Being the smartest person in the room is not the job of a country manager.
Some leaders are genuinely right most of the time. Experienced, sharp, quick. And slowly, without anyone deciding it, the management team stops thinking out loud.
- Meetings go quiet. People wait to hear your view first.
- Bad news arrives late, when it is already big.
- Everyone nods in the room, and little changes outside it.
- The strongest managers drift, because they want their thinking used, not only their effort.
Lencioni describes how a team without trust avoids open debate, and a team that avoids debate never truly commits. I have seen that chain play out in leadership teams across the region.
What I try to do instead:
- Speak last. Hear every view around the table before giving mine.
- Say I was wrong, out loud, whenever it is true.
- Ask who sees it differently, and mean the question.
- Thank the person who disagreed, even when the decision stays the same.
None of this means giving up the decision. It means making it with everything the team knows, not only what I know.
“A team that never disagrees with you has stopped telling you everything.”
Lesson 5 of 15 in Step 7: Leading the leadership team, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.