I took a new role about 3 months ago, so for the next few weeks I want to explore things I’ve learned from that experience.  We will start with being new and embracing humility.

I was competent in my last role.  I knew what was going on.  I knew how to solve problems.  I knew who to reach out to for different things.  I felt awesome about myself.  Then, I started my new role and all of that was gone over night.  I had tasks I didn’t know how to do, surrounded by people I didn’t quite know, and had a major knowledge gap in certain areas (technology 😉).  It’s jarring to go from being competent to being incompetent overnight.  Have you ever felt this way? 

No one likes feeling incompetent, and the temptation is to try to hide that from the world.  I’ve found the best thing to do is to embrace humility and be willing to own the fact that I’m new and don’t exactly know what I’m doing.  I had conversations that went like this, “Hey boss, I’ve never done this task before and have no idea what the expectations are and what I’m supposed to do.  I’m D1 (situational leadership).  If you don’t explicitly tell me to do something I won’t know what to do.  Can you spell this out for me?”  I’d also have situations, especially when talking with the Tech@Lilly team where I’d say, “I need to stop you for a moment.  I need to summarize to make sure I’m following.  I think you’re saying X.  Is that right?”  Sometimes I was correct, and sometimes I was off in another galaxy. 

What does this have to do with anything?  While it may have felt awkward and a little intimidating to be vulnerable about my incompetence, embracing humility and having these conversations ensured I was learning what I needed to learn in order to perform at my best.  Additionally, I think my colleagues appreciated the vulnerability and clarity, so they knew how to help me.  Think about the people you work with.  Would you want them to be open about where they need help or would you rather them try to bluff their way through it?  I’m assuming you’d want them to be honest, which should give us all encouragement to be open about where we are with a given task.  Finally, if I want to be a good leader, then being open about what I don’t know and where I’m less skilled sets the stage that it’s okay to be open and vulnerable, which are two traits of a great culture.   

The challenge: Will you be brave enough to embrace humility?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry