Why the best leaders learn not to have all the answers

There is a deeply rooted belief in most organisations: the leader should know. Know where we are going, know how to get there, know what applies when things are unclear. And on the surface this seems reasonable. We want leaders we can trust.

But there is a downside. When the leader must always have the answer, employees stop thinking for themselves. Questions escalate upward instead of being resolved where they arise. And the leader, who cannot possibly know everything, begins to guess. But with a tone that sounds like wisdom.

The best leaders share one quality: they are genuinely curious. They ask questions they do not know the answer to. They say "I don't know. What do you think?" and mean it. They create space for others to think out loud and they actually listen when they do.

This is adaptive leadership in practice. Not abdicating from responsibility but understanding which problems have known solutions and which require exploration. Ronald Heifetz, who coined the concept, calls it the difference between technical problems and adaptive challenges.

Technical problems can be solved with existing knowledge. Adaptive challenges require people to change their perspectives, values or behaviours. No leader can do that for their employees, only create the conditions for it.

In practice, adaptive leadership means three things: distinguishing what type of problem you are facing, staying with the uncertainty long enough for a real solution to emerge, and distributing leadership, involving those whose lives are affected by the change in solving it.

It is uncomfortable. It requires a secure ego and a high tolerance for ambiguity. But it is exactly what complex organisations in a changing world need.