Yes, I was that student. The one who REALLY liked to have all the answers. And when I’m not careful, I let that mindset dominate my management style too. I love being the source of knowledge. The one about whom people say, “Let’s ask Karman. She’ll know!” (Ego swoon!)
And yet, I’ve more recently come to realize that my value isn’t in what I know. It’s in what I can help people discover on their own.
In the book “Chief Optimization Officer,” authors Scott Burgmeyer and Tammy Rogers call this the shift from GIVING good answers to ASKING powerful questions.
For example, a few years ago I was asked to help a particular department get a project back on schedule. My first inclination was to walk into the meeting with them and outline a set of proven go-to strategies for getting on track. (I was going to look so smart!)
Then I stopped myself and thought about how off-putting it was going to be to have a know-it-all walk into the room and admonish them for missing deadlines. So I rethought the meeting approach and came in with questions. What were the advantages of being on-time? What had they tried? What worked? What didn’t? Starting with questions helped me learn about them and their situation, and we devised solutions together.
In this situation and others, when I ask questions instead of answering them, I:
-Learn something I didn’t know
-Build my teammates’ confidence
-Create partnership with my teammates because we’re figuring it out together
Next time you’re tempted to show off how much you know, I challenge you to instead show off how much you DON’T know.
Karman Hotchkiss
