This was the view expressed by my youngest grandson, then seven years old, when discussing the merits of attending school. His eight year old cousin, perhaps, buoyed up by greater life experience, took a more practical position, on the matter. He often opined, particularly, at 8.30 am, on school days that, “I don’t, really, need to go to school: I know everything, already”. Their remarks supported the long held view, within the family, that these young gentlemen were not junior school students at all. They were, in fact, 50 year old midgets, with Philosophy Doctorates.
The proposition, ‘I know everything except what I don’t know’ ought to be acknowledged, more often, within the management community. It would prevent some misguided managers believing that, because they have acquired the job title ‘manager’, their knowledge and experience must take precedence over that of their team members, in any situation.
Enlightened managers accept that they, just, can’t know everything. This acceptance, greatly, influences how they manage, when:
Hiring Staff When recruiting new members of the team, a key aim is to complement and extend the team’s knowledge, skills and experience capacity. This, sometimes, means that managers must hire people, who have greater technical ability than themselves. Managers should not feel threatened, in this circumstance. Recruiting talented people can, substantially, elevate the team’s performance, as a whole, and is a positive indicator of good team leadership.
Staff Training Managers have the option of delegating particular areas of staff training to members of the team, who have specialist knowledge of the subject(s) needing to be taught.
Structuring Project Teams Members of project teams can be selected, from the overall team, on the basis of their ability to contribute specialist knowledge to the successful achievement of project objectives. Although not always appropriate, there is often merit in appointing such a specialist as project team leader.
Problem-solving and Decision-making A team member, who the manager considers has the best knowledge relevant to a particular problem, can be delegated to review the known data and make the best decisions to resolve the problem. This may be delegated as an individual task or as the leader of a problem-solving project team.
Mentoring and Coaching People, identified as having the appropriate skills and experience of human relations and training, can be assigned to mentor and coach younger or less experienced members of the team.
Counselling Although remaining, essentially, a managerial responsibility, counselling team members on certain issues, may be better achieved by team members, who have particular experience of the issue that needs to be resolved. Alternatively, the delegated counsellor may enjoy a relationship with the person, needing counselling, which better supports a positive outcome.
Identifying, acknowledging and utilizing all the knowledge and experience resources, available within the team, are essential components of an open, involving and enabling management style.
‘Knowledge comes but wisdom lingers’
Locksley Hall (1842): Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)
This thesis contributed to the DNA of the following Training Package:
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