How to Manage Your Team Excellently When You Don't Know What You Don't Know

Read Time: 4 minutes.

Even Experienced Leaders Suffer Management Blindness

I’ve been lucky to be onsite with 3 different leadership teams this past month.

I get to work shoulder to shoulder with talented, ambitious, earnest leaders who are trying to do right by their customers, employees and investors.

As an outsider, I can often see what they’re missing.

• The standards that used to serve them but now hold them back

• The leader who was excellent zero to one but can’t scale

• The minimum viable process they need but resist

If I listened to common chatter online about managers, I’d attribute their struggles to ego. To their desire to wield power. To playing politics or exploiting their workforce.

But I don’t bother with clickbait.

I work with enough leaders to know what most issues are lack of knowledge or lack of experience.

It’s not that they know the issue and are consciously ignoring it.

They don’t know what they don’t know.

These are the hardest issues to address. And the most frustrating.

Because if you don’t know what you don’t know, how can you possibly fix it?

But here’s the good news: Someone has been where you are and found their way through. They can show you. And once these leaders see it, they take fierce action.

This playbook is my attempt to short circuit this process for you.

These are the most common “aha moments” I see across 1000s of leaders.

Think of this as your management diagnostic.

1. Self-Awareness → Traits Are Not Fates

The right and wrong way to use personality tests

Sarah got her team's PrinciplesYou results and immediately started asking how she could “improve” being introverted and detailed-oriented. Wrong.

Personality tests reveal preferences, not limitations. Use them to understand your default patterns, then consciously choose when to flex beyond them.

The best leaders know their MAPS (Mindset, Abilities, Preferences, Skills) and use that awareness to supplement their struggles and amplify their advantages.

Go deeper: How New Managers Can Use AI To Avoid The 60% Failure Rate

2. Expectations → Co-Author, Don't Dictate

Why "just get it done" always backfires

Mike assigned a project: "Increase customer satisfaction." Three weeks later: zero progress and lots of confusion.

The problem? He set a goal without aligning on the "how."

What was missing:
• Clear success metrics (NPS score? Response time? Complaint volume?)
• Agreed approach (surveys? process changes? training programs?)
• Available resources (budget, tools, team support)
• Timeline and milestones

Great expectations have two parts: the WHAT (clear outcomes) and the HOW (agreed approach, resources, and constraints).

Go deeper: Build an AI Accountability Coach to Boost Team Performance

3. Coaching → Use Questions to Trigger Reflection

How you can get people to coach themselves

Instead of: "You need to be more strategic."
Try: "How did this go compared to your expectations?"

75% of the time, they'll identify the same issues you see. But now they own the insight instead of defending against your judgment.

The best coaching happens when people coach themselves. Your job is asking the right questions.

Join us live on Sept 30th at 11 am ET

Go deeper: How Savvy Managers Are Using AI to Unlock Hard Conversations

4. Delegation → Goals, Not Tasks

Why micromanaging disguised as delegation kills performance

The Wrong Way:
Lisa delegated by saying: "Update the client database, then email the report and schedule follow-ups."

That's not delegation. That's command and control.

The Right Way:
"Ensure our top 50 clients feel proactively supported this quarter. Here's the outcome I need, the resources available, and how we'll measure success. How you get there is up to you."

Key Principle: Delegate outcomes and ownership, not activities and steps.

Go deeper: How AI Can 10x The Effectiveness of Your One-on-One Meetings

5. Culture → Actions Define Culture, Not Words

Why "culture decks" don't create culture

The poster said "Innovation." The manager shot down three new ideas in one meeting.

Culture isn't what you say in all-hands meetings. It's what you celebrate, what you tolerate, and what you do when no one's watching.

Want to change culture? Change your behaviors first.

Go deeper: How To Manage Up Like A Boss (Even If You're a New Manager)

6. Problem Solving → Diagnose to Root Cause

The fastest way to turn problems into solutions

When projects fail, most managers ask "What went wrong?" That leads to blame and excuses.

Better question: "Who should do what differently next time?"

Why this works:
• Shifts focus from past problems to future solutions
• Makes accountability specific and actionable
• Avoids the blame spiral that kills psychological safety
• Creates learning instead of defensiveness

Go deeper: How To Handle An Underperforming Employee

7. Recruiting → Poorly Visualized Roles Lead to Mediocre Hires

How to go beyond template job descriptions and build vivid role definitions

Job posting: "Seeking motivated self-starter with excellent communication skills."

Result: 200 generic applications and no clear hiring criteria.

Instead, paint a vivid picture: "You'll spend 60% of your time solving complex customer problems via phone and email, 30% collaborating with product teams on feature requests, and 10% training new team members."

Specific roles attract specific people.

Join us live on Sept 24th at 11 am ET

Go deeper: How Managers Use AI to Avoid These 3 Common Hiring Mistakes

8. Leadership Brand → Consistency Beats Perfection

Why your team watches what you do, not what you say

Your team doesn't need you to be perfect. They need you to be predictable.

Consistent standards. Consistent communication. Consistent follow-through.

When you're consistent, your team knows what to expect. When they know what to expect, they can perform at their best.

Go deeper: 3 Easy Ways AI Can Make You a More Thoughtful People Leader

What You Missed This Week

Our Sunday AM posts:

📌 11 Visuals to Spark Meaningful Change (Dave on LI)
📌 What Are You Protecting? (Mar on LI)
📌 How To Optimize the Impact Equation (Dave on X)

And here are our most popular posts last week:

🔥 7 Warning Signs of a Bad Hire (Dave on LI)
🔥 The 90-Day New Manager Blueprint (Dave on X)
🔥 15 Habits of Easy to Work With People (Mar on LI)

Our goal is to build a community of 1 million thoughtful, curious leaders.

You can help us by reposting anything that resonates with you.  

Thank you for reading. Appreciate you!

Dave