Leadership Essentials: 3 Values You Need to be an Effective Leader

Have you ever wondered why some people are effective leaders? Well, I have. In my personal pursuit to become one of those effective leaders, I've come to realize that there are at least three essential values every leader needs to make the jump from average to effective.

Value 1: Cultural Humility

This particular value has been referred to by many names: cultural awareness, cultural responsiveness, cultural competence, to name a few. Regardless of how it is referred, the essence is this: The ability to maintain an interpersonal stance that is other-orientated as it pertains to the intersection of cultural identity that is most important to the other (Hook et. al, 2013). Furthermore, Fisher-Borne, Cain, & Martin (2015) posit that "Cultural humility leads us to accurately view and take responsibility for our limitations."

Cultural Humility is becoming an imperative part of personal and professional development in a time of such diversity in culture, ethnic identities, and perspectives. As it pertains to leading others, being equipped to effectively communicate with others while acknowledging the multiplicity of factors contributing to the intersection of people's identities will be key for success.

Value 2: Trust and Rapport

Individuals that have the winsomeness to build trust and rapport with people are able to lead others well and make progress towards being effective leaders. How you might ask, can one build trust and rapport? Outside of what we commonly hear about effective leadership and building trust and rapport (i.e. going the extra mile, keeping confidentiality, and being a humble role model), I'll add one more, which I believe can be quite difficult for leaders to embrace: showing empathy.

Moore, Jackson, & Tschannen-Moran (2016) can be helpful here in clearly outlining the difference concerning empathy, sympathy, and pity and why leaders should opt for empathy over the others.

• Empathy: The feeling that you understand and share another person's experiences and emotions: the ability to share someone else's feelings. Having empathy allows others to express their feelings and thoughts in their own way without any fear of judgment.

• Sympathy: Identifying with a person's experience on an emotional level and experiencing the same emotions or emotional contagion. Having sympathy can turn into a monologue about our own feelings instead of focusing on others.

• Pity: A strong feeling of sadness or sympathy for someone or something that causes sadness or disappointment. Having pity can lead others towards shame, guilt, or disappointment. It can feel very judgmental in nature.

As leaders, it is sometimes difficult to get past the numbers, metrics, and performance and focus on the individual at a deep and meaningful level. Empathy, however, births trust and rapport.

Value 3: Intentionality

As with any action we take, leading people takes intentionality. John Maxwell wrote an entire book on how to live an intentional life. There are specific areas that require intentionality to nurture a sense of effective leadership:

Development: Elsewhere I've written on Building a Leadership Pipeline, which is a sign of the intentionality of effective leaders. Being intentional about development extends past the personal desire to grow and moves unto a desire to build others. Stephen R. Covey, in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, references this idea as the 7th habit - Sharpen the Saw - and Patrick Lencioni, in The Ideal Team Player, names it Hungry, one of the three core values of his model.

Problem Solving: John Maxwell is quoted to have said, and I am paraphrasing here, leaders see and resolve problems before they become urgent matters. Effective leaders need to be intentional in reflecting and assessing the needs of the team, office, clients, and organization as a whole. Being proactive in doing so will allow leaders to secure a healthy team, office, and organization.

Vision Casting: Effective leaders are visionaries. To adopt Spencer Johnson's metaphor in his book Who Moved My Cheese, effective leaders are able to anticipate, monitor, and adapt to change quickly, which ultimately leads to enjoying the metaphorical cheese.

In conclusion, the twenty-first century leader must embrace cultural humility to effectively communicate with a diverse body of employees, master the skill of building trust and rapport by accepting the challenge to be empathetic, and lead with intentionality as it pertains to building others, solving problems, and casting a vision to secure a successful future.

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References

Covey, Stephen R. (2004). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. New York, NY: Free Press.

Fisher-Borne, M., Cain, J. M., & Martin, S. L. (2015). From mastery to accountability: Cultural humility as an alternative to cultural competence. Social Work Education, 34(2), 165-181.

Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., Owen, J., Worthington, E. L., & Utsey, S. O. (2013). Cultural humility: Measuring openness to culturally diverse clients. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 60, 353-366.

Johnson, Spencer. (1998). Who Moved My Cheese? New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Lencioni, Patrick. (2016). The Ideal Team Player. Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass.

Maxwell, John C. (2015). Intentional Living: Choosing a Life that Matters. New York, NY: Center Street.

Moore, Margaret, Jackson, Erika, & Tschannen-Moran, Bob. (2016). Coaching Psychology Manual. Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.