thoughtglue

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The “Ask the Experts” column in the latest (May 2007) issue of the Australian Institute of Management magazine Management Today contains a reader question as follows:

I’ve got some very knowledgeable people working under me, and frankly, it’s hard managing them.

I don’t know about you, but this strikes me as the wrong question to ask. It sounds to me like the person asking the question feels threatened by the “knowledgeable people” and wants to know how to control them better. What the question should have been is:

I’ve got some very knowledgeable people working under me. How can I be a better leader to them?

There’s a big difference between management (getting the boxes ticked and delivering “outcomes”) and leadership (inspiring people and openly encouraging them to accompany you on your journey).

Taking a management approach that uses containment as a way of controlling knowledge workers is absolutely the wrong way of doing things. It’s very top-down. Very command and control. This approach fails to understand modern knowledge management and knowledge workers and the success that can be achieved when leadership rather than management is the norm.

Containment of smart, knowledgeable people is a sure path to silos and lack of true knowledge in your business. What good leaders in businesses where knowledge is core need to do is collaborate, share and encourage in an open environment that fosters creativity and innovation.