Humility: Leader’s smart tool

Autobiographies of great Nigerians, most of the time, abound in anecdotes. With humility, I am always proud to say that I had my foundational education in Ile-Ogbo, my village in Osun State, Nigeria, before I proceeded to Yale and Oxford Universities.

The story is that these Nigerians are always relentless in their pursuit of excellence because they would have navigated life through formidable challenges and very difficult situations. Their life lessons are always replete with humility, discipline, grit, agility, hard work, and resilience.

A smart leader must have a CEO mindset. He must know his career “falls and rises” with the fortunes of the business of his organisation. He therefore must not miss the big picture of what is possible for him to deliver to ensure excellence. He must chart and lead a strategic direction and see opportunities others miss.

As we all know, a business organization’s primary purpose is success and growth and how to sustain these over time. Strong and high-performing teams are built on unbreakable bond, and the critical tool that makes this possible is humility.

Humility is the new smart for effective leadership. A smart leader keeps a pulse on self-awareness to “walk the talk” of humility.

Team dynamics will stand in the way of effective collaboration if the leader is not humble. The leader does not own his colleagues. He cannot dominate them. They are his peers. He manages the teams and must therefore bridge the units and departments to be better and stronger together. The teams to make things happen must dynamically adjust to each other for support in right and effective ways.

The team is the organisation’s team, not the leader’s. The leader must not pull the members back with his disrespectful words and body language as well as other non-verbal behaviours.

To ensure the supportive and collaborative team, the leader must use his warm and friendly tongue. He must adapt his communication style to match the preferences of the members. He must be patient, truthful and always emphasize the critical ingredients of teamwork. He must consistently commend colleagues for hard work, dedication and always let them know their contributions are truly valued.

To break the ceiling and achieve excellence, the leader must always mine the team’s wealth of knowledge that would have taken decades for individuals to assemble and master. The leader must not re-invent the wheel through his egoistic tendencies. Self-awareness should remind him always that he is surrounded by colleagues with varied knowledge, skills, and experiences. The leader and team members should always hold each other’s hands with humility.

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The clarion call is: break down the silos and improve communication tactics. Lead with humility and achieve efficient and effective support. There is a “goldmine” of knowledge sitting inside the organisation. The smart leader must maximally utilize this for the good of the organization and the society at large. The leader must not “win” for himself and hurt the organisation. It is impossible for him to know everything. What he needs are humility and self-confidence, not arrogance.

The CEO and other leaders must ask themselves the following questions: What is my motive for being a leader? Is it just to exert influence? Is it just to dish out commands? Is it to enable me have my way anytime I want to?

Leading together is intellectual humility. This is a strategic and intentional way to deliver enduring service.

Intellectual humility is self-awareness not to fall into cognitive traps. It is the willingness of the leader to change his mind when he is wrong. He must listen to others even when opinions are different. Colleagues have varied experiences and viewpoints. Remember the saying that “two sane heads are better than one.”

Intellectual humility guarantees excellent decisions. It fosters trust and respect. It enables collaboration instead of unhealthy competition. Team members work together instead of competing against each other. Their focus is to accomplish overall objectives and goals with all-embracing unique strengths and abilities.

Humility instils a sense of accountability. It enables the organization to make and sustain progress with a workplace culture where employees take responsibility for actions. Team members do not deflect blames, mistakes, and gaps. The team learns from its setbacks. They see each other’s role in the organisation’s mission. Humility enables the forward-thinking mindset that promotes adaptability and resilience.

The power of working effectively together unlocks great success. Where trust flourishes, the potential for collective work and achievements will definitely flourish. As mentioned earlier, humility is the cornerstone of smart leadership that opens doors for the organisation to soar because a critical trait of success is recognizing and emphasizing the fact that there is always room for growth. Also, that advantage of humility, which encourages sincere and valuable feedback, helps in strengthening personal and professional skills.

Humility oils growth, development, and learning. Growth differentiates the organization. Humility enables the leader and his team to always adapt beliefs, skills, and attitudes.

Positive team dynamics in an organization is determined and tracked by degrees of unity and connection within the workplace. There must be alignment in effective communication, cohesion, trust and respect as well as adaptable responsibilities.