Two-work-related questions:

1. When was the last time you were engaged with a work-related issue and said, "I don't know."?
2. When was the last time you were engaged with a work-related issue and said, "I don't know.", and felt completely comfortable and at peace with "not knowing"?

We think we're supposed to know

In our life at work, we're expected to have the competencies, skills, "know-how" and capacities to carry out our jobs. We're expected to be able to perform well at what we're hired to do. We expect others to be able to do what they're hired to do.

But, what happens in instances when we're facing a dilemma, a conundrum, a challenge, a problem, an opportunity, or a circumstance when, in fact, we don't have an answer, when we "don't know"?

Most Western-culture workplaces operate as a function of the manta of "saving face", of having the "appearance of knowing" even when we don't the intention being that we need to demonstrate we are in control, we can prevent a disaster, we can do our job, we are capable. In our culture, we overemphasize how much we know.

So, the conflict often in our workplaces, "not knowing" is unacceptable; but, often in our workplaces, we actually don't know from time to time. Hmmm.

Defending against "not knowing"

When we don't know, however, most often our knee-jerk reaction is to "defend" ourselves in some way, shape or form - engaging in jargon or techno-babble to mask our unknowing, erecting a facade or fake image of knowing, inundating others with facts and figures to cloud the issue and muddy the already-murky waters, hiding out and avoiding the problem, feigning "exclusion" to justify our not knowing, seeking allies to support our unknowing, blame someone else all to mask our discomfort, fear, insecurity and uncertainty. To be in control and protect ourselves.

The upside of "not knowing"

In Eastern cultures, "not knowing" is a self-supporting, personal-developmental practice, even at work. In fact, "not knowing" is a practice that can actually bring one to be ever more effective at work. Welcoming a disturbance or a problem at work with a sense of "not knowing" is an opportunity for creativity and insight. The darkness of the unknown supports us to access our inner strength, our inner wisdom and higher self. Asking positive (not-fear-based, reactive) questions from a place of true curiosity at such times supports us to overcome our fear, uncertainly and doubt.

From a place of "not knowing,"

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