IT IS ALWAYS OK AS A LEADER TO SAY YOU DON'T KNOW!
During the Covid-19 pandemic, we have been beset from all sides by experts. Experts, leaders in their fields, have assailed us from all quarters with their authoritative expert statements, their in-depth expert analysis, their earnestly-offered expert advice, and their carefully-crafted expert opinions. So-called.
These expert leaders have been idealised – if not idolised - by the media and some sectors of society, according to Karen Maccaro – strong leaders portrayed as unflappable experts in practically everything (in Admitting what you don’t know is key to effective leadership, in Fastcompany, 17 July 22). Lest we be too complacent or too puffed-up in our own self-belief, we should heed Maccaro’s cautionary note: As leaders, we get tarred with the same brush. We shoulder that burden. We begin to believe that having authority also means being infallible. Since infallibility is an unattainable goal, it appears to make sense that we create distance around ourselves, that we resist admitting mistakes, and that we project an image of ourselves as one who is always at the ready with an answer, if not always right.??
Old notions die hard, she continues, adding, over two decades teaching business students and coaching executives, I’ve seen firsthand how outdated notions of leadership still persist. Leaders are imagined to always be in control and to be ready with what is inevitably and infallibly the right answer.??
But more than simply being false, this notion of leaders is limiting, Maccaro continues. In fact, she argues, it’s time to start acknowledging leaders are human like everyone else. Leadership is challenging. It requires a multitude of skills that traditional education often doesn’t prepare us for and that the?very companies that promote us to positions of leadership often don’t help us develop.??
Indeed, Maccaro asserts that Old notions of leadership also limit an organisation’s capacity to be successful. If you and your team believe you’re the only one that has all the answers, they will defer. You run the risk that your ?team just becomes?an echo chamber, reinforcing one person’s opinions without discernment. In sum, being an infallible leader is bad for business.??
So, what’s the alternative? How do we shrug off the burden of infallibility?
It’s simple, in Maccaro’s view: Acknowledge your humanity as a leader through demonstrating and expressing your vulnerability and authenticity.??
What does that look like?
FOCUS ON QUESTIONS, NOT ANSWERS
We’re faced with greater uncertainty and more change than ever, according to Maccaro. This means that the likelihood of our actually having a ready-to-go answer or solution to all the challenges we face has probably never been lower. Pretending to be infallible, to have all the answers, has never rung more hollow nor appeared more pretentious or foolish. Leaders who believe they have all the answers not only stymie their team’s creativity in these circumstances; they will inevitably mire themselves in outdated models of thinking and acting that actually hinder or obstruct positive outcomes.
According to Maccaro, Leaders must flip the script, shifting mindsets from leader as “answerer” to leader as “questioner.”?
Productive inquiry, or inquiry-based leadership, is one method of dealing with uncertainty, Maccaro observes. To start, ask catalytic questions, Maccaro suggests. And what are catalytic questions? They’re questions that are productive instead of just open-ended—they start with “why”, and lead on to “what” and “how” to help frame problems and move toward positive outcomes.??
Leaders have to abandon the instinct immediately to answer a question with their best guess or idea, Maccaro explains. Instead, they should first consider reframing the problem with a follow-on question. For example:??
We also need as leaders to be prepared to take the risk of opening up discussions in meetings or in collaborative sessions that may run in unexpected directions. We need to create a culture in meetings such that our brightest and best thinkers on our team do not feel deterred from offering up their new thoughts or fresh ideas for fear of criticism or of being thought less of. You haven’t hired people who are not able to think creatively, and deep down inside, you know the best innovative solutions to your organisation’s problems will come from shared thinking rather than just from your thinking. If you ask catalytic questions but then dismiss all responses and revert to the path you intended to pursue all along, Maccaro warns, you’ll damage trust and your own credibility.
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No-one wants to have their time wasted sitting in a consultative meeting when you ignore and dismiss their ideas as being worthless and pursue your own agenda. Your people hate it when you hold pretend consultations. They see straight through you. ?And as Maccaro avers, This hinders the possibility of fostering a creative and productive team, and fails to yield the optimal solution.??
