Category: Leadership
Audience: Leaders
Overview: Being humble and expressing vulnerability are both impactful behaviors. And they can also be two of the most difficult to acknowledge, own and incorporate into an organization’s culture.
Read Time: 3 minutes
Our work identifies and measures 4 dimensions of culture: Communication, Trust, Alignment and Accountability. They are major dimensions and are closely connected and integrated.
The ability to be both humble and vulnerable are two behaviors that are part of a larger tapestry of traits leaders need to improve these 4 dimensions of culture.
First, let’s begin with humility. It’s mostly intellectual humility I’m talking about here.
According to one post, “Researchers define intellectual humility, most simply, as the degree to which people recognize that their beliefs might be wrong.”
This post goes on to say “…other forms of humility include cultural humility, which starts with acknowledging the biases created by our backgrounds and experiences.”
Both forms of humility are at play within any organization.
As a leader, it requires taking a step back to consider that there are other possibilities – ones you may not have thought of…yet.
And consider that you may never have thought of those possibilities had it not been for a discussion with a member of one of your teams. OR a direct report. Or a supervisor.
Humility requires a complete acceptance of possibility without judgment of yourself or the other person.
It means taking a step towards looking at or truly considering that another side, vision, idea might just work. It might even be better.
For your clients, internal staff or even yourself. It also requires accepting this concept and engaging in the discussion without condition or hesitation.
Letting your guard down, rethinking and actually owning this goes a long way towards building trust and improving communication and collaboration within your team, your division and your entire organization.
What about vulnerability? Just ask Brene Brown.
A researcher and author who has studied this topic for over a decade and has shared the perspective and research that says vulnerability is not a weakness but a strength.
If you want to learn more about this, just watch her TedTalk which has over 65 million views.
This tells us there’s a high need to know and understand more.
Not showing vulnerability is something you may have learned while you were young and has been — what I consider to be — an especially acknowledged taboo in business.
As with everything else, maybe it’s time to dismiss old notions and embrace the courage it takes to be vulnerable.
It strengthens how we communicate, how we connect and ultimately if and how we trust.
The basis of any type of really healthy relationship.
If you feel you’ve already worked at and developed these two traits, you’re ahead of the game.
Consider teaching others how to begin learning about and practicing this trait.
If you haven’t been focused on these two traits, ask yourself what you can do to develop these to contribute to your own growth and begin to see the magic that happens in your relationships.
P.S. Here’s an additional post outlining Brene Brown’s top ‘5 Life-Altering Lessons.’
Great title, right?
Cynthia Kyriazis is the Chief Experience Officer at The Culture Think Tank. Her experience includes executive coaching, consulting, and training. Book a 15-minute chat to discuss your people, performance or profit challenges.
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