Go to any leadership school or course and you are sure to find a list similar to this:
- Vision
- Communication
- Manage performance
- Engage the team
- Finance
- Strategy
- Innovation
- Change
- Crisis management
- Coaching
…and so on.
And yes, absolutely. There are lots of skills that a leader needs to learn regardless of the organisation / team that they lead.
But there are three skills that are rarely mentioned and that are critical for success in our rapidly evolving world. Those are:
- Curiosity
- Intent
- Compassion
I’ll go into more detail in the next posts about each one of them, but for those of you who want the highlights, here goes!
CURIOSITY
Behind every new invention, every solution to a problem is a curious mind. As humans, we are born curious and then something happens – at home, in our schools, in our work places, that actually suppresses our curiosity. We are taught to learn things by heart, when we ask “why”, the response is “because”, if we ask why too much we make the other person feel defensive, if we ask why too much we are troublemakers. And yet curiosity is such an important skill and behaviour. Asking questions to truly understand a person, a situation, an opportunity – whatever it may be – is a critical skill for all of us and even more important if we are in a leadership position. As a leader, you don’t need to know how to do everything, you don’t need the answers to everything, but what you do need to know is how to ask the questions that will help your people find the answers. Being curious, having a curious mind, will also enable you to be non judgmental. When someone does something that seems to go against what you believe to be right and true, become curious. What makes them believe what they do? What makes them act the way they do? What experiences have they had that have lead them to this conclusion?
INTENT
How many of us create endless to-do lists? I know that I do! For me it has become a way to make sure that I don’t forget certain things I want to get done, but also an exercise in thinking things out on paper. But how much of it actually gets done? One thing that I have recently found to be really powerful, and has got me into action much more effectively, has been to set my intent for the day and for the week. Setting my intent has been about the “why” of my to do list, it has enabled me to get to the core of what I want to achieve that day or that week.
So imagine taking that premise and applying it to our roles as leaders. What is your intent as a leader and how do you make it explicit? Doing this will translate into a purpose with action.
COMPASSION
There are some who would replace this word with the word Empathy. It’s about being able to put yourself into someone else’s shoes and walk that proverbial mile in them, so that you truly understand what it is to be them. The reason that I prefer the word compassion, is that there is even more to it. Once you have walked that mile and empathised with the other person, what do you do? Being compassionate or showing compassion means that you show sympathy, kindness, consideration, love, as well as understanding. Enough of it that you might choose to take the time to educate them, to show them another reality, another experience, that will then give them more choices. As leaders showing compassion means that we understand and we teach and so much more.
Some will say that these skills are innate, that people are born with them or not. My belief and experience is that awareness is key. Being aware that these skills exist, and that as leaders we need them, is the first step to developing them.
In my next posts I will go into more detail on each one.
Don’t forget to sign up to receive them as they get published and subscribe to my newsletter where I do a round up of any blog posts and add special offers and more ideas for you to digest.
