Leaders are promoted into their roles because they are key players on a team. Depending on the size of the organization, some stellar employees move into team leadership roles, then to supervisory roles, then to management roles, and finally to senior leadership roles. While not all roles exist at each organization, this progression sends the message to the leader that he/she is a crucial person. This message can make it difficult for the leader to remain humble.
The following are a few tips that will help leaders to remain humble. Humble leaders:
- Listen to others – their team members, employees, vendor recommendations, and the executive team.
- Lift others– they translate mentoring opportunities into potential sponsorship opportunities to advance the individual and the organization.
- Admit they don’t know everything – Leaders lead. They aren’t always the subject matter expert in all areas of the business or even their department’s tasks. Acknowledging those who exhibit expertise in their roles and the leader’s need to lean on those employees to have projects completed successfully shows the leader’s ability to let their talented employees do their jobs with minimal input from the leader.
- Request feedback from employees at all levels – staff members, peers, senior management, and cross-departmental partners.
- Give thanks. They realize they are in their role because others have lifted them up. They recognize the success of the organization is tied solely to the culture of gratitude within the organization. They write a thank-you card or email (cc’ing management when appropriate) to show appreciation for a well-done job. They publicly state team members’ roles in a project/initiative to give credit where credit is due.
