A633.4.4.RB Should the Boss always know the answers_PsimerAndrea

 Unreasonable Expectations

            People expect bosses to always have the answers.  If there is any expectation of a boss, having the answers is at the top of the list.  The title of “boss” implies a level of experience, technical knowledge, work ethic or skillset superior to subordinates.  A boss has earned trust inherently through their designated responsibilities of being in-charge. 

            Expecting bosses to have all the answers is unreasonable.  A shared responsibility of having answers is imperative at all levels of a team, organization or company.  With that, bosses have a responsibility to acknowledge their shortfalls and confidently rely upon employees, peers, colleagues, stakeholders and investors to problem solve lead decision-making.

            As Linsky states in TEDX Talks (2011), adaptative leadership requires unexpected actions, behaviors and decisions in some circumstances.  Expected behaviors insinuates not only do bosses have answers, but team members could have solved the problem without a boss.  Displaying unexpected behaviors exemplifies a boss has undergone a decision-making process and perhaps a risk assessment.   

In Charge and Out of Answers

            I have led in many situations, while not knowing the answers.  More times than not, I have been a boss without answers.  Especially when I first entered the military I was stationed at Headquarters in Washington, DC.  At that time, I was the only Ensign at Headquarters.  I had one Petty Officer First Class in my rating chain as a supervisor.  Having been in the military all of a few weeks, I knew very little about the organization, my particular assignment or leading Petty Officers.  While I was a strong leader and had distinguished traits of a good boss, there was no hiding or denying the lack of knowledge I possessed.  This duty station was not unique.  Following a brief stint in Washington, DC, I reported aboard a 210’ ship in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

            Despite my recent arrival, I was designated as the Supply Officer, a role reserved for a second-year junior officer.  In addition to learning many other roles and under intense pressure to qualify in several positions aboard the ship in a short amount of time, I was the boss to the supply department.  Our supply team managed the ship’s $300,00 budget, coordinated logistics, oversaw the health services and administration specialists.  Without any financial training my department precisely executed the fiscal year budget.

            Having completed 14 deployments in Command Cadre positions, there is an immense amount of information to know and continuous learning is a large part of being an officer.  

Leading Without Knowing

            Leading is not about knowing answers.  Foremost, adaptive leadership is about trust.  Personally, trusting myself to know when to ask for help and rely upon humility to seek answers allows me to be a boss without all the answers.  Embracing “don’t have a clue” was key to leading a group who were true subject matter experts.  Additionally, the key to leading without answers during my time onboard five ships and one Commanding Officer of Military Personnel assignment was capitalizing on the answers I did have and sharing those among my teams; after all I was their boss for a reason. 

The tenet that guided me to be a lead in times of uncertainty was curiosity.

According to Kidd & Hayden (2015), “Philosopher and psychologist William James (1899) called curiosity “the impulse towards better cognition,” meaning that it is the desire to understand what you know that you do not.”  Curiosity drove me to learn more information and therefore have more answers.  Another tenet of leading without a clue was reciting, rehearsing or regurgitating answers others had given me.  For me, to be able to show people I had learned from them is an invaluable gift. 

In addition to the management quick tips (How to lead when you're not the boss, Harvard Business School, 2009), I offer these tips for effective adaptive leadership without a roadmap:

            1) Establish small goals.  Do not over pressurize goals.  Goals can be fun and flexible.

            2) Think outside of the box.  Systematic thinking lays breadcrumbs to expected expectations.

            3) Learn from other people’s experience.

            4) Engage with creativity.  When not the boss, that person still has to earn trust and credibility.  Be real, meet people where they are.

            5)  Receive feedback. It is great to provide feedback, but even better to receive feedback and constructive criticism. 

 

Kidd, C., & Hayden, B. Y. (2015). The Psychology and Neuroscience of Curiosity. Neuron,

 

            88(3), 449–460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2015.09.010

TEDx Talks. (2011, April 13). TEDXStCharles - Marty Linsky - Adaptive Leadership-Leading            Change [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af-cSvnEExM

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