Humility In Leadership
A lesson with the “Future Leaders Program” Participants at Hemas
The future leaders program, is a leadership training program conducted by Hemas, to create better talent mobility within the group. The goal of the program, is to prepare people with potential to be able to better tackle challenges the group faces, as they face an uncertain future.
Peter was asked to speak on the “Importance of Humility in Leadership” to the participants of this program. Here’s a quick recap of the key points Peter highlighted.
Future Leader?
The first thing Peter did, was question the notion of calling someone a “Future Leader”. The term is a misnomer. It’s not that they are future lead.ers, but rather “leaders for the future” Leadership is not something that is thrust upon someone, in a month or year from now, when they meet some golden criteria. Rather, these individuals are leaders already, and have an active responsibility in achieving the aspirations of the Hemas group.
If so, humility is attribute they need to have as at today. But things get complicated, as these individuals have been singled out as “future leaders” by the management, possibly creating some friction between them and their colleagues. Their colleagues could be asking “What makes you so special”, or say “Well, someone here had to do real work while you way away on your fancy ‘future leaders program”. The act of singling out these potential leaders, has already set the groundwork for them to be the opposite of humble, something the participants need to put extra effort to overcome.
It’s not just about being polite
With the problems at specified at the outset, Peter went on to say that humility doesn’t mean to be subservient. It doesn’t mean to always say “yes” or talk softly. Humility, is a key trait, in every leadership style. And here Peter pointed three leadership styles, often misconstrued to be different forms of humility. The first is the directive style; “Please do, X, Y Z and report back to me” would be the tone. Similar to parenting, this style of leadership provides clear instructions, and expects prompt, precise action. The second style is “If you can’t get it done, I’ll get it done myself”. These are the hands on leaders, who sometimes are a bit impatient, and give little room for error. The last type of leader is the visionary, the one who inspires people around a shared vision, and gets the team to act on their capabilities to achieve the goal. This type of leader is often thought to be ‘humble’. However, what Peter said is not that one style of leadership is better than the other, but that different circumstances and contexts require different styles of leadership. If there was a fire, we couldn’t be having a democratic approach, where each one does what he / she does best and come to a common action plan on what to do, but rather everyone should listen to the one most equipped to address the situation (maybe the fire drill officer?) and follow those orders to the dot.
If then, humility is not about being subservient, nor has it to do with the style of leadership, what does it mean to be humble. How does a leader grow the attribute of humility.
Humility is not an option.
Humility, in essence, is opening up yourself to learn from those around you. And to learn from those around you, they need to be able to connect with you. And to connect with them, you need to be humble. Peter spoke that humility is not something that you can outwardly specify and say that “behaviors A, B and C means the person is humble”. Humility is a process of introspection, to check for yourself if your subordinates, colleagues and superiors trust and are able to connect with you. And when they do, you are able to learn from them.
In closing, Peter said that as we face an uncertain future, learning becomes all the more important. The implications of this, is that humility is not something that is “nice to have”, but rather a quintessential tool for survival in today’s business.
