If the job is specialized, you need a specialist

I love the true story of the chairman who completed an assessment and gave himself maximum marks for every question. When asked why he replied: “Because I am the chairman.”

If you are going think like a leader you have to come to terms with what you know, what you are expected to know, and what you don’t know. Here are some quotes on this subject from the past 3,000 years:

You don’t know what you don’t know.

Socrates

What you know, you know, what you don’t know, you don’t know. This is true wisdom.

Confucius

The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.

Aristotle

The more you know, the more you realise how much you don’t know. The less you know, the more you think you know.

David T Freeman

If you are a new leader then the probability is high that you have been given the job based on your potential and you have been thrown into the deep end in the hope that you will learn to swim, and not because you already have the skills for the job. As I have said in previous blogs, the reason most people get promoted to being a leader of a team is because they have a technical skill, or they add value in a specific area, or because they have just been around the longest.

You now face two challenges –

1. You need to learn the skills to lead a team.
2. You need to exercise some of those skills immediately.

Not “either-or”, but “both-and”

Do you need to learn the skills required to get the best out of your team? Of course you do!

However, just to get some of the basics in place can take many months, and to become competent can take years.

Do you need help right now in some of the areas where you still need to grow? Of course you do!

If you have a blocked drain you don’t need to do a 6-month course in plumbing in order to fix it, you just need to call a plumber.

If you have an electrical problem you don’t need to do an apprenticeship to learn what to do, you just need to call an electrician.

If you have a medical problem you don’t need to do a degree in medicine to address the problem, you just need to go to a doctor.

If you have a … you get the picture.

In the same way, if you need to –

• Recruit someone
• Promote someone
• Understand your team
• Understand your family
• Understand a client or a colleague
• Be able to communicate with a customer

You don’t need a course, you need a specialist.

I am a specialist in –

• Relationships
• Communication
• Leadership
• Understanding you and other people

I can coach you with the skills you need in these areas, but I can also step in and help you immediately. In fact, the best way to learn the skills is to watch what I do and then do it with me. You can go on training courses and learn the theory (nothing wrong with that), or you can learn as we tackle each situation together.

Go to my website – journeytools.co.za

Go to the Store. All of the options I have just mentioned are on there.

Click on what you need, and I will take it from there.

It is all done online, so you don’t need to leave your office or home.