It’s no secret that leadership has often been equated with assertiveness, confidence, and decisiveness. However, one of the most undervalued yet crucial traits of effective leadership is humility. In fact, several recent studies have shown that humility can be a powerful catalyst for personal growth and organizational success.
Understanding Humility
Humility in leadership involves a willingness to acknowledge mistakes, seek feedback, and give credit where it is due. It requires leaders to step back, listen more, and lead by example. Humble leaders are more self-aware, which makes them better at delegating tasks appropriately and leveraging the collective strengths of their team members. They also tend to create cultures of trust, collaboration, and innovation.
Why Teams with Humble Leaders Perform Better
Humility as a leadership trait has been shown to significantly reduce several types of success-killing behaviors in teams. A global study of workers by LiveCareer.com just this year found that 87% of Americans experience work-related fears and up to a quarter dread going to work! It’s no coincidence that similar studies have found that about a quarter of leaders lead with fear!
Humility in leadership can be a key component in alleviating the fear that kills communication and productivity in far too many teams. That’s because humble leaders foster an inclusive environment where team members feel comfortable sharing ideas and opinions. This openness encourages collaboration and creativity, as employees are more likely to contribute their unique perspectives.
As recently as last month, a new study from Erzincan University (that’s in Turkey) confirmed that humble leaders had employees with higher self-confidence. Furthermore, they found that employee self-confidence was the key factor in limiting negative employee behaviors.
Additionally, new research shows that humble leadership actually boost leadership potential among followers. So, if you’re looking to scale your organization and you need to develop new leaders, developing your own humility is a great place to start.
BONUS: Humility Might Be the Key to Your Next Promotion!
Let’s face it, the idea that leaders can ascend through an organization by shouting and bullying their way to the top is becoming increasingly outdated. In fact, new studies show that humility is much more predictive of a leader’s chances of securing a promotion. Why? It turns out that leaders who show more humility are also much more likely to exhibit mentoring behaviors with their teams. Those mentoring behaviors lead directly to an increase in the leader’s status among the team. It’s that increase in status among their peers and subordinates that increases their chance of promotion. Professor Daivd Hekman of the Leeds School of Business detailed this in his 2024 study “An Examination of Whether and How Leader Humility Enhances Leader Personal Career Success.”
How to Become a More Humble (and Effective!) Leader
So, how does one become a more humble leader? The answer is by developing some specific behaviors including:
- Enhancing your own self-awareness.
- Building trust with employees.
- Investing in the personal and professional development of employees.
- Learning personal leadership skills like effective listening and communication.
- Fostering connection and collaboration among team members.
- Mentoring new and potential leaders.
Bottom Line
Humility is a powerful yet often overlooked trait in leadership. It enhances team collaboration, improves decision-making, strengthens organizational culture, and increases employee engagement and retention.
If you are interested in learning more about how you can develop these behaviors in yourself or your leaders, send me an email at Tom@TwoPennyConsulting.com and type “Humility in Leadership” as the subject line.
In the words of C.S. Lewis, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” As leaders, let us strive to embody this principle and unlock the full potential of our teams and organizations.