The Most Important Leadership
Competencies, According to
Leaders Around the World
dave wheeler FOR HBR
What makes an effective leader? This question is a focus of my
research as an organizational scientist, executive coach, and leadership
development consultant. Looking for answers, I recently completed the
first round of a study of 195 leaders in 15 countries over 30 global
organizations. Participants were asked to choose the 15 most important
leadership competencies from a list of 74. I’ve grouped the top ones
into five major themes that suggest a set of priorities for leaders and
leadership development programs. While some may not surprise you,
they’re all difficult to master, in part because improving them requires
acting against our nature.
Demonstrates strong ethics and provides a sense of
safety.
This theme combines two of the three most highly rated attributes:
“high ethical and moral standards” (67% selected it as one of the most
important) and “communicating clear expectations” (56%).
Taken together, these attributes are all about creating a safe and
trusting environment. A leader with high ethical standards conveys a
commitment to fairness, instilling confidence that both they and their
employees will honor the rules of the game. Similarly, when leaders
clearly communicate their expectations, they avoid blindsiding people
and ensure that everyone is on the same page. In a safe environment
employees can relax, invoking the brain’s higher capacity for social
engagement, innovation, creativity, and ambition.
Neuroscience corroborates this point. When the amygdala registers a
threat to our safety, arteries harden and thicken to handle an increased
blood flow to our limbs in preparation for a fight-or-flight response. In
this state, we lose access to the social engagement system of the
limbic brain and the executive function of the prefrontal cortex,
inhibiting creativity and the drive for excellence. From a neuroscience
perspective, making sure that people feel safe on a deep level should
be job #1 for leaders.
But how? This competency is all about behaving in a way that is
consistent with your values. If you find yourself making decisions that
feel at odds with your principles or justifying actions in spite of a
nagging sense of discomfort, you probably need to reconnect with your
core values. I facilitate a simple exercise with my clients called “Deep
Fast Forwarding” to help with this. Envision your funeral and what
people say about you in a eulogy. Is it what you want to hear? This
exercise will give you a clearer sense of what’s important to you, which
will then help guide daily decision making.
To increase feelings of safety, work on communicating with the specific
intent of making people feel safe. One way to accomplish this is to
acknowledge and neutralize feared results or consequences from the
outset. I call this “clearing the air.” For example, you might approach a
conversation about a project gone wrong by saying, “I’m not trying to
blame you. I just want to understand what happened.”
Loading... Empowers others to self-
organize.
Providing clear direction while allowing employees to organize their
own time and work was identified as the next most important
:
leadership competency.
No leader can do everything themselves. Therefore, it’s critical to
distribute power throughout the organization and to rely on decision
making from those who are closest to the action.
Research has repeatedly shown that empowered teams are more
productive and proactive, provide better customer service, and show
higher levels of job satisfaction and commitment to their team and
organization. And yet many leaders struggle to let people self-organize.
They resist because they believe that power is a zero-sum game, they
are reluctant to allow others to make mistakes, and they fear facing
negative consequences from subordinates’ decisions.
To overcome the fear of relinquishing power, start by increasing
awareness of physical tension that arises when you feel your position is
being challenged. As discussed above, perceived threats activate a
fight, flight, or freeze response in the amygdala. The good news is that
we can train our bodies to experience relaxation instead of
defensiveness when stress runs high. Try to separate the current
situation from the past, share the outcome you fear most with others
instead of trying to hold on to control, and remember that giving power
up is a great way to increase influence — which builds power over time.
Fosters a sense of connection and belonging.
Leaders who “communicate often and openly” (competency #6) and
“create a feeling of succeeding and failing together as a pack” (#8)
build a strong foundation for connection.
We are a social species — we want to connect and feel a sense of
:
belonging. From an evolutionary perspective, attachment is important
because it improves our chances of survival in a world full of predators.
Research suggests that a sense of connection could also impact
productivity and emotional well-being. For example, scientists have
found that emotions are contagious in the workplace: Employees feel
emotionally depleted just by watching unpleasant interactions between
coworkers.
From a neuroscience perspective, creating connection is a leader’s
second most important job. Once we feel safe (a sensation that is
registered in the reptilian brain), we also have to feel cared for (which
activates the limbic brain) in order to unleash the full potential of our
higher functioning prefrontal cortex.
There are some simple ways to promote belonging among employees:
Smile at people, call them by name, and remember their interests and
family members’ names. Pay focused attention when speaking to them,
and clearly set the tone of the members of your team having each
other’s backs. Using a song, motto, symbol, chant, or ritual that
uniquely identifies your team can also strengthen this sense of
connection.
Shows openness to new ideas and fosters
organizational learning.
What do “flexibility to change opinions” (competency #4), “being open
to new ideas and approaches” (#7), and “provides safety for trial and
error” (#10) have in common? If a leader has these strengths, they
encourage learning; if they don’t, they risk stifling it.
Admitting we’re wrong isn’t easy. Once again, the negative effects of
:
stress on brain function are partly to blame — in this case they impede
learning. Researchers have found that reduced blood flow to our brains
under threat reduces peripheral vision, ostensibly so we can deal with
the immediate danger. For instance, they have observed a significant
reduction in athletes’ peripheral vision before competition. While tunnel
vision helps athletes focus, it closes the rest of us off to new ideas and
approaches. Our opinions are more inflexible even when we’re
presented with contradicting evidence, which makes learning almost
impossible.
To encourage learning among employees, leaders must first ensure
that they are open to learning (and changing course) themselves. Try to
approach problem-solving discussions without a specific agenda or
outcome. Withhold judgment until everyone has spoken, and let people
know that all ideas will be considered. A greater diversity of ideas will
emerge.
Failure is required for learning, but our relentless pursuit of results can
also discourage employees from taking chances. To resolve this
conflict, leaders must create a culture that supports risk-taking. One
way of doing this is to use controlled experiments — think A/B testing
— that allow for small failures and require rapid feedback and
correction. This provides a platform for building collective intelligence
so that employees learn from each other’s mistakes, too.
Nurtures growth.
“Being committed to my ongoing training” (competency #5) and
“helping me grow into a next-generation leader” (#9) make up the final
category.
:
All living organisms have an innate need to leave copies of their genes.
They maximize their offspring’s chances of success by nurturing and
teaching them. In turn, those on the receiving end feel a sense of
gratitude and loyalty. Think of the people to whom you’re most grateful
— parents, teachers, friends, mentors. Chances are, they’ve cared for
you or taught you something important.
When leaders show a commitment to our growth, the same primal
emotions are tapped. Employees are motivated to reciprocate,
expressing their gratitude or loyalty by going the extra mile. While
managing through fear generates stress, which impairs higher brain
function, the quality of work is vastly different when we are compelled
by appreciation. If you want to inspire the best from your team,
advocate for them, support their training and promotion, and go to bat
to sponsor their important projects.
These five areas present significant challenges to leaders due to the
natural responses that are hardwired into us. But with deep self-
reflection and a shift in perspective (perhaps aided by a coach), there
are also enormous opportunities for improving everyone’s performance
by focusing on our own.
:
