Humble Leadership Takes Practice!
Humility seems rare in our current US political environment, western culture, and sadly, at times, among our more public religious leaders. Maybe humble leaders don’t make the news, but they exist. Genuine humility is essential whether one is leading or following. Defining and practicing humility is a challenge. I wonder how false humility has become self-serving, distorting the meaning and power of true humility. I wonder how humility is conceptualized in the Southeast Asian context where my NPO project is based. These thoughts surfaced as I learned about a practical application of humility that shows how a culture of openness and trust can potentially create positive change when humble leadership is practiced.
In the preface of Humble Leadership: The Power of Relationships, Openness, and Trust by Edgar H. Schein and Peter A. Schein, the authors state, “This book proposes a relational view of leadership, framing it as a process of learning, sharing, and directing new and better action within the dynamic interpersonal processes that increasingly characterize today’s organizations.” [1] I appreciate a relational view of leadership in which learning, sharing, and directing for better outcomes is collaborative. I see elements of Jesus’ approach to leadership in the above description. Humble Leadership provides a basic understanding of the importance of relationship dynamics that could benefit any leader regardless of their preferred leadership style. The model emphasizes developing high levels of trust and openness while navigating workplace culture and group dynamics. The book makes the point that relational skills are crucial to leading with humility and that it takes thoughtful, intentional practice to make it happen.
I appreciate the basic premise of this model. First, the emphasis is on acknowledging the whole person through situational humility. The authors define situational humility as the following specific set of learned skills.
- Accepting uncertainty while remaining curious to find out what is really going on,
- being open, intentionally and mindfully, to what others may know or observe, and
- recognizing when unconscious bias can distort perceptions and trigger emotional responses.[2]
Secondly, humble leadership principles apply to any situation regardless of job description or organizational hierarchy.[3] I find this point inspiring as it indicates that humble leadership can begin at any starting point and with any person within the organization. In other words, leaders and followers can use these principles to effect change.
Thirdly, humble leadership requires developing safe, open, and trusting personal relationships to create something new and better.[4] Schein and Schein identify relationships in terms of four different levels. Level Minus 1: Negative. Level 1: Transactional. Level 2: Whole-person, and Level 3: Intimate.[5] The authors suggest that Level 2 whole-person relationships in the workplace are preferred in which everyone is seen, building trust, learning together, and involved in decision-making. The result is a collaborative and enjoyable work environment resulting in improved outcomes in which everyone feels they’ve contributed.
Peter Northouse, Annabel Beerel, and Simon Walker introduced us to various leadership styles. Each author came to mind as I read Humble Leadership. I became curious about whether the practice of humility existed in the styles of leadership they discussed in their books. What follows are a few concepts that resonate with the principles of humble leadership. Peter Northouse discussed team leadership and the importance of psychological safety. He suggests, “A climate of safety emerges when team leaders admit their own faults, solicit input and ideas from others, and provide developmental debriefing sessions.” [6] Annabel Beerel introduced transpersonal leadership and suggested that the ego can be transcended with greater self-awareness, thus freeing the leader from a limited point of view and openness to new possibilities.[7] Simon Walker discussed consensual strategy. He highlighted the importance of attending to the “space between people” and encouraged leaders to build cultures of support, respect, discovery, and learning.[8] It seems the skill sets proposed by Schein and Schein support a variety of leadership styles and may improve areas of weakness.
An important takeaway was differentiating between technical culture, characterized by strategy, design, and mission, and social culture, which is about communication patterns and relationships.[9] Considering my NPO stakeholders, I wonder how the technical and social cultures intersect and what cultural shifts need attention. Our authors hinted at another level of relationship. Level 2.5 moves beyond seeing one another as whole persons into a culture of compassion and commitment to one another.[10] An increase in connection through compassion and commitment is the sweet spot I hope to achieve among ministry leaders. Still, I sense the tension between the two “cultures” above and wonder how to bring more integration. Maybe a bonus impact is that collaboratively, we can clarify how we function as a family of churches.
