Leaders with humility positively welcome the contribution that team members make and seek to use their qualities and skills to the full. They do not feel threatened by the diversity of the group and in fact see it as a source of strength because people of different backgrounds bring fresh ideas and perspectives to the team goals. Such leaders with this leadership quality treat others as people who are entitled to offer a view. Leaders need to be able to deal with challenges to their ideas and not to treat a contradictory opinion expressed by a team member as a challenge to their appointment. One who lacks humility fails to see people in the team as individuals, deals with them solely on the basis of their grade or seniority and presumes that this rather than expertise is the measure of their contribution.
Effective leaders recognise the importance of setting a personal example and that their position as leader is more about making a contribution to the team solution than it is fulfilling a figurehead role. Humility finds subjective expression through self-awareness, an understanding of one’s capabilities and shortcomings, the courage to admit mistakes and a determination to learn by them, and sensitivity to the impact one’s style of conduct has on others.
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