As a manager, there is a sense of security when you surround yourself with like-minded people, people who have the same vision as you do in regards to the growth of the company. This is important as you want to make sure the people who work for you are aligned with the same goals in mind and not working towards a different finish line. Where management often falters is when those who you trust to give you a fair assessment are simply “yes” people. They tell you what you want to hear. They have doubts about potential action steps, but do not express them for fear of losing their place in your trusted circle or being perceived as being argumentative. The problem with this is it often times stunts growth or creates a negative result which could have been prevented if concerns were voiced earlier.
Instead, when you surround yourself with people who have the same vision but different ideas on how to get there, you allow yourself to see ideas and other information at new angles. This may seem conflicting, as you may not want to have ideas questioned or cause dissention. But here’s why it’s important: Growth. You have to put the growth of the company over your own ego. When you are surrounded by a team who only tell you how great you are and how your ideas are brilliant, you are not opening yourself up to get ahead of problematic situations. Trust the people who challenge you to look at an idea from the eyes of an employee/vendor/customer. Trust the people who have the difficult role of playing “devil’s advocate” because those people know there may be a real chance they could lose good standing in your eyes, but they do it anyway because they have the heart of the company in mind. Trust the people with whom you can have a healthy discourse and always make you feel more knowledgeable at the end of those conversations. By allowing this, it allows the company and you to grow in ways that may have not been achieved otherwise.
When we hire key members of our team based on knowledge and experience, we do it because there is an expectation of taking our companies to the next level. Their ideas and experiences on what worked and what didn’t work means nothing if they don’t feel they can express an opinion if it differs from yours. Do you offer a safe space of healthy discussion with varying opinions? Do you ask the team who supports you to give their own perspective to ideas you may present and really think about those opinions, or do you dismiss them because they’re not yours? The thing about great leaders is they are always learning from others. To those whom they mentor, they learn from as well. I am not saying do away with those who throw rose petals at your feet, we certainly still need to feel encouraged, but make your “circle of trust” more diverse. Again, the end goals should always be aligned, even if those goals become transformative as new information is brought in. Utilizing the strengths and diversity of your leadership team to get closer to your goals- that’s something to which everyone can definitely say a resounding “yes”!
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