I must also consider how Southeast Asian ministry leaders understand and embody humility. How do their perceptions and experiences differ from mine? I must be aware of my cultural biases and not impose or make assumptions. I explored the cultural nuances of shame, not humility, in my research. Once again, I’m curious about my cultural bias and the need for sensitivity and openness. The three skills presented in Humble Leadership are vital to my understanding and, to the degree I’ve been practicing them, have served me well in our collaborative efforts. I’m encouraged that my project will open up new ways of listening and engaging with one another. Discussions on humble leadership may prove valuable and insightful down the road. In the meantime, I will keep practicing!
[1] Edgar H. Schein and Peter A. Schein, Humble Leadership: The Power of Relationships, Openness, and Trust, 2nd ed. (Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2023), ix.
[2] Schein and Schein, Humble Leadership, 8.
[3] Ibid., 9.
[4] Ibid., 12.
[5] Ibid., 15.
[6] Peter C. Northouse, Leadership: Theory & Practice Ninth Edition (Los Angeles, CA: SAGE, 2022), 469.
[7] Annabel Beerel, Rethinking Leadership: A Critique of Contemporary Theories (London, UK: Routledge, 2021), 241.
[8] Simon Walker, Leading with Nothing to Lose: Training in the Exercise of Power. (Carlisle, UK: Piquant Editions Ltd, 2007), 109.
[9] Schein and Schein, Humble Leadership, 11.
[10] Ibid., 28.
About the Author
Jenny Dooley
Jenny served as a missionary in Southeast Asia for 28 years. She currently resides in Gig Harbor, Washington, where she works as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Certified Spiritual Director in private practice with her husband, Eric. Jenny loves to listen and behold the image of God in others. She enjoys traveling, reading, and spending time with her family which include 5 amazing adult children, 3 awesome sons-in-law, a beautiful daughter-in-law, and 8 delightful grandchildren.10 responses to “Humble Leadership Takes Practice!”
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Jenny,
I hope you had a good trip and are adjusting well to the new time zone.
Regarding your post – I appreciate you drawing attention to the fact that the virtue of humility is important to have whether you are a leader or a follower. Any leadership paradigm falters when ego trumps humility, no matter whether with the leader or follower. I appreciate Schein & Schein mentioning that Humble Leadership is more of a process to be applied to any of the leadership models.
You embody this as you are continuing to develop your work with Southeast Asian ministers. You are listening, evaluating, watching, and learning. It truly is a collaborative effort and, because of this, will have much more buy in and success. What plans do you have in the next few months to continue the conversation with the ministerial leaders regarding your project?
Hi Esther,
Thank you for your kind response. We are still settling in but have enjoyed meeting up with life-long friends and are now settling into our condo today. Class at midnight will take some getting used to:)
I, too, like that humble leadership is a process. Not sure I have mastered the skills described in the book but I do think humility takes a lot of genuine curiosity.
Over the next few weeks I am meeting with about 90-ministry leaders. Half of whom don’t know anything about my project. I will be doing some presenting, more listening, practicing, and adapting. The main skill I will be attempting to teach in preparation for the pre-launch is listening. I have to do a lot of that myself to keep this project truly collaborative!
Jenny this raises great questions for me. As you see the culture you are working with that perhaps has a different perspective on what humility is, I wonder if we may face some similar (though admittedly lesser) challenges with generational understandings of humility.
In other words, is the ceiling of my grasp of humility the floor for a rising generation?
That was my first thought. My second observation about your post was this:
“An important takeaway was differentiating between technical culture, characterized by strategy, design, and mission, and social culture, which is about communication patterns and relationships”
Simple but profound and I think the key to this book. We focus only on technical culture to the detrement of our organizations; both technical and social are needed and I too wonder how we can integrate those better. Do you have any immediate thoughts about how that can happen?
Hi Tim,
It would be interesting to ask Gen Z how they define humility and what they think it should look like. I wonder if it isn’t a more Christian concept and we take for granted that everyone knows what it is and how to apply it. I will be curious to hear Pam’s thoughts on this as her project focuses so much on humility.
I almost skimmed over the section on the technical and social culture of organizations. Then I realized I didn’t really know how to define for myself how our family of churches would conceptualizes our technical culture. So I guess my thoughts run toward some type of discovery workshop. It’s seems a worthy endeavor to check out our assumptions and then see if we’re aligned with the social culture. I did find the workshops I conducted for my NPO a very helpful and connecting way to evaluate what we needed, what we lacked, and where we wanted to go.
Hi Jenny,
The paragraph where you wrote, “Peter Northouse, Annabel Beerel, and Simon Walker introduced us to various leadership styles. Each author came to mind as I read Humble Leadership. I became curious about whether the practice of humility existed in the styles of leadership they discussed in their books.”
Was brilliant and so syntopical. The messages of those authors came echoing back to me also.
It ministers to my soul.
Alas, in my personal life, Pride is the bacteria eating away at my soul. I need to dip my cup back into the well of Humility.
Jennifer Vernham wrote, “how can I best equip our team to use their skills, talents and giftings to build new solutions for problems we have never seen before?”
This resonates with me as I am working with young adults who are so distinctly different, but have the same goal of ministering to those in Ukraine.
More collaborative leadership!
Pam Lau spoke about the root word of humble to be found in humus, or dirt.
As a gardener this has special meaning for me since I am constantly evaluating soil and trying to amend them for better plant growth (I need to start amending my personal soil with HUMILITY)….but I digress
For the non Christian writers of this book, I imagine
they are moving towards polycentric leadership and perhaps have never heard of Jesus’ servant leadership.
Shalom.
Hi Russell,
Thanks for your comments and making more connections with what our peers are saying. I found much in Humble Leadership that connects to the various styles of leadership and wonder if humility isn’t the glue that makes most leadership styles work in a variety of situations and among different personalities. Rare Leadership also came to mind! I also wonder if humility isn’t what can turn almost any leadership style into a collaborative effort. I should have asked this on your post but how did you see humility demonstrated in the military?
Jenny, you mentioned that you “explored the cultural nuances of shame, not humility, in my research.” If you were to facilitate a focus group that addressed this topic among those in your Southeast Asian context where your NPO if based, what observations or questions do you think your stakeholders would raise about Schein and Schein’s “humble leadership” model? Also, how might those questions be different if you were to interview (or facilitate a focus group among) second generation stakeholders from a Southeast Asian cultural context…in the U.S.? Your post makes me curious how South Asian and Southeast Asian brothers and sisters in Atlanta — particularly among the growing second generation population in my city — might respond to the authors’ focus on level 2 leadership in their own generation and in their parent’s generation. Great post!
Hi Travis,
I have been thinking about humility in a Southeast Asian context for the last few days and planning to make it fit into one of my presentations next week with ministry leaders here in Southeast Asia. I’ll be sharing on listening, empathy, vulnerability, and confidentiality as I prep everyone for my project, so adding bit on a humility and Rare Leadership should happen.
My husband and I were guessing about how both groups you mentioned would perceive humility in general. I’m not sure we came up with anything accurate. Your idea of a focus group has me thinking that one of my sharing group prompts should be along the lines of your question! When I think about the model my best guess is that unconscious bias would be the bigger challenge here in Asia and less so among second generation Asians in the US. I wonder how curiosity might be more self-serving than genuine humility. Culturally, there is a graciousness that feels humble but possibly more of a social construct.
Having resided and been the “guest” in Asia for so many years I had to naturally take on the stance of being curious and as unbiased as I could be. Observation and asking worked better than guessing. Eventually, that lead others to be more curious and open with me. I’ll have to get back to you on a more concrete answer. But I suspect, social construct not withstanding, we’re all human and need to practice more humility in the ways the Scheins describe, and it’s hard to do. We all like to be right, respected, certain of our perceptions, and understood.
First, you are great at weaving our readings throughout your posts! You, and from what I know about your husband, model this type of leadership. The fact that you are constantly aware of Asian culture, meeting them on their territory and adjusting yourselves to better serve that community speaks volumes. Love your heart of compassion. Great posts!
Thank you, Adam.
One thing about living cross-culturally is that we had to practice humility everyday as very quickly we realized how little we knew, how many different ways to do things there are, and how wonderfully freeing that discovery can be (it was frustrating too!). Practicing humility does open and broaden one’s perspective. I was reading Margaret Wheatley’s book on the plane this morning and realized how grateful I was to have those cultural experiences and exposure that led to new ways of thinking about the world. I appreciate that the Scheins used an example in their book about former Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew as an example of humble leadership. Some of his leadership practices were truly humble. I can’t quite imagine his learning curve while founding a new nation!