How good are you at Diplomacy?

Did you know that Diplomacy is a competency that you can develop? We define the Diplomacy competency as, "Effectively and tactfully handling difficult or sensitive issues." Who do you know who is highly skilled at Diplomacy?

With practice, you can grow and develop this skill just like other "hard skills" you might be good at like cooking, public speaking, employee coaching, or playing golf.

How do I grow as a leader: Diplomacy?

Those with a highly developed skill of Diplomacy exhibit the following:

• Effectively utilizes tact and diplomacy in working with people across hierarchical, functional and/or cultural borders.
• Understands cultural, climate and organizational issues.
• Adapts conduct and communications to "politically correct" standards.
• Effectively leverages networks of influence to enable progress.
• Is sensitive to the needs of special interest groups within organizations.
• Builds relationships and networks with key people of influence.
• Provides advice, counsel and mentoring on organizational issues.
• Utilizes both formal and informal networks internally to obtain support and achieve results.
• Expresses the context of a situation in a non-confrontational or positive manner.

Behaviorally, it comes more naturally and requires less focus for some of us to be diplomatic. For the rest of us, it is a skill we may need to invest energy into developing in order to be more effective. Our Driving Forces will reward for some skills and not others. If your job or your environment demands something from you that isn't naturally present in your Behaviors or Driving Forces, you can develop it in your Competencies. 

What about you? How developed are you at the competency of Diplomacy? What about the people on your team? Is this something you want your team to be strong in?