The executive offices and boardrooms of the most successful companies are not full of people who know it all. They never were. Yet, in the age of the “strong leader” this stereotype has fooled us into thinking that the best leaders know exactly where they’re going and what they’re doing. Hesitation is seen as weakness, reflection as a lack of knowledge.
Inspirational quotes from business role models emphasise action over reflection. Early computing pioneer and US navy rear admiral Grace Hopper said “it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission” while Mark Zuckerberg uttered his “move fast and break things” while building Facebook.
The language we use around leadership also focuses on a decisive style. We say things like: the CEO had the courage to act, the chairwoman had the conviction to stand by her decisions, and the team showed the ability to drive results despite uncertainty.
But could doubt actually be a leadership superpower, especially in these uncertain times? Cambridge lecturer and author of Brilliant Doubt, Jenny Williams believes doubt isn’t something to overcome but something to harness as an essential leadership skill.
READ MORE
“There’s a quiet power to doubt that doesn’t fit into standard leadership models,” says Williams. Uncertainty makes better leaders and you can use it to develop deeper thinking within yourself and your team, she says.
Most CEOs inwardly doubt things as part of their decision-making process but they don’t tend to articulate it. Doubt may be seen as weakness and perhaps a trait to be managed, hidden or overcome.
“We’re living in an age of uncertainty, a crazy world with challenges that we’ve never encountered before, yet leaders think they need to know the answer to everything,” says Williams.
Powerful new technology means doubt may be an increasingly valuable skill for leaders and teams.
“The rules of play are changing; there’s a disruption technology in AI. We need to bring the intelligence of doubt to these uncharted waters where there’s so much uncertainty,” she adds.
“One of the qualities we have as humans is our ability to doubt. We can bring in that thinking in a way that AI cannot. From an ethical perspective, we need to bring doubt into our way of thinking. Otherwise we avoid the conversation: what’s the right thing to do about these systems and where does that expose us?
“As business leaders, there’s a need for philosophy and ethics and more of that quality of thinking but we’re not trained in that perspective. We haven’t given doubt a role in terms of leadership; we’re not skilled at using it. And, that premise of having all the answers? You can’t possibly have them as nobody has ever been here before.”
Losing our way
If you were walking aimlessly for hours in the mountains with your boss and colleagues, would you ask questions like ‘is it this way?’ and ‘are we lost?’, or would you stay silent and just keep following everyone else?
What would your boss’s likely answer be to such questions: ‘No, it’s this way.’ ‘My gut is telling me it’s this way.’ ‘Let’s stop to find our bearings.’ Or ‘I don’t know, what do you all think?’
What do each of these answers make you feel about your boss? Do you feel she or he should be absolutely certain at all times and, if they’re not, are they weak and lacking authority?
People who have the answers tend to get promoted but once you’re at a senior level, “what got you here won’t get you there”, says Williams.
“We should all be encouraged to doubt and to express our doubts. Doubt is not talked about as a leadership quality. What’s the possibility of it, the intelligence of doubt? How can I use it constructively?”
Other sectors like science and psychology use doubt well. Scientists are both curious and dubious and use experimentation to find the best possible answers. They don’t rush in without proof. Therapists require professional supervision from others so they have space to doubt and to reflect: ‘Am I doing my best for this client?’
“We don’t have the language to talk about doubt in a professional business context. If you can label it, you can explore it,” says Williams.
There are three types of professional doubt, according to Williams:
- self-doubt (internal dialogue about one’s abilities and value);
- situational doubt (a specific and tangible doubt that sits outside of a person, such as questioning data or relationship dynamics);
- systemic doubt (a more intangible doubt that arises from the values, behaviours and invisible architecture that shapes what is seen, said and done).
Too often we focus on only one kind of doubt. “Impostor syndrome has the best marketing campaign of all doubts because it’s built on a real pain point for all of us,” says Williams.
When you start a new job or an unfamiliar task, it triggers all kinds of emotions. “You’re feeling self-doubt because you haven’t done this before. It’s not a lack of capability.” But that’s sometimes what we feel.
When leaders learn to work with all kinds of doubt, instead of hiding it, they make wiser decisions, collaborate more effectively and navigate the unknown with increased clarity.
[ Most Irish companies say AI won’t hit their staff numbersOpens in new window ]
Instead of rushing to decide things, try role modelling doubt with your team, she says. “Let’s spend 15 mins doubting our thinking about this.” Label it and make it clear and specific. Think about how you can play with it in a light touch way.
“This is not a challenge approach where you’re forcing people to back-up and defend a decision. It’s more open where you’re saying let’s explore the doubts together. This opens up the conversation and using this technique we can get to a better place. It becomes a better decision as it allows more critical and creative thinking. That’s part of the intelligence of doubt.
“When you’re missing doubt, you’re missing creativity, risk mitigation and wisdom. There’s a real leadership intelligence in it when you can use it wisely.”
Don’t dither, though.
“If you’re too doubtful then, rather than exploring and taking action, you might procrastinate, overthink it. This is the inactive side of doubt. If you face it head-on then you can get to active doubt, that’s how we work with it constructively, actively and with purpose.”
Williams suggests three steps for cultivating doubt as a leader. First, reframe it as a leadership capability. Know that this is something that will help you get to better outcomes.
Second, locate where the doubt is coming from. It’s not always about you. It might be the situation, the system or a combination of the three types of doubt.
Third, analyse how you’re role modelling doubt to allow it to constructively and actively get to better outcomes. Start talking about your own doubts. Invest in giving people time to question and interrogate things before making decisions.
In this brave new world, the best leaders might be the actively doubtful ones.
Margaret E Ward is chief executive of Clear Eye, a leadership consultancy. margaret@cleareye.ie
