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It’s called, “Reasonable Assurance"
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Use it to your advantage. Be grateful you have a brilliant teammate and *lead that person to get your objectives completed. You might also be selling yourself short. Have you read the book radical candor? It might be helpful. But I would consider myself lucky if I were you and lean in hard.
Mentor
As an IC who is always a direct report with more experience in my field than than my manager, I was hired to be a SME and my experience and command of my role is my value add. My managers are never threatened by this nor should they be, they hired me because if this and should feel relieved that I can self navigate and raise our business unit’s delivery level.
Try to support them in their personal/career growth if they want to. Be an ally and remove roadblock. Advocate for them.
This exactly. I’ve always supervised team members with significantly more experience, which meant I had an opportunity to learn and grow and they had an opportunity to mentor, share, and learn from someone more junior. Figure out what keeps them coming to work each day and support them on their own individual journey.
Work on your insecurities for sure.
Yes. My direct reports are career staff. They are all older than me. They have decades of experience, working their way up, and i was appointed above them. Fortunately, they have been in their roles long enough to see folks in my role be appointed and then be changed out when a new administration comes in, so they get how it works and are not resentful. I’m grateful for them and their experience.
I sat right beside them and soaked up everything they were willing to share and acknowledged them as the expert
I let them cook. Everyone has stuff to work on, so focus coaching on those things. Otherwise, support their success and get out of their way if you don’t need to be in their way.
Absolutely. I want them to know more than me on the granular stuff. They should be an expert on their position!
It feels great
That means I have somebody on the team I can trust with their work
Honestly, if I could build a team, it would be filled with people that know more than I do about their domain
What I usually do is find out if they want to be where they are as an SME or if they want to climb the ladder. Some folks just love what they do. In that case, I learn from them.
For those who want to move forward, then I learn from them and find ways to improve on their experience so they are ready for the next step.
The reason you have this role and they don’t means that something isn’t ready for the next level. And it could totally be that they haven’t had an advocate in their corner. The right manager makes all the difference
I am typically the direct report that has more experience or knows more than my manager. Please please please do NOT take your own insecurities out on this employee!! I've been told so many disparaging things simply because managers felt threatened. I've been ostracized, written up for petty things, and I've quit several jobs because of these managers.
What I wish someone had done for me is recognize that I'm an asset and only there to help. Some of the best managers I've ever had understood they didn't have to know more or be "better" than each member of their team, but that their team succeeding in excellence only makes them look better as a boss. The best managers know they don't need to know everything, but they do need knowledgeable people on their team. Gatekeeping or shutting that employee out will only hurt you and your team in the long run.
Absolutely. I had contractors with experience.