In today’s “information economy” people are often promoted to positions of leadership because of their technical knowledge or performance.
Once there, however, these newly-minted leaders are required to exercise human competence as well as technical ability. No longer is someone simply a machinist; she is a machinist supervising other machinists.
Where previously she had only to master technical duties like milling, grinding, and lathing, she now must establish effective channels of communication, resolve disputes, build culture, and master a host of other people-related skills.
Leadership is every bit as knowledge-based as any skilled trade or technical profession. Yet important as familiarity with organizational structures, systems and processes is, equally, if not more, critical is an understanding of how human beings act, react, and interact – a body of knowledge we have called the human knowledge base.
We all understand the role of knowledge in daily life. If the recipe says four hours at 250 degrees, we know we can’t cook the roast at 500 for two hours and expect tender meat.
We know that we cannot leave houseplants outside in December and expect them to live. We understand that we cannot violate the principles of a knowledge base without consequences, and we choose our actions accordingly.
Unfortunately, our expectations are very different when it comes to the human knowledge base.
Though it makes no more sense than putting a cake in the freezer and expecting it to come out piping hot, we undermine others but still expect to receive their support. We criticize subordinates but expect them to offer ideas and input. We stick to ourselves but expect others to communicate information to us.
In short, we treat others any way we see fit, and wonder why our systems are plagued with dysfunction.
A supervising nurse once stood up in one of our seminars and said that she always followed a clear body of knowledge in her medical duties because that was the only way to effectively treat and care for patients.
But, she said, when acting as a supervisor of other nurses, she realized that she didn’t base her behavior on knowledge at all. Instead, she based it on her mood, how much time she had, what kind of pressure she was under, or whether or not she liked the person with whom she was dealing.
“That’s a wake-up call,” she said with admirable honesty, “And not a good one.”
Unfortunately it’s also a wake-up call most of us need from time to time, pulling us back to the realization that only to the degree that our leadership choices reflect the principles of the human knowledge base will the systems we lead be able to reach their full potential.