As we climb the organizational ladder, it can be tempting to show your direct reports your subject matter expertise. After all, teams are highly engaged when their manager can do their job. For many first-time managers, it is important to have greater depth of experience or skill sets in a particular area than the junior you are hiring. The thinking goes that this lends credibility to the leader when they push the team in a certain direction and demonstrates that the boss “knows what they are talking about”.
It’s a fair point that leaders need a baseline understanding of the roles of their team members as well as a general ability to step in should the situation demand it. However, I’ve become increasingly convinced that subject matter mastery becomes less important next to an ability to see the bigger picture, “connect the dots” (as a former boss used to say) and stay well out of the weeds (and your team members business). The best leaders I’ve had the pleasure to work with chart a vision that will move the whole ship in the right direction, which is very different from one team member’s specific project. That’s a good principle, but day-to-day it can sometimes be tricky when considering how best to support that all-star team member, especially if they have deeper subject knowledge than you. Here are three things to consider when managing people who are smarter than you:
Treat them as partners, not your employees
The Muse has a great article outlining specifics for how to manage people who are smarter and better at their jobs than you are. In a nutshell – it involves being honest and respectful while also seeking to learn and understand their perspective. You should also get feedback as often as possible. In my mind, this all boils down to treating your team member as a partner rather than an employee. Sure, from time to time you might need to make the final call and pull rank in doing so – but approaching your relationship as an opportunity to learn from each other as opposed to a more top down approach is afar more conducive way to building a relationship and motivating a high performer to make everyone (including you) look good.
Focus on principles not practice
Smart, motivated people do not need to be micromanaged. Rather,most need to know the higher level principles that you are operating under as well as expectations you have for success. They also need your time. Just because they are rockstars doesn’t mean you should ignore them to focus on team members who are struggling. By investing your time and sharing your vision and principles (Ray Dalio has written a lot about the power of principles) along with the objectives you are trying to accomplish, you are setting them up for success.
Admit your weaknesses
Forbes has an article listing words of wisdom from some true company builders (Zuckerberg,Jobs and Ogilvy). The advice that stood out to me was sandwiched in the middle of their list – being vulnerable and acknowledging weakness. This can be tricky to do in many work cultures. But it can be powerful when you are leading high performers – particularly those who are aware enough to see how and when you screw up. By admitting your mistakes, owning them and opening yourself up to an examination of how you could do better, you are not only signaling integrity and self-reflection, but you are also undermining (potential future) criticism.After-all, a team is more likely to have the back of a vulnerable, self-aware boss than an arrogant egotist who won’t admit having done anything wrong. Humility will usually win in most team cultures. That’s why being mindful of your mistakes is a huge long-term asset and short term it can go a ways to building team respect.