One of the great things about writing for a blog is the opportunity to step back from your daily activities and take a bigger picture approach to worklife. Since the majority of our work focuses on developing leaders and managers, I found myself contemplating the question, “what’s one ability every manager or leader should look to develop?” This is a pretty big question and one I’m sure could inspire some debate. At the end of this post, I’d welcome your thoughts.
As I thought about the question, my mind wandered to various assessments and inventories – communication styles, leadership styles, 360 degree feedback, MBTI, DiSC, Strengths Finder, Emotional Intelligence, etc. Certainly there are other frameworks and models that individuals have found beneficial as they develop as leaders. While the focus of each of these instruments may vary, I do think they point to a leadership ability that all should look to develop – learning to adapt.
Think about it, regardless of what a model is looking to identify or categorize – personality types, communication styles, strengths – the key takeaway should be recognizing similarities and/or differences in others and learning how to adapt our behaviors. This involves being open to other viewpoints and being able to build working relationships through understanding.
So now I turn the question over to you. If you had to pick one ability every manager or leader should develop, which would you select?
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Tags: 360 degree feedback, adaptability, Beyond the Jargon, Calibra, DiSC, emotional intelligence, Leadership Development, MBTI, Paul Dillenburg, StrengthsFinder
