Dr. T.P. Hall was a part time teacher in my Executive MBA program. Retired from the Georgia State School of Business, T.P. (as he asked us to call him) was every inch the seasoned old man who clearly loved to share his accumulated wisdom. One afternoon, he abandoned his Power Point presentation and spoke to us directly.
And I will always remember his words of advice:
“Cultivate your ignorance”
What T.P. was telling us was that we did not have to understand every detail of our subordinate’s jobs. As growing executives our jobs were not to replace them, it was to manage and lead them.
Having come up through the ranks of my organization, I needed to hear and to listen to this advice. I was supervising staffers who were doing jobs I used to do. In most cases, I felt I was able to jump in and show them how to do their jobs “right”.
That afternoon, T.P. changed the way I now think about being a manager and leader. He taught me that being a leader is not constantly jumping in with the employees to work alongside them. I had trained them and they knew how to do the job. My job was to hold them accountable and to clear barriers, to create an environment in which they could do their best work. Jumping in simply kept me from doing the job my boss needed from me.
I call this jumping back “Wake Work”. If the leader is driving the boat forward, leaping into the boat’s wake means no one is in the drivers’ seat. Forward progress is checked, and things will soon start to drift. The higher level the leader, the bigger the drift.
In start-up companies, the leader doing Wake Work can inhibit the growth of the company. The founder is used to doing every function of the business. As it grows, the founder is less and less able to “do it all”, but still often tries and is unable to concentrate on the job of growing the business.
An enterprise can only grow if the founder can delegate others to work in the Wake or find someone else to drive the boat. The owner of a restaurant can hire a business developer while she remains the head chef. The founder of an IT company can hire someone to manage the business while he builds the relationships that lead to new clients.
Wake Work is an easy trap for a new leader, especially for those who are used to doing all the jobs. That goes double for perfectionists. New managers and leaders must learn to let go of unnecessary details and concentrate on driving their boats. It is important for experienced leaders to coach others to stay in the boat, and not jump into the wake.
“Cultivate your ignorance.” It is the only way to really lead.
Thanks, T.P.
Bryan G. Stephens is an executive on a mission to transform the workplace. He is the founder and CEO of TalkForward, a consulting and training company, utilizing Bryan’s clinical and management expertise to develop managers and teams in a corporate environment. As a licensed therapist with strong understanding of developing human potential, he is dedicated to the development of Human Capital to meet the needs of leaders, managers, and employees in the 21st Century workplace.
Bryan has an Executive MBA from Kennesaw State University, Coles School of Business, and both a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Psychology.
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