I’m a fan of Marcel Schwantes and his site: leadershipfromthecore.com. In one of his articles he mentions 4 leadership practices that make great leaders-Embracing failure, Great leaders empower others, great leaders embrace respectful disagreement and let your people take turns leading. The following have been my experiences on these 4 qualities as I have lived them whilst serving in leadership positions across the nation..

1. Embrace Failure

 The billionaire founder of Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson, fosters a culture that encourages and even celebrates failure. There’s an underlying theme at Virgin Group that, without trying something new and failing, it’s virtually impossible to innovate and grow. Unfortunately, in many school district central offices and school sites, trying something new is often frowned upon for fear of failure. In these cultures, a fault may mean being ostracized or being out of favor with top leadership. What occurs is continuous failure or underperformance, followed by excuses for not improving. In these types of work environments, senior leadership does not understand that failure is a path to improvement.

2. Great leaders empower others

One of my favorite quotes comes from Confucius: “If you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room.”  We all have blind spots, and there are people in your organization that can help you achieve better outcomes by complimenting your blind spot. None of us are fully aware of the talents in the organization.  By empowering others, you can significantly decrease potential minefields or obstacles due to your blind spot. Others may be able to fill in those areas where you are most likely not to address. Those that lack confidence may see this as a threat. Their insecurities may lead them to believe that if someone outshines them, that they will lose their job. Their insecurities don’t allow them to realize that elevating others is a sign of confidence, intelligence, and being secure in one own’s skin. Elevating others is the true essence of servant leadership

3. Great leaders embrace respectful disagreement

Conflict is inevitable; conflict is good; it is an admission that there is something that is keeping us from progressing. It is how the conflict will resolve that is the key to moving everyone to that next level of performance. Therefore, I insist on meeting norms when assembling a team, and norms should address the ground rules for dealing with a disagreement. How great is your team if there are no disagreements? I would be concerned about the team if everyone is always in agreement. It could mean you have created a culture where your teammates are hesitant about bringing something up due to your reaction or overreaction and are more focused on pleasing you rather than on solving the problem. A true leader understands that he/she must ensure that people feel safe expressing dissent.

You do that by seeking out opposing viewpoints cross-functionally and across reporting levels and letting your people know that you expect them to contribute and to feel safe in questioning decisions. At the end of the day, a great leader understands that they don’t have all the answers and that they will not always be right. Great leaders understand that an opposing viewpoint is just that, a different opinion, it is not personal.

4. Let your people take turns leading

Truly powerful people are not threatened by sharing power. Power-sharing will lead to a more cohesive team, improved trust, loyalty, and high-quality solutions brought forth. I often allow my team members to either lead or share when presenting, and all presentations and proposals have every team member’s name on it.