When considering how we can improve leadership within our teams, an underappreciated skill is that of making good invitations.

There are many components to great leadership. Yet this simple skill is a brilliant place to start when seeking to enhance the quality of leadership within your organisation or team.

An invitation is really more of a gift in disguise, especially when offered to the right person in a thoughtful way.

An invitation means you’re asking somebody to take on a role, to do something, to grow into a new position. This is exciting for people as it means you’re seeing their potential and doing something about it.

You’re giving people an opportunity to expand into something new, to show themselves and to make a difference. It’s motivating, empowering and exciting.

The skill of making good invitations is an important part of great leadership

Author of Going Horizontal, Samantha Slade, said: “Being intentional inviters makes people feel cared for, seen, and included, and it fosters community”.

In this article, Samantha talks about how invitations should include four factors: choice, clarity, community and criteria.

She reminds us that invitations need to be genuine (they can be responded to with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and either is OK). I’d like to offer a fresh take on this; start by making your invitations open, caring and inclusive.

Let that person know why these skills are important to the business and the impact on your role this person has because of the skills they’re bringing.

Remain open and listen

Putting out an honest invitation often opens up a different kind of conversation, perhaps one that needed to happen anyway.

As you make an invitation, be open to what may emerge from that conversation. Listen to the other person’s take on the situation.

An invitation is an opportunity to try to understand the other person’s perspective and position. They will see the opportunity in a different way than you do.

That’s not just OK, it’s really important and useful information. Be open to their perspective and to what course of actions is best to pursue. See if you can make an invitation without being attached to how it’s responded to or acted upon.

Show that you care

By making an invitation you’re showing that you’ve thought of the person, thought the situation through and see potential for them. That’s caring in itself. You can take this further by being accommodating in your invitation and listening carefully to the other person.

Let them know that you admire their conflict resolution skills. Or their ability to handle multiple projects at once. Or that you notice how good they are in building great client relationships and it’s because of this that you’d like to invite them to manage the account.

Let that person know why these skills are important to the business and the impact on your role this person has because of the skills they’re bringing.

You might also ask what the person needs to proceed, and then make a note to follow up with them at an agreed later date. This level of accountability and ongoing support is a further way to demonstrate your caring attention.

An invitation is an opportunity to try to understand the other person’s perspective and position

Prioritise inclusivity

Be clear on why you're making this invitation to this individual. It’s good to state explicitly why it is that you’re inviting this particular person to this particular role or job.

It’s empowering and supportive to hear that potential is being seen and that you hold a vision for this person. This will help the person feel a sense of belonging and inclusion within your organisation or team.

You can make a particular effort to be inclusive in the way you invite by thinking about people who might currently be outside or on the edge of the tasks you're looking to get done.

See an invitation as an opportunity for somebody to step towards the middle of what you’re doing and to engage better with their colleagues. A sensitive and appropriate invitation can really change somebody’s experience of inclusion. This is a huge factor in their resilience and wellbeing.

You’re invited: Go forth and experiment!

Through great invitations I’ve witnessed new businesses being formed, new roles being taken up and new people emerging from the edges to become central figures in how a business operates. There is great power in a good initiation.

Now that you have this lens to put onto your work and conversations it might surprise you how much and how often you find yourself in a context where an invitation (of some sort) is appropriate.

You’ll be great at this. Follow these simple steps to engage with your colleagues in a new way. Please share with us in the comments below what impacts you witness happening around you.

If you enjoyed this, read: What is a good leader and how do you become one?