Leaders shouldn’t be the smartest on the team.?

It seems that the most challenging concept for leadership to grasp is that to lead, you don’t have to know everything. In fact, you shouldn’t.??

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Take it from me, you will be wrong, A LOT. Your ideas will seem lackluster compared to your team. You will have to follow the very people who are "supposed" to follow you. You will need help and team feedback to conduct your own self-assessment on what you need to do more of and what you need to do less of. That's how you become successful. You have to want to know the good, the bad, and the ugly- But not only that, you have to be willing to hold yourself accountable, make proper changes, and value your team and their expertise.??

Your team is comprised of people with different skill sets and knowledge. These differences help sum up a business’s competitive edge. It is because of the team and the value, knowledge, and expertise they bring to the table that allows a business to succeed.??

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Business success is rooted in a team's differences in perspectives, opinions, and ideas. How we utilize those differences makes or breaks our business. There is strength in a team’s differences- This sums up a company's competitive edge and success.???

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The best part about a team is the collaboration and intertwining of ideas from the perspectives of a group of people with different backgrounds, different ways of doing things, different mindsets, and different viewpoints.?

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A good team has people who excel in whatever their individual strength is. This is essential. Think about it- How, as a leader, can you know every discipline needed for the business to run???

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Thinking about it logically, that is impossible. In my business, I focus on each team member’s strength, myself included. I put each person in the place where they can be most successful.??

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Business in America has a hierarchical structure and used to have a top-down “I’m the Boss” mentality- That doesn’t serve the project, the organization, the client, or the team members. On my teams, we flatten that. Every individual has a different focus. It becomes less about a competition to know more than the next guy and more about collaborative team effort and strong team dynamics.??

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Business is a collective experience. Being the leader isn’t a power status; it's a responsibility to keep good people working together effectively while building and motivating them to be better. Think servant leadership.????

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The whole point of being a leader is to bring people together for a common business goal. In the tech industry, for example, that goal is completing a project. If the team was comprised of a bunch of “me’s,” there wouldn’t be enough skill in different areas.? Tech leaders tend to struggle with creating collaborative work environments due to a lack of trust in their teams- Like with project completion, speaking from my experience, leaders tend to not listen to their team members' feedback or advice and cause overly drawn-out projects that could have been completed sooner. We see this with project management as well. Leaders either give unrealistic timeframes to complete tasks or micromanage everything. The need to be right is an epidemic in the workforce.???

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I lead my team by telling them what needs to be done and letting them figure out how to do it. I also try to give them a little latitude in the what, because sometimes the “what” isn’t as clearly defined as I would have liked, and they come up with a better solution to the problem. As a leader, you have to be willing to let go of control.??

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In a leadership position, you need several characteristics to lead effectively. You must be able to delegate without being controlling. You must empathize with the team, not disregard their feelings. You must always be helpful and not discourage the team. You must inspire not dishearten and you must always be accountable.??

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Never do you need to be a know-it-all. Your role is not to show off what you know versus what your team members know. The purpose of your position is to serve your team to the best of your ability. It’s not a competition. You are on the same team as everyone else, so start acting like it. No one is better or worse. We all work together to achieve and exceed business goals and expectations and we do this by collaborating, utilizing each other’s differences and expertise, and putting forth constant effort- If this is not a part of your mindset and company culture, lasting success will be hard to obtain.??

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There is no rulebook on being an outstanding leader, but it's evident that to be a great leader, you have to lead with humility. You have to be able to let go of your ego and you must understand your role in business success; You are not the asset, the team is.??

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Leaders, this is a reminder that we aren’t the experts- You hire experts to complete tasks you don’t know how to do. You aren’t meant to be the smartest in the room. Remember to value those who work hard for you and trust them enough to perform. They know what they’re doing.??