{"id":13037,"date":"2020-02-10T01:39:44","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T01:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/948294437a.nxcli.io\/?p=13037"},"modified":"2020-02-10T01:39:44","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T01:39:44","slug":"does-being-an-expert-make-you-a-better-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/2020\/02\/10\/does-being-an-expert-make-you-a-better-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Being an Expert Make You a Better Leader?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What does expertise have to do with leadership?<\/h2>\n

We know that being expert does not make you a leader. And being a leader does not make you an expert. Yet there is generally a presumption of expertise we associate with highly-competent leaders.<\/p>\n

When leaders are selected it is typically based on at least some assessment of their expertise. We expect out leaders to be experts. Would we want a military leader who had no real knowledge of battlefield strategy? Or a manager of a sports team that didn’t know how to play the game? Some level of expertise seems to be a given in terms of basic competencies of a leader. But things are not always as they seem.<\/p>\n

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an expert as “one with the special skill or knowledge representing mastery of a particular subject.” Leaders must have comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in leading others to accomplish whatever it is that the organization’s aims or needs determine. This also requires that an effective leader has a deep understanding of how things are accomplished, which would fall into the definition of what an expert is.<\/p>\n

But leaders also need to have a deep understanding of “why” things must be done. Their responsibility is to accomplishing the things that matter most. This is what distinguishes leaders from experts. Leadership involves creating both meaning and understanding that serves to inspire others to perform to whatever level is necessary to make whatever it is that must be accomplished possible.<\/p>\n

“Experts are those who make things possible, but leaders make things necessary.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To be a competent leader, you must have the requisite competencies: the knowledge, skill and experience or credentials necessary to perform effectively in accomplishing you tasks. You might also benefit from some natural talent that might accelerate the pace of your learning, developing and achievements. In this regard a good leader should demonstrate a level of understanding that may rise to the level that would be considered to be expertise.<\/p>\n

The problem is that having the requisite competencies does not make you a competent leader. Competencies are necessary but not sufficient. You must be able to apply your competencies and accomplish that what is necessary. Raw ability, in the absence of meaningful accomplishment is essentially worthless.<\/p>\n

“Leadership is the force that converts the effort necessary to do something into results that are significant and meaningful: leadership is a force-multiplier of expertise.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Just because experts can be leaders doesn’t mean leaders must be experts.<\/h3>\n

We often here of people being a “leading expert” in their field. This means that their insight has influence over the thinking of others. It is not the quality of what they know – but a measure of their influence that makes them a leader.<\/p>\n

“Expertise always exists in some form of context. Expertise is not fungible. You cannot expect a financial expert to do what an expert surgeon does – or visa-versa. But leadership is fungible, or at least portable.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

An exceptional leader can develop a sufficient understanding of how surgery works to influence how surgeons perform – without being a surgeon herself. The medical director at many “leading” hospitals are not surgeons – but employ the best surgeons in the world. And a world-class surgeon who has pioneered procedures that hundreds of others surgeons perform – may well have the competencies to effectively lead a team of competent financial analysts.<\/p>\n

The qualities of leadership transcend what it takes to be an expert. <\/strong><\/p>\n

It is a Mistake for a Leader to Assume the Role of an Expert<\/h3>\n

Leadership is a collection of qualities that a leader might or might not have. A leader is someone who performs a role in an organization or in some situation. In-and-of itself it is not a qualitative assessment of your competencies. You can be highly effective or completely ineffective.<\/p>\n

“How well you perform in your role matters, but does not define your role.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Being an expert is also a role. Back again to Merriam-Webster, a role is “a function or part performed especially in a particular operation or process.” Every field has its experts. There are expert brick-layers, expert chess players, expert marksman and even expert witnesses. Experts often make great consultants and teachers. I am often considered to be a “leadership expert.”<\/p>\n

The problem with expertise is that it is useless unless it is effectively applied to something that is measurably valuable. Dr. Lee Thayer would remind me that “you cannot confer a benefit on an unwilling (or incapable) person.” Whatever expertise anyone has to offer must be relevant and functional to whomever is the beneficiary or your expertise. The old adage is that you cannot teach accounting to a cat.<\/p>\n

Expertise is most valuable to people who seek it out. People in general cannot be effectively managed. Most people do not respond well to being told what to do – and tend to perform best when they figure out for themselves what to do. This is how highly effective leaders cultivate exceptional performance.<\/p>\n

Exceptional leadership is a function of unassumed expertise. It involves being an expert at asking questions rather than providing answers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Expert leadership amounts to offering guidance that allows and encourages others to become experts in whatever they <\/em>must do – rather than relying on the expertise (or supervision of their leader. This is how competent leaders empower their people to be high-performers and mediocre leaders tend to be enablers of incompetence and dysfunction. Exceptional leaders don’t force their expertise onto others, they attract people who are hungry to learn what they believe they can learn from their leaders.<\/p>\n

Rather than playing the role of an expert, highly competent leaders are exemplars of what learning and what exceptional performance looks like. They make themselves into experts in whatever it takes to make their organizations and their people into experts. This is how the best leaders attract and the best people and help them develop their full-potential. As Goethe famously suggested, they \u201ctreat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become what they are capable of being.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just like leadership, attaining expertise in anything worthwhile is a journey. It is not about how much you know – but how much you are capable of learning. If you want to be an exceptional leader you should focus on becoming an expert at these two things: asking questions and preserving insatiable curiosity.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What does expertise have to do with leadership? We know that being expert does not make you a leader. And being a leader does not make you an expert. Yet there is generally a presumption of expertise we associate with highly-competent leaders. When leaders are selected it is typically based on at least some assessment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leadership-matters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13037"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13039,"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13037\/revisions\/13039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}