Where we are with IDKN®
yIf you’re a leader at any level, it’s certain to say at some point you’ll have experienced a state of IDKN®. It’s part of the job and arguably the most challenging. Whatever your reaction at moments of IDKN will determine your success, or failure, as a leader. Dealing with IDKN® is a keystone of leadership and yet as a subject, it’s rarely addressed or understood.
What is IDKN®?
It’s a state we’ve called “I Don’t Know-Ness“
Our underlying premise in IDKN® is about how we react or respond when faced with being in IDKN®. We call ‘Reacting’ as ‘below the threshold’ and ‘Responding’ as ‘above the threshold’ (We will be posting a diagram later). Our end results (Outcomes) in our endeavours will be dependent upon many factors, but how we react or respond in the first moments will heavily influence the type and quality of eventual outcomes. Indeed, many successful, and many failed, results can be traced back to the beginning moments, and what happened at IDKN®.
Some factors to consider:
Environment
What environment are you leading in? If there is hostility, negativity, or fear, or your own ego is triggered, will it be dangerous to admit your IDKN®? Do you fear ridicule, attack or being ignored and sidelined? Will natural reactions take over? Will you run, hide, fight, or carry on as if nothing is happening (ignore, hope it goes away, play dead)?
What are the expectations imposed upon you in your leadership role? More likely than not, there’ll be some unwritten expectation that you will know the answers, and if you don’t, you may feel you can’t admit it. What this leads to, depending upon your preferred leadership style, expecially under duress or stress, will directly impact your effectivness and ultimate results you achieve as a leader.
Timing
On many occasions in a state of IDKN®, unfortunately there is some sort of time pressure. Decisions are important and urgent. The way to make timely decisions is unclear. This will effect the level of risk you and your team or enterprise are exposed to.
Emotional
Perhaps the most personally impactful facet of IDKN® is the emotional component. What happens to our emotions when we find ourselves at a point of I Don’t KnowNess? When we don’t know but hold ourselves responsible for knowing and providing solutions, what then?
How do we deal with the trio above, plus other factors, to create a way forwards?
Our progress and IDKN® landscape.
Seeking answers to these questions and situations has been our work for the last (at February 2022) 23 months. We’ve uncovered some answers, but more often discovered more questions! However, we now have a clear concept describing a landscape which has various routes leading from the moment of ‘I Don’t KnowNess’ , to a place of confident leadership. We use these concepts to help us understand ‘where’ we (leaders) are, illuminate choices and understand what’s likely to happen next as a result of those choices.
We’re at the point of seeing how this pans out in terms of expansion into exploring better working with a team, multiple teams and on, to organisational culture.
We would love to see IDKN® being used across an entire organisation because we have a strong sense that the gains in almost every dimension will be phenomenal.
We’re Kathleen Curran and Geoff Hinsley. We love partnering you, our client, through the landscape of IDKN, getting out of the Mud, into positions of Perspective, Clarity, Conviction and Confidence. Along the way you’ll find so many ‘aha moments’ – expanding your empathy by stealth, knowing your validity vectors, experience and welding the power of the pause, climbing the cliff face of courage, venturing beyond into realms of real-time leadership, humility, developing others and greatly expanding your leadership capabilities. Contact us now for a conversation about your future and the outcomes you’d like to achieve.