Not everybody needs a hero
Hi friends – apologies that its been a while, I’ve been attending the Communities of Practice Summit held by Beverley and Etienne Wenger-Trayner at the Social Learning Lab in Portugal, and also recovering from the particularly unwelcome round of food poisoning I picked up on the way home. The summit was fantastic – I met some wonderful people and we had some genuinely meaningful discussions about the present and future of Communities of Practice. Its had a big impact on me and I’ll be writing about some of what I learned there over the coming weeks.
Today though, I’m going to be talking about a different subject that’s very close to my heart. I am lucky enough to be someone that people thinking about starting a community come to looking for encouragement, reassurance, or even to be told their concerns are valid and that they shouldn’t do it (that’s rarely the case but still – sometimes people come looking for someone to tell them they’re wrong). One of the main reasons people have for feeling like they shouldn’t be the ones to start a new Community of Practice is ‘I’m not an expert – there are so many people better at it than me’. Personally I love it when someone says this to me, as in the back of my mind I immediately think ‘oh we’re going to have so much fun together doing this’.
I think there are two similar but separate reasons why people feel there is a need to be an expert in order to lead a Community of Practice, and they’ve become conflated in our minds. The first is the subconscious and antiquated concept that seniority (and therefore leadership) is the result of technical competency – I was promoted to the role of Manager because I am better at task A than anyone else, therefore if there are others better at it than me then I do not deserve to be a leader. The second is due to imposter syndrome – the feeling that I don’t deserve to be where I am and its only a matter of time until I get found out and slapped back down to where I belong. Whilst the root causes of these feelings are different, the symptoms they lead to is the same – a feeling that we lack the skills and expertise to be a leader.
I’m sure many of us can empathise with this. I certainly can. Secret time - in the very first software testing community that I set up I tried to keep it hidden from other departments around the company I worked for, because I ‘knew’ I was the most capable tester in my team (obviously I must have been – that’s why I got promoted right?), and didn’t want to be found out and shown up by other more capable practitioners. When I say it like that it sounds a bit selfish doesn’t it?
Of course this is a natural manifestation of our own insecurities. No one wants to be embarrassed in front of their peer group or willingly chooses to have their limitations laid bare for all to see. By stepping forward into a leadership position we are inherently making ourselves vulnerable, and like all good leaders we seek a support network around us to help us manage that vulnerability. I’d like to think that this is the reason those who are come to me worrying they aren’t an expert; that they’re looking for validation that they can do it.
And this is what I tell them…
You do not need to be an expert in your particular domain to lead a Community of Practice. In fact, if you are THE expert in your particular domain, I would actually argue that your talents may be better suited to other roles among the community. You are not a Manager and you are certainly not a Teacher – you are a Leader. Your job is to lead. You are a Facilitator, you job is to facilitate. You are an advocate, your job is to advocate.
I DO believe that a good leader has to have an understanding, level of competency and a general level of capability in the subject of their community. It’s important that we can empathise with those in our communities, and we can’t do that effectively without an understanding and appreciation of what its like to work within that domain space. Remember – a Community of Practice is for those who share a Domain, are Practicing within it and seeking a Community – we cannot lead effectively if we don’t also share those three traits.
What makes for a successful leader is their ability to understand and appreciate the demands of their domain, not their mastery of it. Below are some examples of how this might look to you and me…
Knowledge of the market – if your community is focussed around a particular role, then what are the wider business needs that are placed upon it? Are your company’s competitors using that role in the same way and where do you stack up against them? What are the best practitioners in the field doing that you are not and can learn from? What does the future look like for the role? If the community is based around a particular tool or technology, how widely is it adopted? What’s the next technology coming over the horizon?
Qualifications – certifications and qualifications do not directly equate to capability and expertise. Secret time – I know people that have a degree in computer science who I’m privately amazed are able to dress themselves in the morning. One of the many roles of a Community of Practice is to provide access to meaningful learning opportunities, progression and guidance, so a leader should have an understanding and appreciation of the value of certifications and accreditations that they do and don’t have in order to effectively offer that guidance.
Hands on usage – whilst in my heart I will always be a software tester, it’s been too long since I’ve had the opportunity to properly test something in anger. I lack the familiarity with what the reality of being a software tester is like today to effectively lead a community of practitioners. I would find it hard to empathise with what it means to be a surgeon in a hospital and I cannot appreciate the demands on hydroponic vertical farmers having never done any of those things. The best leaders get their hands dirty and practice with their community, not lead from afar
Broader network – without outside intervention the ultimate growth and capability of any community is finite – if we don’t learn new things we eventually run out of opportunity to grow. So who should the community be listening to beyond the Community of Practice? Who is an expert and where can I hear more from them? Which conferences or industry events are meaningful and which are just opportunities to pick up some branded pens? Who’s selling gold and who’s selling snake oil?
The last thing that I tell people is that I believe every good leader questions themselves – its their superpower. It’s an openness to the idea that they could be wrong, that someone else may know better than them and to welcome that which makes them strong. Those who are prepared to question their own beliefs and to listen to others build more inclusive communities where diverse voices and opinions can be heard, and they pivot more readily when the time is right. That’s why I know we’re going to have fun together when someone tells me they aren’t an expert – it’s a sign that a new and successful community is about to be born 😊