Three Qualities Traditional Leaders Reject
Image source by Petr Kratochvil
Regurgitating and recycling what you already know bores others, antiquates leadership, and destroys organizations.
Get out of yourself before you shrivel and die.
Growth, innovation, and future-building centers on what you don’t know and haven’t done.
Three surprising qualities of growing leaders:
#1. Receptivity:
Traditional leaders are unwelcoming. Traditional leaders expect you to receive their ideas; they don’t receive yours. Power, prestige, and position thrive in unreceptive, threatening environments.
Tell-me-more leaders, go further than,
I-already-know leaders.
Stop looking down your nose at outsiders, front line employees, and new hires. Adapt to them; don’t force them to adapt to you.
Growth lies around and outside.
#2. Withholding judgment:
Traditional leaders make judgments; growing leaders withhold judgment.
Judgment crushes baby ideas.
Quick minded decision makers inadvertently destroy growth. Stow what you think you know in the attic. Judgment ends growth and begins stagnation.
Keep in mind, stability requires decision making. Withhold judgment, don’t end it completely.
#3. Curiosity:
Traditional leaders fear looking foolish. They need to know. Curiosity celebrates what isn’t known. Courageously look foolish.
Emptiness is opportunity.
The downside of curiosity:
- People want to know what you know as well as what you don’t.
- Questions feel pushy and threatening when filled with expectation.
- Constant curiosity spirals inward and downward.
- Creating options causes confusion.
Curiosity is a means not an end. Use curiosity to challenge stagnant ideas and disrupt antiquated systems.
Most importantly, curiosity unearths new goals and next steps. Curiosity builds the future. On the other hand, curiosity without progress is stagnating indulgence.
What traditional leadership qualities stunt growth and innovation?
What leadership qualities inspire growth, innovation, and future-building?
If a culture is accustomed to traditional leaders, leaders must work extra hard to “convince” their teams to “tell them more” and encourage “baby ideas.
Thank you Karin,
Truth! Culture impacts growth tremendously. I think large vs. small organizations is another challenging factor.
Cheers
Dear Dan,
An interesting post about traditional leaders. It is true that traditional leaders expect others to follow them. It is also true that traditional leaders are generally not curious. They do believe in their values without questioning and evaluating its consequences. They are generally rigid and stubborn in their behaviour and thinking. Moreover, their receptivity and rate of change is slow compared to innovative leaders. In a sense, we can say, that traditional leaders are bit sensitive and arrogant. And this qualities stunt growth and innovation.
So, the way to change such qualities may require outside in perspective. Traditional leaders need to modify and evaluate what they believe from others perspectives. They need to understand that time is the deciding factors for growth, innovation and collaboration. There is a need for co-creation. Idea alone is not enough however strong it is unless it is accepted by others. I believe traditional leaders have their own believe and it is good up to some extent. But since everything is changing, we need to change our self in terms of workability of ideas, belief and ideology. If they do not work today but worked well in the past, there is no usage at present. So, ideas, belief and values are powerful when they have sustainable impact and of course it should be realized by people.
Someone long ago sat me down took out a piece of paper. Put a very small circle on the page followed by a big one around the small one. Wrote 5% in the small one, 95% in the big-un.
Explained to me the 5% was what we know, 95% was what we don’t know. Changed my view of the world. Can be used with any problem or concept. It is also kinda like looking at one of those pictures that the more you look at it and change angles you can see a different picture.
So on a small scale one can if they choose look at their issue in this way. Understand the solution is likely to come from the 95% they don’t know…..yet.
Or they can try to go over and over and over and over the 5% they want so dearly want their solution to come from. Sorry sparky but you are most likely barking up the wrong tree.
Like it not we have no idea what is going on….black holes, alternate universes, whatever. Smaller scale solution to a problem right in front if us usually comes from the 95%. If the solution comes from the 5% it would not have been a problem to start with.
The solution does not come from the same thinking that created it in the first place, right?
Human beings sense of comfort and security comes from practicing belief on what they think they know. That is cool and all but never gonna really help come up with solutions.
My suggestion, learn to live in the uncomfortable zone, that is where the good stuff is. Trying to recycle or memorize old material is akin to the stand old definition of insanity…..trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Sweet, seemingly secure but pretty much useless.
Remember that Fulhgram dude, in everything I needed to know we learned in kindergarten…be aware of wonder.
The amazing equipment we been entrusted with works much better that way.
My suggestion, be relentlessly curious in the 95% zone of what we don’t know. Do that, see what happens.
SP
Good post as always Dan.
One point you might add to this list is that the most powerful questions are those where we are genuinely interested in the answer.
