Our final installment in the Secrets of Mental Well-Being series wraps up the lessons and exercises from the past four articles and uses those insights to introduce a process for changing behavior patterns that do not serve you.
What is the power of humility? Why is it important in leadership? And how do you develop the kind of humility that makes you a better leader? These are tougher questions than you might imagine because humility, like authenticity, is a characteristic. You probably already know someone who talks about authenticity a lot but doesn’t seem authentic at all. Humility is even harder. Well it was for me at least. First, the concept is pretty hard to get. We know that confidence is actually one of the most important qualities of a leader, and on the surface humility seems to be almost the opposite of confidence.
We talk about how important building trust is for a team to work effectively together, but sometimes the actions required to meet that goal aren’t as clear as we’d like. And as our busy, chaotic days go by, we tend to default to getting stuff done. These five practices are practical ways to build trust while also allowing you to get stuff done — because you can work them into your daily interactions. As you put just a little extra thought into each conversation you have, you will be surprised how much you can improve the energy and communication on your team. Depending on your efforts, you could see results in as little as a month!
Although we know stress is not technically good for us, most of us can’t help but feel proud of our ability to handle large volumes of work and manage stressful situations effectively. This is especially true for high achievers!
Our culture even prizes the notion of being able to handle highly-stressful work settings, treating it like a desirable work skill.