The paradox of leaders’ relationship with doubt
This week Laura and I are launching our first study into organisational doubt – an idea that we believe could describe the collective process of holding space between unknown and certainty. We define collective doubt as an institutional capability to appreciate and benefit from reflection (as opposed to self-doubt that is oriented towards questioning oneself).
Across the data we collected, I was particularly struck by leaders’ relationship with doubt. Our interviews surfaced stories of leaders walking into cultures either extremely uncomfortable with anything but certainty (particularly campaigning organisations) or overwhelmed by indecision following multiple cycles of strategic “reinvention”.
New leaders were eager to help people participate in the decision-making process by transparency. Yet, these valid attempts often failed in a paradoxical way, leaving the leader thinking collective doubt is simply not worth it. It goes somewhat like this:
Leader X, with good intentions, opens up a consultation with staff on a decision she needs to make.
Staff enter the consultation knowing change is coming, so, as humans do, they start to look for certainty.
Leader X’s experience of staff input to the consultation is not what they anticipate. It is not a dispassionate analysis of the question, but rather a deluge of more questions, most unanswerable, often including a questioning of the process by which the consultation has been set up.
Leader X loses heart and tries to end the doubt by rushing through the consultation and (to all intents and purposes) dictating the outcome.
Staff feel aggrieved – they have not truly been consulted. Leader X feels aggrieved – their attempt to have ‘an adult conversation’ failed.
Sounds familiar? You are not alone. Most leaders we spoke to admitted holding the Doubt Load for their people. Survey results revealed that two-thirds of senior leaders reported having access to reflections and doubts about organisational decisions, compared to only 1 in 10 of non-managerial staff.
The reasons for leaders carrying the load boil down to these three:
Sharing doubt with others presents the risk of personal costs to the leader: loss of trust, authority, or reputation. Half of those surveyed were concerned that sharing doubt would expose their vulnerabilities and undermine trust, choosing to confide only in external coaches or mentors.
Leaders think sharing doubt with staff is not worth it. It may be that doubt is simply not ‘part of the culture’, or that unsuccessful attempts of participation and consultation left leaders frustrated and wary of trying again.
Doubt is perceived to be a barrier to “good” leadership, while certainty is seen as a strength. As a result, much of the doubt is kept under a tight lid.
In our future studies we are planning to examine what techniques or methods can help leaders and organisations overcome these concerns and benefit from doubt. But, we were encouraged to hear that so many leaders are beginning to acknowledge this paradox! In the words of one of The Doubtful:
“It is a constant struggle, it is very active – in general, maintaining the status quo is not something that comes naturally to me – I’m not a follower or a conformist, but as a leader, I need to question the ways in which I am radical. Being a contrarian can – after all – turn into some kind of faith by itself – and I don’t want that. My aspiration and my daily struggle is to balance questions – to be both anti and to be for.”
