Gifts Great Leaders Give

Dion Flynn, Brenny Rabine, Melissa Delany Del Valle and Geoff Tarson

From our current Kopco newsletter, where you can also get recommendations for great books and talks, and a coupon for free presentation coaching, we offer you these thoughts on gifts great leaders give.

During the holiday season, giving gifts becomes a major task and preoccupation. For improvisers giving gifts is an everyday focus. We talk about viewing mistakes as gifts that allow us to create fresh and unexpected scenes and narratives. We talk about receiving our partners ideas as gifts and expressing whole-hearted  acceptance of them. We aim to "delight our partners" by thinking about what offers we can make that will delight and inspire them.

Leaders, too, can think about giving gifts to their people year-round, and improv practice offers a number of them. For your consideration at this time of year, some gifts we believe great leaders give:

• Attention - Many of us are starved for it. Simply feeling seen and heard can increase motivation and commitment. And leaders who pay attention - by walking around, talking to people, asking questions, listening rather than speaking - give themselves the gift of richer, more honest and useful information.
• "Yes, and" - This foundational improv principle simply means accept what is offered and build with it. Good and generous leaders give the gift of building with what they see and hear - with what exists, BECAUSE it exists.  By doing so, they develop deeper more trusting relationships, and have access to better more innovative solutions to issues.    
• Status - Face it, feeling respected and powerful is a fundamental human desire. Those in positions of authority can become blind to the privileges they have. We forget that others do not have the flexibility, attention, care-taking that we enjoy. By honoring others publicly, complimenting them authentically, and conferring real autonomy and authority, leaders can give the gift of status, one of the most valued gifts of all.  
• Room to Fail - Improvisers speak about celebrating failure because they know that it is only in a culture where failure is REALLY okay, not just tolerated as a cringe-worthy evil, that creativity and collaboration can thrive.  

By cultivating a mindset of delighting others and giving the gifts mentioned above, leaders become more effective, more influential, and more appreciated. 

When, where and to whom can you give more of these?