Continuous improvement is my business, so I’m habitually looking for manual processes to automate. Some of my clients get nervous because automation could eliminate an employee’s job. But that employee has a big advantage over the automating software application: soft skills. Only human beings can combine wisdom, communication, leadership, and self-awareness to get work done. If the employee is valuable, then I suggest the client take this opportunity to advance them into leadership. That decision calls for careful consideration because individual contributors tend to get promoted for their technical skills. However, the promotion often comes with people to manage requiring soft skills the new manager may not have. Here are three characteristics to look for when identifying a potential leader.
Growth Mindset
Leaders are constantly learning, questioning their own assumptions, and seeking feedback. For example, leaders:
- Take personal initiative to adopt the company’s mission. They decide to find their role in furthering it even if being an individual contributor is not their dream job
- See the big picture and think strategically about how they can help the organization get from where it is to where it wants to be
- Not only focus on what they can control during a crisis but also look for new opportunities the crisis may spawn
- Realize the next step toward a goal may require two steps back
- Develop confidence when they refuse to be victims of setbacks
- Favor performing small experiments to get the team comfortable with failure. They frame these failures as necessary to eliminate what doesn’t work
- Don’t wallow in regret when they make a mistake. Instead, they find out where they went wrong to prevent it from happening again
- Recognize the importance of celebrating every baby step the team takes toward their goal
Inspires Collaboration
Bestselling business author Daniel Pink, says 70% of employees spend at least some of their workday “persuading or convincing others.” People who do this well and for the benefit of both the project and the people working on it, are leaders. They:
- Positively build, cultivate, and engage a disparate team to promote a workplace culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging
- Give relentless respect to earn trust and strive for mutual understanding
- Rally the team to buy in to the plan that will complete the mission
- Manage conflict to foster debate instead of defense
- Encourage everyone on the team to maintain an attitude of, “It’s us against the problem, not us against each other.” This bonds the team and makes everyone stronger for the next challenge
Chronic Curiosity
In his book, Play Nice But Win, Michael Dell, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Dell Technologies says, “Change, true transformation, is a race with no finish line.” Thanks to technology the rate of change is increasing and it’s not going to slow down. Leaders:
- Champion transformation and look for what is coming next
- Are more interested in relevant results than in looking the smartest person in the room
- Apply the scientific method to business challenges. For example, COVID is forcing leaders to think critically about how work gets done because business “as usual” no longer exists. Solving that challenge begins with curiosity
What qualities do you look for in a potential leader? Please share in the comments.