Last week in Part 1 of this series I introduced the H.A.V.E. Leadership Style.
There are four traits that are represented by the H.A.V.E. acronym. Each of the four traits interact and reinforce each other making for a powerful package to lead from.
When you bring all four traits together in your leadership and you communicate with confidence through them, you will be a leader people will want to follow and you will be able to get the best from those you lead.
Here are the four traits:
H -> Humility
I'm confident you want your team members to focus on continual improvement. As a leader you need to lead the way. In order to be open to and take action towards continual improvement, you need to have the humility to know you can always get even better than you are today.
Champion athletes have to improve every day as the competition toward the championship game gets even better. So, as confident and sometimes cocky championship-caliber athletes are, they are also highly humble, knowing they have to get even better if they want a chance to win it all.
A -> Acceptance and Appreciation
Great leaders attempt to see things as they are and accept the reality of situations and appreciate the opportunity the challenge brings. Without accepting reality and appreciating the opportunity presented you will experience resistance and resentment, which will get in the way of you being able to lead your team through the challenge.
V -> Vulnerability
When you bring humility, acceptance, and appreciation to leading your team, you are going to put yourself in a vulnerable position. You will be putting yourself in a situation where people will judge your approach, your decisions, your communication style, etc. Leading with humility, especially, requires a willingness to be vulnerable.
E -> Empathy
Leading with the above traits also requires you to bring empathy to your leadership communication approach. The empathy you will need to apply includes being empathetic to your team members and also to yourself. Self-empathy will allow you to bring those other traits into your communication style, and being empathetic to your team members will build high-trust, high-respect relationships with them.
Chew on those for this week, and next week we will explore some of the reasons you may be resistant to one or more of these traits as they relate to being a confident leader.
Feel free to leave a comment below to keep the conversation going? What is your first reaction to the H.A.V.E. Leadership Traits?
