humility

Be Humble

By in Leadership, Learning Tags: , ,

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At some point in your life, I’m sure that someone told you that it’s important to promote yourself. You need to tell people about all the great things you’ve accomplished! You need to emphasize the positives and hide the negatives! That’s the way to be successful, right?

Well, not necessarily. In recent years, aggressive self-promotion has started to fall out of favor. It turns out that it may be much more effective to be humble, especially if you’re in a leadership position.

Humble leaders have been found to be better listeners and collaborators. They’re more willing to admit their mistakes, and learn from those mistakes. They’re more willing to share their success with the people who helped them achieve it. They’re also better at collaborating with others and empowering others to take the lead.

But in order to be effective, you have to commit to it! If you fake it, people will notice. And there’s this thing known as the “humblebrag” that you want to avoid at all costs. This is when you sound like you’re putting yourself down, but you’re actually bragging and promoting yourself. For instance:

  • Marsha: How was your evening?
  • Bob: Oh, it was exhausting. I’m terrible at taking care of myself! I put in so many hours working on the new project, I forgot to eat!

Bob is humblebragging, and he’s not fooling anyone. Humblebragging is obvious and annoying. There’s nothing humble about it.

So remember, acting like you’re humble isn’t enough. You really need to put it into practice. Admit your mistakes, recognize your shortcomings, be open to opinions and ideas that differ from your own, give others credit when credit is due, and be honest. It takes courage to be humble, but it’s worth the risk.

 

Lublin, J. S. (2015, October 20). The case for humble executives. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-case-for-humble-executives-1445385076?tesla=y

Prime, J., & Salib, E. (2014, May 12). The best leaders are humble leaders. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2014/05/the-best-leaders-are-humble-leaders

 

Leadership and the Importance of Humility

By in Leadership Tags: , ,

Closeup of rubber duckies

What type of qualities do leaders need to have in order to be great? I think it’s generally believed that great leaders must be outgoing, powerful, persuasive, and charismatic. Humility isn’t usually considered to be an important quality in a leader. But new research suggests that it might be the most important quality of all.

Leaders who are high in humility often don’t get much attention because they tend to fly under the radar. But even though they might not get a lot of acclaim, they do get great results. Researchers have found that humble leaders are associated with the following:

  • Low employee turnover
  • Reduced employee absenteeism
  • Close-knit teams
  • High performing teams

Overall, researchers have found that teams with humble leaders perform more effectively and produce more high-quality work than teams with leaders who are low in humility.

Humble leaders excel at their jobs because they tend to be very open to feedback, they’re eager to learn, they ask for help when they need it, and they appreciate (and utilize) their employees’ strengths. When they succeed, they give their teams credit and recognition.

Do you think humility is an important quality in a leader? Feel free to share your thoughts in the Comments section below. And if you’d like to find out how humble you are, you can take a free, online personality assessment! It’s called the HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised. One of the traits that it measures is “Honesty-Humility.”

 

Shellenbarger, S. (2018, October 9). The best bosses are humble bosses. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-best-bosses-are-humble-bosses-1539092123

How to Get More Respect at Work

By in Learning Tags: ,

Earning_Respect

Would you like your managers and coworkers to view you with more respect? According to author Geoffery James, it’s easily done. It just involves two simple steps:

  1. Stop promoting yourself – Don’t spend a lot of time talking about your great qualities and impressive accomplishments. This type of behavior doesn’t tend to impress others and it might actually make people view you more unfavorably. Your colleagues might start to think that you lack humility and credibility.
  2. Listen to your colleagues and help them out –Ask your managers and coworkers to tell you about what they’re working on and any challenges that they might be having. Then try to figure out ways that you can help. If you can help your colleagues to be more successful, they’ll be so appreciative. And after that, you won’t have to talk about how wonderful you are. Instead, your colleagues will do it for you!

So in conclusion, actions speak louder than words. Show everyone how awesome and helpful you are, and they’ll respect you for it.

 

James, G. (2017, January 11). The 1 thing you should do this year to make everyone respect you more. Inc. Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/the-1-thing-you-should-do-this-year-to-make-everyone-respect-you-more.html

How to Accept Compliments at Work

By in Communication Tags: ,

Accepting_a_Compliment

It’s so great to get a compliment at work. But it can sometimes be hard to know how to react or respond. After all, we all want to come across as modest and humble. So when we receive a compliment, it can sometimes feel really awkward, and we may end up making one or more of the following mistakes:

  1. Giving other people ALL the credit – If you get complimented for a project that you worked on, it’s wonderful to share the credit with the other people involved. But don’t give them ALL of the credit. Try not to say something like, “Oh, it was really Edna and Bob who did most of the work!” This is taking modesty too far. You contributed to the project too, so you should get some of the praise!
  2. Putting yourself down – Imagine that your boss compliments you on a presentation. You respond by saying, “That presentation? It was terrible! I can do so much better!” This response is bad for two reasons. First, you shouldn’t criticize yourself or your work. Second, you may actually appear to be fishing for MORE compliments. No one likes it when people fish for compliments.
  3. Using negative body language – If someone compliments your work, you shouldn’t respond by making a face or silently shaking your head “no.” It’s kind of the same thing as putting yourself down – but using body language instead of words.

So what should you do when someone compliments your efforts? Make eye contact, smile, and say “thank you.” Simple! And don’t forget to return the favor. Make sure to compliment your coworkers when they do impressive work!

 

Boogaard, K. (n.d.). 5 mistakes you’re making when accepting compliments. The Muse. Retrieved from https://www.themuse.com/advice/5-mistakes-youre-making-when-accepting-compliments