We are in a room with other people and about to make a high-stake decision. Should I speak up or shut up? How do I decide? What helps to stay professional consistently?
It might look simple:
- In high-stake decisions I should only insist on my opinion if I have much higher expertise in the field
- In other cases, it is better to switch to a listening mode and trust in decisions of people, who have better expertise in the field
But what if there is no expert in the room? Or you cannot make a clear distinction? Or you think you have a good idea even without being an expert? Or all people around think they have good ideas and speak up because they can? What if a high-stake decision, which will affect your life, is about to be made in a chaotic discussion?
Let's consider an example. My son has never ridden a bicycle and asks me to teach him. After some assisted learning he is OK to cycle alone. Then he falls first time, cries, understands what didn't work as expected, corrects behaviour, cycles again - becoming better, one step closer to becoming an expert. But is he really one yet?
After first days on bicycle, is the child ready for a high-stake cycling competition? Is he ready to drive a car? It is has wheels, pedals, steering wheel - there should not be much of a difference. Is he ready to pilot a Formula 1 car? Pilot an airplane? Pilot a plane with 300 people on board? Pilot a passenger plane to a huge city, where, if he makes a mistake, thousands and thousands might die in a place where the airplane falls? Is he ready to a much more difficult version of the initial challenge?
Driven by gut feelings, blinded by previous successes, in a position of power we keep behaving like children after very first learnings: rejecting help, eager to pilot ourselves, make our own mistakes. We read 20-30 (highly credible?) articles, know some smart terms - ready to conquer the challenge! Any challenge?
First, I usually acknowledge where I am on a learning path from an amateur to a position with very little room for mistake. For the specific discussion, in which I am involved, specific area of knowledge and with specific people around.
Then, I try to look around, acknowledge that some of the people around have more rights to consider themselves experts in a subject we discuss. And some of them usually ARE experts in their fields, but not necessarily in the topic we discuss. So, identification of people, from whom I will seek advice in a specific field is the second step I am taking. Even if they are not absolute gurus in the field, but just know a bit more than I know. So, I have a "subject - expert_name - expert_level" database in my head by this point. And I am somewhere in the database myself.
What if there is no expert in a field around, I am not an expert myself, and we still need to make an important decision? Very common situation. I can do it myself or ask somebody else to do it. Agree?
First, let's consider if I do it myself. I already acknowledged my level of expertise in this field. Next, I analyse how I can learn more and where my limits are if I apply this new piece of knowledge. In a learning mode (e.g. sandbox environment) it is ok to have 20% probability of success, but this is absolutely not enough if we are talking about a high-stake decision (e.g. long-term strategy), which can determine future of my family (which depends on my career successes). So, I would never allow myself to make a high-stake decision knowing that I exceeded my limits too much (the risk is too high because I am not professional enough). If my limits are to drive a normal car, I should only drive a Formula one car in a safe environment under a guidance of an expert and be insured 150%. So, I only commit to the extent of my acknowledged limits and where the chance of success is adequate for the context.
Second, let's consider somebody else is doing it. If this person behaves like me, it is easy. But what if the person behaves without acknowledging her or his level of expertise, the limits? What can I do? This is probably a topic for another conversation in the area of coaching and communication.
In summary, being a professional for me is to know my limits, be ready to acknowledge them in a specific context of any situation and behave accordingly. In many cases good opportunities to lead grow from careful listening and thoughtful following. It not only helps to increase probability for success consistently, but also better plan my personal development. I should not be an expert in everything - for many areas I just need to be good enough to follow other professionals. But if I want to lead something, it makes sense to asses who will make decisions with me, where they stand and where should we improve to fill gaps, complement each other and get a common win.
Feel free to ping me if you know better ways. Take care!