If anyone out there is perfect, please send me your name. I want to meet the first and only person on the planet that is perfect! I think it is fair to say that we can agree that ‘no one is perfect.’ Right? Why then as leaders do we have such a hard time admitting to our teams that we are not perfect???
The very basic building block of a functioning team in any organization is ‘trust.’ Trust that is powerful enough that we not only trust that people will do their jobs, but we also trust each other enough that we can be vulnerable to admit our weaknesses.
I once worked for a manager whose opening words of introduction to us were: “I don’t trust anyone, not even my spouse.” That was a jaw dropping moment for me. And, guess what, our business went down the toilet. We lost great people. We lost a massive amount of market share.
Since we agree that no one is perfect, why do we have such a hard time admitting that we ourselves are not perfect? Ego? Confidence? Competence? Fear? All of the aforementioned? Probably.
Solution? Start now. Admit when you are wrong. Admit what you are weak at.
I am terrible at attention to detail – I admit it and I surround myself with people that are great at it! They know my weaknesses and they are totally OK compensating for that weakness – That is what makes a great team!
Ask for help from those around you. Better still, hire people that are better at a certain area than you are. What you will discover is that you will actually be held in higher regard and that your team will be more functional, commit to more actions, and deliver better results.
