You’ll Need These Three Anti-Skills To Be a Great Leader in 2022

#2 is what most people find the hardest

Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash

Many leaders fall into the trap of thinking the answer to their insecurities is to do more:

• I’m not sure the team are clear on what needs to happen so I’ll tell them again.
• I’ve got a 1–2–1 meeting so I’ll need to do most of the talking
• It’s important this is done right so I’ll do it myself

But here’s the problem:

The more you do the less effective a leader you are.

The solution is to develop your anti-skills.

A skill is when you learn how to do something in order to achieve a positive outcome; an anti-skill is learning how to not do something in order to achieve a positive outcome.

Sounds weird, I know, so bear with me.

Let’s use an example outside of work for a moment.

Imagine you want to improve your relationship with your teenage child.

• A skill might be to compliment them more often.
• An anti-skill might be that you resist making a sarcastic comment about their clothes or an opinion they have.