I am not sure I have ever heard the word “supported” and “unsupported” as much as I have in the past nine months. I mean, certainly there had always been talk of it in my past, however, in my new venture, it’s the goal, the focus, the culture….it’s everything.

Truthfully, what it looks like to me, is an “I don’t know…..”. That is where this blog post began about nine months ago and it’s been growing since. (Lol, I just realized the irony of this spawning nine months ago and it growing….much like a child in the womb. Conception and growth).

Nine months ago I took a leap of faith and decided to start my lease up journey with a new company. The job itself, while not being new to me, the company itself well recognized with a positive reputation, the regional a familiar face. A leap of faith because I’d not used Yardi in any sort of way that accounted to experienced.

Most of you are probably thinking, “Aaaaand???” For me, going into the unknown of a new software, was scary. I had built this perception that if I didn’t know the answer, the processes, the software, could not consider myself an expert, then I was not going to be the right person for the job. (Ah, self sabotage and imposter syndrome at its best).

Taking the chance, jumping in, telling myself that craziness mentioned above, about not knowing, didn’t matter. I accepted. I said yes. I chose to be confident in my ability to learn, reminded myself that learning something new was only going to benefit me.

It was probably about two weeks into my new position where I found myself asking a question and being told, “Honestly, I don’t know. I have been pretty far removed from those processes for awhile now, but, I can point you to Stacy, who is an expert in that area.”

The most confident version of “I don’t know” made such an IMPACT on me. I heard that. I let it sink in, while still doubting my own abilities to take on a new team, with minimal abilities to train on the processes and software, and knew that it was OKAY, to say “I don’t know.”

WHY?

Because of SUPPORT. Because I’m surrounded by support. I’m surrounded by experts. They are there to support me. To make the “I don’t know, I’ll find out” , OKAY. Shew. I’m not an imposter. I’m human. I’m learning too. There is absolutely nothing more liberating. Free of the burden of believing I need to know every single thing, because I’m the “manager”, “in charge”, the “leader”.

We are not put in the role to know everything. We are put in the role to lead and guide and learn alongside everyone else.

Simon Sinek says it best in one of his many Ted Talks…..we are charged as leaders for the care of others, instead of being in charge of the job. So often, we leave our roles as leasing agents or APMs, being charged with those jobs, to be promoted to property manager and we think we are still charged with the job….let go….we are charged with the care of them, they are charged with the job. (I’ll refer back to my Control Freak & Kidney Stones blog post…..)

It’s come full circle, the control freak tendencies, the letting go. Being forced to say “I don’t know” means I have no control. But, I shouldn’t. It’s not about control or knowing it all….it’s about support for the team I am charged with. Allowing myself to lead with experience, previous knowledge, with intuition and not just, “I know all the buttons to push”.

I am learning how to support as a result of the support of many.

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