Leadership Vulnerability

The very best leadership tool available to you today is not your MBA or your title.  It is not Charisma.  It is not your ability to communicate (although I would put that very high on the list).  It is a key element of Emotional Intelligence… the ability to get incredibly comfortable being vulnerable.

Being Vulnerable is Not a Risk

It is a psychological requirement that leaders must develop.

Thankfully, gone are the days when leadership was about ‘Command and Control’ where leaders told everyone what to do, when to do it and never, ever, challenge my thinking.  “And, oh yah, I never make mistakes and I am never wrong.”

Today’s Leader Needs to Have More Emotional Intelligence (EQ) than IQ

I have seen more than my share of geniuses when it came to IQ, run the culture and the business into the ground.  Conversely, I have work with brilliant, high EQ leaders that have amongst the highest levels of employee engagement and customer satisfaction.

The difference… great leaders are comfortable giving a constant stream of vulnerability.  Being comfortable with vulnerability achieves almost more than you can count.  For example, it:

1. Creates psychological safety.  All human beings have a safety mechanism in our brains which scans the environment multiple times per second looking for threats to our physical or psychological safety.  It may sound paradoxical however, when leaders are able to share things like: “I don’t know, what do you think?” Or: “I made a mistake”, “I was wrong”, etc., people actually feel more psychologically safe.
2. Sends a message of trust and “I need you” to team members.
3. Creates an environment of problem solvers versus problem finders. Problem Finders are merely trying to protect themselves psychologically by allowing the leader to feel smarter and needed.  Problem Solvers are more able to engage in opposing ideas (which may even lead to disagreeing with leadership).
4. Creates team members that commit to and take accountability to roles and responsibilities.
5. Drives engagement where team members bring their hearts and minds to work everyday.
6. Creates an environment where team members care for each other without fear of someone else getting credit.

So how do you start your own ‘Vulnerability Practice’?  It is easier than you might think.  Start with:

1. Admit when you were wrong or you screwed up.
2. Resist the urge to be the smartest person in the room.  In fact, hire people that are smarter than you.
3. Ask more questions than you give answers.
4. Ask those in your charge for their ideas, opinions and solutions.
5. Don’t be afraid to tell people what scares you.

Steve Jobs used to start conversations by saying: “This might be a stupid idea…”

Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, #1 Best Selling Author, International Keynote Speaker, and TEC Top Speaker of the Year for 2018. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, connect with Robert on LinkedIn.

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