A trademark characteristic of Positive Leaders is that of being ‘Other-focused,’ that is, the ability to empathise and consider other perspectives.
When leaders are Other-focused, they can facilitate the conditions that cultivate high trust and deep engagement as a natural consequence of their communication and presence.
To exercise our Others-focused muscle, it requires us to be self-aware enough to be able to recognise those opportunities where we can encourage contribution from everyone.
An easy place to start is to ask more questions – both of others and also ourselves.
One of my (many!) Covid binge series was the hospital based drama New Amsterdam which had the protagonist, Max Goodwin, famous for regularly asking each hospital head and department ‘How can I help?’ This inevitably opened up many cans of worms, yet what it also did do was increase communication flow while uncovering everyone’s unique needs.
Having a signature question can help us get into the habit of asking more questions, and people soon come to expect it, which helps build their confidence to answer with genuine and robust honesty.
On the flip side, some powerful questions that we can ask of ourselves to increase our
Other-focused skills include:
- How am I contributing to how my team is feeling? (our emotions drive our performance so always worth checking)
- Do I always assume positive intent behind behaviour? (a very powerful reframe to help identify what’s behind behaviour in a non biased way)
- Do I always recognise work well done publicly? (when we raise others up, we contribute to the ripple effect of positive emotion)
- Which mindsets do I choose to work from? (this is one of the most empowering choices we get to make)
- Do I intentionally choose what mood I want to be in throughout the day? (when we remember that moods are contagious, the case to choose the best ones to infect others with becomes more serious!)
- Am I always 100% present to the current moment? (or am I distracted and missing vital things?)
- Am I being deliberate with the words I use? (words hold great power and can influence deeply – read our blog on this here)
- What if I replace judgement with curiosity? (it’s harder to be curious than judge, yet the return on investment is so much more)
When leaders are Other-Focused, they naturally foster environments that open people up, build meaningful and genuine interactions and ensures that psychological safety is a norm, not an exception.
Deb is a Senior Consultant who is passionate about Positive Leadership and brings with her a wealth of experience in applying Positive Psychology and the Neuroscience of Leadership to excel in leadership and performance. Book here for a conversation to learn more about our programmes.
