You could say something like, “I’d like to take a moment to name what’s been going on. Things are difficult right now. I know that I’ve been distracted by it. Who else has felt distracted or concerned? How can we support one another?”

As you read through these examples, consider what you’re doing well (way to go!), where you need to grow, and what you’ll start working on in the coming days.

As always, let us know how it’s going!