OWN MISTAKES PUBLICLY
Being vulnerable and authentic as a leader also means admitting errors, Maccaro asserts. It is always OK for a leader to say that they do not know the answer, or that they got the answer wrong. Too often, leaders feel inclined to sweep aside missteps to protect their image, Maccaro points out. They may fear that admitting their mistakes will cause others to lose faith in them, but?research suggests that trying to hide things doesn’t work. People can see when someone’s putting on a show, and, beyond failing to protect their image, it actively discredits them.??
So, if your team knows you’ve?made a mistake anyway, why not admit it? Have the courage to display your essential humanity. Hubris has no place in effective and successful organisational leadership at any level. Admit you got it wrong. Doing so will not make people think less of you. They will respect you more, and their trust and confidence in you may well be increased. No-one trusts a fake.
So, Maccaro advises, declare the mistake as soon as possible to all those involved. This can be challenging, but just state the nature of the mistake succinctly and apologise if relevant. Where you should spend the most time is determining what caused the mistake, Maccaro adds, suggesting that when admitting mistakes becomes part of typical and accepted behaviour on a team, they’ll likely jump right into dissecting the mistake and trying to solve any related problems. Acknowledging the past is important, but productive teams will focus on moving forward.???
EMBRACE SMART FAILURES
In addition to being inevitable in truly successful innovative organisations, failure can be a great learning experience, Maccaro attests, as well as a launch pad for future success, which can also focus a spotlight on systematic challenges that may have gone unnoticed. ?Think about human learning. About how much we learn when we fail to accomplish something. We fall off our bike several times before we learn to balance it. We learn to spell from having mistakes corrected. We learn our times tables by being corrected when we err. Human resilience grows from every mistake we make and bounce back from! A child who is never allowed to make a mistake grows into a stunted human being. So in adult organisations, giving your team members the opportunity to fail, and not chastising them when they do, can be a potent organisational cultural feature that leads to liberated and liberating creative thinking and innovative solutions. The key is to make these failures “smart” failures, Maccaro counsels.
To enable this, leaders must foster two key conditions among their team, she continues. First, they must create an environment of psychological safety. She says the team must know that?smart risks (made with as much analysis and research as possible given the timing and situation) that end in less than optimal outcomes won’t totally crush them. This isn’t going to happen just by saying it, though, she warns, so walk the talk and watch your response to smart risks that don’t go as planned. The more publicly you applaud the effort and focus on the learning and growth phase of the loss, the better.??
Second, leaders must conduct after-action reviews focused on learning from any major project or initiative, Maccaro urges. Be disciplined in channelling the learning that each individual member of the team has derived from his or her failure. These reviews need to be a consistent part of the team culture, not just when a project goes awry, Maccaro emphasises. After all, they’re opportunities to highlight earned knowledge, make necessary adjustments, and reward effort.?
TRUTH DRIVES COMMITMENT
Being honest, being truthful, being authentic, is key to successful leadership in these challenging times. Out-dated models of organisational leadership are just that. Out-dated. Old fashioned. 20th Century. Even 19th Century! Bosses aren’t bosses any more. They are leaders now. Leaders of human teams. Teams of vulnerable, courageous, likeable, talented, funny, compassionate, full-of-life human beings – who have real lives outside work as well as at work.
People such as these need and deserve to be led by leaders like these. Vulnerable, courageous, likeable, talented, funny, compassionate full-of-life human leaders, who have real lives outside work as well as at work. This kind of authentic, honest, true-to-character leading enables the forging of the kinds of caring, supportive, empathetic, positive relationships between leaders and those they lead that foster and nurture individual giftedness and individual commitment to the organisation and its objectives.
Let Maccaro have the last word: By asking catalytic questions, owning-up to mistakes, and creating a culture that embraces smart failure, leaders illustrate their own humanity and recognise the humanity and vulnerability of others. They create teams driven by commitment, not fear. Leading doesn’t mean omnipotence or infallibility, it means succeeding despite not having all the answers and not necessarily knowing all the right next moves.??
It means working together – leaders and led – in close, trusting relationships founded on mutual respect and regard. Not a bad way forward, that!