Leadership and the Importance of Understanding

And why knowing something is different from understanding it

Have you ever been in a Leadership role and frustrated that the team just doesn’t ‘get it’? Why don’t they understand what you wanted or what you said?

You told them what needed to happen, you explained it in detail, but your intent just wasn’t met.

So who is responsible for the failure? Well, the answer is simple: you are.

As a leader, you delegate the task, not the responsibility. You are responsible for making sure your team understands what they are doing.

However, there is a nuance to this discussion — you told them what you wanted right? You made it clear what you wanted to do?

Or did you?

If the task failed, or your expectations weren’t met, because you gave them information, not understanding. And once you pull the thread, you will see the two things are a world apart…

Information is everywhere. We have more information than we could consume in countless lifetimes at our fingertips. Things happen quickly, and it is hard to keep up.

This is true with our workplaces as well as our lives. Emails, phone calls, meetings, markets, clients, or management, all generating an overwhelming amount of stuff to know and action.

As saying goes, you can’t see the wood for the trees. The way to address this is to ensure that information is transformed into understanding.

In my mind, the fundamental difference is the following:

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