Senior Managers did not get to be Senior Managers by being stupid… okay, there are a few exceptions to the rule but they really are exceptions. Senior Managers are technically competent, they bring a lot of expertise and awareness to their roles. All things being equal, however, technical competence does not separate the good from the great - or the quick from the dead!

Relationships are key. Great Senior Managers are differentiated not by what they know, but by how they act. They do not constrain their capable people, take them for granted, or expect the impossible.

But they do challenge, release, enable. At times like these we need clarity of thinking, great decisions and excellent implementation. Great Managers realise the onus is not on them to provide these themselves, but to release them in others.

I remember an excellent Sales Director I worked with. We worked hard to produce a proposal for him that we really thought was the best way forward. He made us go back and trim something off it and we thought we were doing the impossible! But, as we worked at it we found ways to address his concerns. He had got us thinking ’til our brains hurt - and he was right to do so.

What is the value of sharp thinking to your organisation right now? What impact will it have if you can have some “breakthrough” ideas? How can you enable innovation? Your ability to enable your team “to bring their brains to work”, to fully engage the challenges and opportunities facing you, will have far more impact than your personal expertise alone. Peter Drucker once said, however:

“Half the leaders I have met don’t need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop”.

We often have behaviours that get in the way - we may be very competitive and hold others back, we may need to add our ideas and imprint to things and stifle objectivity, we may undermine others by our remarks, we may come across as negative - the list goes on. Do you understand the flaws that you have that can hold others back?

At Caret we see sharp thinking, new radical ideas, issues linking together, problems solved every day in our privileged role as organisational consultants. We also see many barriers to effectiveness, but we are convinced the talent, the ideas, and the need to succeed are there - go out and tap into it!

As my wife and I were buying a set of kitchen knives yesterday, I discovered something I had never realised before. In a quiet but authoritative voice, the woman behind the counter said, ‘You have to sharpen your knives after the first three uses and frequently thereafter’. Interesting advice, I thought,

I asked what made her suggestion important. And, her response? If you don’t sharpen your knives in the manner suggested, they are likely to lose their edge and require regrinding to retain them

This brief encounter had me thinking of kitchen knives (tools) as a metaphor for the unique strengths and talents each of us brings to the challenges, and opportunities we face every day. We really do owe it to ourselves, colleagues, and our employing organisations to keep on working on ourselves.

Unfortunately, as author Dave Anderson observes, “The leaders of successful organisations often think they’ve got it all figured out. So they continue to work hard on their jobs but stop working on themselves. They use their experience and track records as license to never read another book or attend another course in their field”.

Even if Dave Anderson’s observation is not an accurate description of your attitude and actual behaviour, could you benefit from sharpening your knives (unique strengths and talents) more intentionally?