UPLIFT: April 07, 2022
Professional Conundrum
Question: Should I look for a new role/ job, if I feel I am more competent that my reporting manager?
Question: Should I look for a new role/ job, if I feel I am more competent that my reporting manager?
There are times when we feel that we are more capable than our reporting manager. The thought that if I were in their shoes, I would do X, Y Z things better and faster crosses our mind. Having this thought about a specific aspect or occasionally is not unnatural, but living with this feeling consistently is a sure shot way of sabotaging your peace of mind and career.
It’s important to understand four fundamental aspects about the professional sphere.
1. Seniority in a role is not always a function of brightness, but equally of experience (both diversity & number of years) and opportunities (i.e. being at the right place at the right time)
The seed of the tallest tree also needs to bide its time before it can reach its potential, there are no shortcuts to it. We need to accept this reality of the corporate world, that the smartest person may not always be the one heading the team, for there could be other considerations of context & experience at play.
Does this mean that smartest person should quit the team? Not really.
All this means is that it increases the odds of you shining through for the head of the team/ group’s role is to get the job done, and a significant part of this involves giving more opportunities to smart people who are willing to put the team first.
2. How we define smartness is often subjective
We often have a bias of defining smartness by benchmarking the other person against our strengths, and not the other way around. For instance, your reporting manager maybe great with organizational or numeracy skills, but may not be an effective communicator.
Just by virtue of their title or designation, your reporting manager may not be better at everything than you. That’s akin to a frog looking at a cheetah and wondering I am better than him because I can also breath underwater, or an elephant discounting an ant for sheer size when maybe the ant bring greater organizational skills to the table. There could be things you are much better at, and there could be things that he/ she brings to the table that you don’t, and in that sense it is a complementary relationship.
By focusing on how you and your reporting manager can complement each other you can have a much more fulfilling and peaceful time at work, than comparing yourself with your reporting manager on specific skills alone.
3. We overvalue learning from our reporting manager, and undervalue learning that happens through our peer network
In most organizations, irrespective of your role, a majority of skills and learning come from working with your peer group rather than your immediate manager. The immediate manager’s role is to ensure you get the requisite opportunities and resources to do your role effectively. This is similar to what we experience in school or college, where how much we get influenced by our friends and colleagues outweighs what we learn from the professors.
4. Sometimes we don’t always know of the context and constraints our seniors work with
All of us have an opinion about how the country should be run, or how the cricket team can be more effective. We are all experts at being arm chair captains, for it comes with zero accountability and even lesser context.
Sometimes when judging the effectiveness of our leaders, it is important to remember that the same things that appear a no brainer from a distance can become difficult to execute when we get to know of the hidden context, and the weight of our decision’s consequences reside on us. Context is always king!!
The decision to stay invested in an organization should be determined by a host of factors, including the opportunities you get (to grow), whether you are fairly compensated, and most importantly how you are treated. If we look at the bigger picture, it doesn’t matter if your reporting manager is smarter than you or not.
PERSPECTIVE
“Sometimes we aren’t happy with the results we are achieve.
So we double down and put in more effort, build greater motivation, but it starts to fall apart when the results don’t come.
Achieving different results requires a different approach, not just more effort.”
Point to Ponder
In what ways can you complement your reporting manager’s skillset, and leverage it to establish you niche at the workplace?
