So last week I gave you the background. This post talked about the trends impacting leadership these days (pace of change, social internet, generational shift), and then this post suggests three new mindsets for leadership (ecosystems not machines, innovation as staple, clarity over control). The second session I did in Michigan was on leadership SKILL sets for the 21st century. So based on these high level and mindset shifts, what do we need to actually do differently? What skills do we need to develop? I came up with three skills, although they're not your standard leadership competencies: truth, curiosity, and courage. We'll start with truth.

Truth is a skill.

I doubt most people see it that way. Truth has a certain mythology in this country, dating back to George Washington's moment of deep childhood integrity where he confessed to chopping down his father's cherry tree. Oh, and by the way–there is no historical verification that that actually happened. Ironic, is it not, that our national myth about the importance of telling the truth could be based on a lie?

But that's not the only myth about the truth we perpetuate in this country, as I point out in this article from last year in CalSAE's magazine. We frame truth as ultimately about NOT lying or deceiving people (rather than about sharing more information so we can learn). We frame truth as the exposure of objective facts or proof (rather than allowing the truth to be a dance between objective fact and very subjective experiences). We frame truth as solely an element of personal integrity (rather than acknowledging the huge role culture plays when determining who speaks the truth in organizations). We oversimplify truth and chalk it up in the "yep, everyone should tell the truth" column.

In the mean time, our organizations are so brimming with half truths and avoided conversations that we can hardly get anything done. And not just within the walls of our organization. Members and stakeholders don't tell us the truth (and sometimes we don't listen, or we actually give them incentives to not tell us the truth). Strategy, employee performance, process improvement–in all of these conversations we too frequently settle for oversimplified truth. We don't push the conversations to get to the learning. We are satisfied with simplistic answers that keep us busy and active. The proverbial "dead moose" (hairy baby?) sits in the middle of the table, and we stay busy enough that we don't have to confront it.

That's not leadership. That makes it harder for the system to shape its future.

 If you embrace the leadership mindset that organizations are more like ecosystems than machines, then truth is like the pollen in the ecosystem. It is constantly being released–everywhere–so that information is shared, learning is spurred, and growth and development happens. From an organizational perspective, this means we need to be having more conversations that go deeper and generate more learning. This requires breaking down silos (that stop the information from pollenating ideas), and each of us individually needs to make the choice to push truth rather than retreat from it. This is particularly true if you're at the top of your organization because people love to follow your lead when you choose to avoid confronting the issue.

If you want to develop this skill in your system, here are some tips.

As an individual, learn the behavior-impact model for giving people feedback. The handout that describes it can be downloaded from this post. It's a simple way for giving feedback that removes the judgment from the conversation, and that enables more truth to come out.

As a staff, get some training in conflict resolution skills. The basic skills are about better communication in difficult conversations that typically support more truth and learning. We frequently veer away from more truth because we fear the conflict that will ensue. Break that pattern and you'll likely see results.

As a boss, the trick will be finding opportunities to visibly welcome the truth that your people are delivering to you. People generally fear telling you the truth (the whole emperor has no clothes thing), so the more you can demonstrate that you welcome it, like it, and are grateful for it, the better. This will require some emotional intelligence on your part, by the way, because it's particularly important to demonstrate welcoming the "bad" news here.