How good are you at Understanding Others?

Did you know that Understanding Others is a competency that you can develop? We define the Understanding Others competency as, "Understanding the uniqueness and contributions of others." Who do you know who is highly skilled at Understanding Others?

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: Understanding Others?

Those with a highly developed skill of Understanding Others exhibit the following:

• Demonstrates the ability to evaluate others.
• Strives to understand the unique qualities of all people.
• Evaluates many aspects of the people in her surroundings.
• Recognizes how other people can contribute.
• Accepts individuals’ unique abilities and looks for ways for them to contribute.
• Utilizes feedback to identify strengths in other people.
• Seeks to understand how certain decisions can impact others.
• Sees the unique contributions of colleagues.
• Relates and connects with others.
• Understands the unique motivations, needs, and aspirations of others.

Behaviorally, it comes more naturally and requires less focus for some of us to effectively understand others. 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 Understanding Others? What about the people on your team? Is this something you want your team to be strong in?