Leadership is a trait that everyone wants, but only a few can master it because leadership begins when you start to look past yourself. A study by Australia’s Macquarie Graduate School of Management in the year 2011, came up with the conclusion that seven leaders who were a part of the survey showed remarkable personal growth. Taking criticism and then changing for the good is what a team looks up to; And so a vulnerability in leadership inspires the whole team. 

The leader is the torchbearer for the team. So the leader needs to be genuine. And that genuinely comes out of vulnerability. Showing emotion, and being clear on your values and ideas instead of hiding behind your position is what vulnerability is all about. The vulnerability results in authenticity, and this not only helps the team trust you daily but makes goal-achieving easier. 

A leader should be aware of where the team stands emotionally on a project. What is their point of view? And that a leader can hear about only if he has a bond with the team. Vulnerability ensures that bond. The vulnerability only proves that the leader is human too. Weaknesses are the best way to connect with each other because a connection like that makes a possibility of improvement for the team and the leader. Vulnerability not only proves to be good for the team but do help the leader as an individual. Because of this, it can result in your developing a high-performance team, which is going to be a great advantage for your workplace.

People in the business are taught to be not vulnerable. And so when you find out that you lack something, a key skill or a certain knowledge of something, it becomes hard to accept it. Because as a leader, you feel like you should be better than others. So that internal war of improving starts with allowing. And that accepting comes with vulnerability 

Public embarrassment is another thing that vulnerability helps you deal with. You might make a mistake or take a wrong step in a project as a leader. This is also an aspect of vulnerability that instead of pining over something you can change, you make the most out of what you learned. 

Vulnerability might seem a setback to some people, after all, who likes to be in a position where they can be attacked easily. But then, if you open up and become accepting, people might not feel like attacking you at all. The set targets become easier because as a leader, you aren’t alone anymore. The people you backed up does the same for you. You grow as a community. You aren’t just an individual or the project head anymore. You are the part of the system where you understand people or try to understand people. And you get the same effort in return. 

The comfort at your workplace, where there is no barrier between people, where people connect with the intention of learning and growing – that is what vulnerability brings. Vulnerability is a tool that can change the workplace environment and people’s dedication towards a project. 

So, as a leader, vulnerability is the best thing that can happen to you. Vulnerability brings in the power of relationships and at times, that is all you need. Because as a leader, you might feel lonely at times, because of the position you are at. Vulnerability is a measure of strength, and when you own what you are going through as a leader, that is when the bar of creativity starts to lift. 

So yes, being vulnerable as a leader is going to turn the tables for you if you know the right way to put it in front of your team.