Constant questioning by the leader to draw others out can seem like a “leadership tactic” when it is over used. The right question, sincerely asked, at the right time can become the pivot point the shift the conversation….or an entire organization.
Have a wonderful Sunday and thanks for always sparking new leadership conversations.
Stunt Growth – Arrogance and a belief they are bigger than life.
Inspire Growth – Telling those they lead that they are “open” to ideas with the caveat that all ideas will not be implemented. Employees grow when leaders listen.
One of the behaviors I experience a lot is the assumption that the staff is still new to the work, hence they aren’t ready to take charge.
This end up with the “leader” approaching every situation with the expectation of having to hand hold everyone through the process.
If a expect people to be 3s we’ll treat them like 3s.
I think young people bring a LOT to organizations. Often, these young coworkers or professionals are discounted. They don’t have “life experience,” etc. In a lot of these cases, those young people are sitting on ideas that can take your organization to new heights. They have ideas for integrating technology or a fresh perspective as a product of the hyper-marketing culture that has germinated over the past 20-30 years.
If leaders can learn to tap into the strengths and ideas of ALL team members, even the fresh-faced kids, they will find a new level of excellence.
Great post, Dan! It’s a challenge to leaders at all levels to take a moment to take stock.
Leaders need to trust the abilities of everyone on their team and give them the tools to grow than limit them and underestimate their power and they should not compete with their employees period
Leaders listen more, lead by example, get out the way when employees are managing well and only should get involved when there is a need to save a situation. New age leadership is also “thought leadership”.
A lot of this is true of **self-leadership**, too. Constant practice to keep at these three…
-Curiosity with friendly, receptive anticipation; without “steering for” the expectation.
-Witholding judgement in favor of open assessment and reassessment.
-Receptivity… like the sailboat receives the wind: it is a direction—can we make the most of it? If so, what’s the best trim, course, etc.
I like it…
Traditional innovation/growth killers?
Wanting a homogeneous team. Expecting a diverse team to behave like a homogeneous one.
Invalidating tension (which handled deftly could prove creative) in a diverse team with enforced, false harmony.
Inspiring growth, innovation future-building?
Coaching/embodying appreciation for diversity—including/especially psychological diversity.
Coaching/embodying an asset-based, solution-based, growth mindset—”Every win AND setback is a chance to re-invent, improve, apply our genius.”
~Mark
Great post Dan. Excellent points for us who have been around a while.
What traditional leadership qualities stunt growth and innovation?
Non-constructive criticism. Fault. Blame. Lack of awareness of individual needs. Inability to watch yourself from a distance and ask, ‘How could I be different?’.
What leadership qualities inspire growth, innovation, and future-building?
Support. Understanding. Challenge. Awareness and appreciation of the individual (comes from the intuition you are capable of if you take the time to get close to your people). Understanding well how you can be different, to make the difference.
Martin
Our interpretations of the experiences that have shaped us can restrict us greatly. We become entrenched and can be unwelcoming, quick to judge and more certain than curious because we’ve mistakenly concluded that our own experiences contain more explanatory worth than they do, in fact.
Great post, Dan.
I simply love the verbiage “get out of yourself before you shrivel and die.” So true!
Great insights, Dan. Loved the inclusion of ‘curiosity’, a very powerful tool (but, as you point out, not one to be used without consideration and discretion).
I also would add tolerance of ‘ambiguity’ to the list of qualities: not having all the answers all the time is a surprisingly useful leadership trait. Others see that you are human and dealing with the mess that life is, just like everyone else.
…and the way to deal with this type of “leader” (if above you on the org chart) is to simply DO those things. Suggest ideas (whether they take or not); continue to grow prematurely rejected ideas; be curious and show new sources of ideas. And have your team do same (even if there is institutional resistance). At least you can sleep, knowing you maintained your integrity.
Ummm…
The “traditional” leaders you describe are NOT following the right tradition!
Thanks for the inspiration!
My Monday (3/04/13) blog is my defense of “traditional” leadership. I hope you enjoy the debate!
The blog publishes at 4:30 AM ET: http://thinklikeablackbelt.org/2013/03/04/if-traditional-leadership-isnt-working-find-another-tradition/
I hope we can continue the discussion on my Spreecast show sometime!
Best Thoughts!
Jim
has traditional leadership lost its relevance to democratizing political systems?
I don’t like to refer to those you describe as “traditional” leaders as leaders at all. To me, those are simply managers and nothing more. But my question to you is, what happens in the organization (public in particular) where the manager hand picks his team, and rejects those with actual leadership potential because of fear.
This is especially prevalent in municipal public safety organizations where certain employees bully their way to the top, and as some say, the dinosaurs have eggs. Once those eggs hatch, the cycle grows until change is nearly impossible. Can an organizations top dogs actually “reject” leadership?