Humility is easier said than done. We think leaders are “supposed” to give orders and advice. It turns out that TELLING people what to do instead of ASKING their perspective can suck the motivation and passion right out of our teams. You don’t want people checking out, getting defensive, or feeling targeted. You do want colleagues feeling safe and empowered to share what they know so that collectively your teams can make better decisions.
Nevertheless, our status-seeking, individualistic, competitive world still pushes us in the compete and control direction. Virtues like humility, curiosity, even vulnerability, are often undervalued because they don’t fit into that “control” posture. Yet when we develop humble inquiry skills, everything we’re doing together as a team starts getting more effective and hopefully easier.
