Decades ago the biggest assets in our organizations were the raw materials we used to build our widgets and the assembly lines we built them on. Oh, how times change. In today’s organization, our raw material is the knowledge and experience of our employee base and the assembly line has become the processes that we create for that knowledge and information to flow through.

So, what’s the problem? While the assets have changed, the culture and leadership styles in many organizations haven’t kept pace. Many leaders still hold on to the outdated perception that their role is to be the expert with all the right answers. Their staff, then, becomes those who are told what to do and how to do it. They certainly aren’t seen as a resource holding the company’s assets in their brains.

For the information and knowledge held by staff to truly be an asset in an organization, leaders need to have the courage to listen (and set their ego aside) and staff need to have skills to “lead up”—to influence their leaders and feel comfortable passing on their knowledge to their boss, even if their boss doesn’t seem open to hear it! It’s no doubt that for the new assembly line to work and for information to flow freely, communication between leaders and their staff is critical. What does each side of that communication equation need to do to ensure staff can comfortably pass on information and “lead up?”

Staff: Know your audience. What kind of information does your boss pay attention to? Is it the numbers? Is it the impact on people? Whatever it is, be sure to address it in the information you pass on to them. Clearly describe the problem and offer the solution. First of all, leaders may not know the problem exists, so be sure to let them know, but not unless you have a solution to follow up. If your boss is clueless to the fact that they’re clueless, guide them to the answer. Though it’s an outdated belief, many leaders still think they should be the expert and telling them they’re not doesn’t help information flow. Instead, guide them to the information through questions.

Leaders: Have courage. Your staff has information you don’t. Have the guts set your ego aside and to trust them—after all, you hired them! Remember what your biggest assets are—information and knowledge. Today, your job is to facilitate information and knowledge flow. If you’re closed to the information coming from your staff because you think you’re the one that needs to provide the right answers, you’re restricting that information flow and cutting off resources and assets for your organization. Remember you’re a leader in the 21st century. The job of a leader in the 1950’s was to be the expert and have all the answers. Those days are gone. When information doubles exponentially today, you simply can’t have all the answers. You need to rely on our team and their input.