The leader who knows it all:
Whenever I ask someone about the most important qualites that a leader needs to have to be able to lead their teams effectively the most common answer is expertise and knowledge. This is perhaps one of the most flawed belief in the leadership circles; that a leader needs to know everything to be able to lead their team.
This belief often stems from the experience that most leaders have in the early years of their career. In the lower rungs on organisation knowledge is often power. People tend to grow in the initial stages of their career because of the power of their skill and expertise. After all, haven’t we all seen this same thing practised in schools and colleges. The kid who knows the most gets the prize.
The rules, however, change when you move into leadership roles. Leaders who want to know it all or think that they do are often the cause of performance going down and team morale being low
How know-it-all leaders impact themselves and their teams:
- Avoid admitting I don’t know: Leaders who are uncomfortable with not knowing avoid admitting this to others and will even go to the extent of feigning intelligence when they don’t have it. They run the risk of being exposed for faking it and also tend to mislead the team.
- Work within the limitation: If a leader works within the limits of his/her knowledge then the team is also limited to the same level without a chance to explore new and bigger ideas.
- Handling high stress: When not knowing everything isCdifficult for a leader to accept they are constantly trying to keep up with being an expert can be both exhausting and high stress for the leader. This stress may show up in missed timelines, health issues and overall performance.
- Shoot down ideas: Leaders who want to appear as experts often shoot down or belittle other peoples ideas if they feel threatened. This impacts the morale and limits creativity in the team.
- Stops people from trying new things: Leaders who pretend they know it all often make thier teams feel threatened . Teams of such leaders tend to play safe, avoid risks and not share ideas even if they are brilliant. This also suppresses the growth of talkent in the team.
How the best leaders approach not knowing:
- They are comfortable not being the expert: Strong leaders are secure in the understanding that they do not know everything and that it is okay not to know everything. The have healthy respect both for their own knowledge and that of others. They do not get threatened when they are not the smartest person in the room.
- They surround themselves with smarter people: In ancient times the kings often prided themselves in having the smartest, most skilled and most creative people on their courts. Smart leaders follow the same rule. They build teams of smart people and surround themselves with people they can learn from.
- They leverage the strengths of the team: Strong leaders empower their teams to use their intelligence and creativity and leverage the collective strengths of everyone’s brilliance.
- They foster an environment of learning and curiosity: Because they are open to learning from other, stong leaders foster an environment where people enjoy learning and asking questions.