Giving and Taking

After about one year as a manager, chances are someone on our staff will know more about a specific subject than we do - if not from our first day as a manager. Even if we come up through the ranks, the rapid pace of technological change means that others will acquire new knowledge while we are wrestling with our management responsibilities. This is not only inevitable, it is productive. Managing involves pooling various talents and resources to achieve progress towards organizational and personal goals.

Learning how to refrain from always giving advice and how to take advice from our subordinates occasionally can be challenging to our egos.

• Listen with intent. When a staff member is offering their opinion or relating past experiences, mentally bit your tongue and direct your attention to the core of what they are saying. Glean ideas and approaches from their contributions.
• Acknowledge the source. When you use even a part of someone's idea to develop a strategy or action plan, generously cite their role in developing the concepts. A phrase such as, "With the help of Joan's suggestion..." creates an environment in which others will also contribute.
• Ask for advice. Hardest of all is to swallow our insecure managerial egos and genuinely seek advice from staff members. This goes beyond assigning work to a specialist - this means sitting in a quiet location to lay out an issue and ask for advice within the knowledge area of the staff member. Key to success is retaining for yourself the responsibility for solving the problem while conveying the worth of the staff member's expert advice.