Tell them you don’t know
In a BANI world, a VUCA world, with new technologies, permanent change, and post-truth. The situation we are experiencing leads us to reconsider everything we know about leadership. We extensively discuss remote leadership and leadership in times of crisis. As consultants, we receive daily inquiries, with varying levels of anxiety and concern, about what the future will hold, how to lead different generations, how to lead remotely, how to keep the team motivated, and even about the best way to face the fear and uncertainty felt by business owners, CEOs, and executives.
And it’s normal. While leadership can come from various positions, leadership is expected from those in positions of authority within a company. And if those who usually hold these positions are typically under pressure, even more so these days. Concrete, clear, and quick solutions to problems are often expected from them. Those in positions of authority are expected to know. Know what, know how, know when. In terms of Heifetz’s adaptive leadership, those in positions of authority are pressured to treat adaptive challenges as if they were technical. Responses and solutions are expected from them.
There are good reasons for this. We live in an era of great uncertainty, of permanent changes. Uncertainty scares us, and we are not very well trained to use fear as a guide. We prefer the more childish attitude of waiting for a “grown-up” to come and solve it for us. We don’t like uncertainty, so we ask the authority figure to tell us what will happen and how we will… or rather, how he or she will solve it, so we can feel safe again. The other reason is that there are people who have studied or learned solutions to problems that were adaptive at some other point in history but now have a known solution. An engineer, for example, can solve problems that centuries ago would have been faced with prayer. These are technical problems, with known solutions. Authority is expected to know these solutions… and while they’re at it, to know the solutions to new, unknown, adaptive challenges. Impossible, of course. But… if the person in authority doesn’t know, what do we do with the anguish?
What do I do? How do I take care of my people? What’s going to happen? How am I going to reorganize my team? These are some questions we often hear. What do I tell my people? One of the partners of an engineering company asked me about 15 days ago. The conversation was long, mainly because my answer was a “I don’t know,” followed by an invitation to think together. Interestingly, after talking for a while, we discovered some things: first, recognizing and validating fear helps. Fear is a guide if we accept it instead of trying to make it disappear. Second, expressing my inability to give an answer led him to recognize himself as part of the problem. Without knowing how to deal with the situation, if he knows that whatever the solution, it will require a change on his part. And then… why not do the same with your team? I shared with them that you are also scared. But -doesn’t that take me out of my position of authority? Do I lose credibility- he objected. “Did I as a consultant give you an answer? I don’t have one! We are experiencing a lot of unprecedented changes and novelties. And I told you I didn’t know. And that led you to think, to get involved.”
He did the same with his team, shared with them that he is scared. He told them he doesn’t know what’s coming or what to do. “Let’s think together. Share what’s happening to us. Let’s try. Let’s fail, and try again.”
Two weeks passed:
They don’t know how things will turn out. What will happen to the company. What their job will be like. How AI will impact them. Or what they need to do. But they know this: the team’s morale is high, they trust each other, not because the other knows, but because the other also shares their fear, they think together. And that is hope.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ezequielconesa/
