The late Dr. Stephen Covey got quite famous on the strength of his writing of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (2004). He followed that book a year later with The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness (2005). Both were excellent; I liked the latter even more than the first.
What is that 8th Habit? Finding your voice and helping others find theirs.
Finding our own voice is challenging enough. From a leadership perspective, however, helping others find theirs is extremely difficult. Some of the things that can foster that development of voice in others…
- Creating environments where it’s safe to dissent.
- Inviting others to lend their voice/thinking/perspective to complex problems.
- Articulating clearly the desire, and expectation, for others to speak up/out.
- Being genuinely open to the ideas/perspectives of others.
- Being better Listeners than we are Talkers.
- Saying “And” quite a lot, and saying “But” almost never.
- Making respectfulness in interactions an organizational non-negotiable.
Helping others find their voice requires of us skill, discipline, and time.
Who’s in?
*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning.
