Why saying “I don’t know” can make a team stronger
Think about the last time you were in a meeting and did not know the answer. Did you say so? Most people do not. Research on workplace culture helps explain why: in many organizations, people read “I don’t know” as incompetence, so they bluff, stay quiet, or wait for someone else to go first.
That silence is expensive. Teams that cannot admit uncertainty stop surfacing problems early. People hide mistakes instead of fixing them. The leader ends up making decisions with half the information in the room.
So what can a leader actually do? Three practical moves:
- Go first. Say “I don’t know” yourself, out loud, when it is true. It gives everyone else permission to be honest.
- Reward the question, not just the answer. When someone raises a doubt, thank them before you respond to the substance.
- Separate not-knowing from not-caring. “I don’t know yet, and here is how we will find out” is a competent answer. Treat it like one.
I recorded a short episode of my podcast, Curious About People, on exactly this: why “I don’t know” feels unsafe at work, and what leaders can do about it. It draws on research about “cultures of genius” at work, the environments where people feel they have to look smart instead of being useful.
The short version: psychological safety is not soft. It is how teams tell each other the truth in time to act on it.
