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Unleashing Your Remarkable Potential
Issue 2.20 - May 16th, 2005 - ISSN: 1551-6571
Unveiling the Value of Your Expertise
All of us have knowledge, expertise, and experience that others can benefit from. This is one of the reasons we play some of the roles in life that we play: leader, trainer, teacher, coach, mentor, and more. We all can contribute to other’s success with our expertise. Unfortunately, some things keep us from doing this as successfully as we could.
This article will outline several of the things that get in our way and suggest ways to improve our ability to succeed in having our expertise used successfully by others.
Ignorance
Here is a fundamental truth - most of us don’t recognize how much we know. When we’ve done something for a long time, or read about an idea in 21 places, we assume everyone knows that information. This just isn’t true! Our familiarity and deep understanding gets in our way, because we assume others know what we believe to be obvious.
The first key to getting your expertise used is to proclaim it to yourself. Recognize that what you know is significant and valuable. Without this recognition you won’t know what to share if asked.
Attitude
Before you go too far down this “Man, I’m smart” mental path though, recognize that arrogance is the next stumbling block. Certainly, we need to recognize our expertise. Of course we need to value what we know.
But none of this makes us better than the other person. My advice? Lose any budding arrogance.
When we are arrogant about what we know, our advice is more about an opportunity to show what we know, than it is about genuinely helping others. When we are confident we can focus on the other person’s needs. Be confident in what you know and always be willing to learn more.
Focus on being generous but helpful in your knowledge sharing. By remaining confident in your knowledge and keeping your focus on the other person’s needs, you will have your attitude in the right place.
Memory
Often the challenge we have in sharing our knowledge and expertise is that we don’t really remember what it is like to be a beginner in this area. Even once we recognize the value of what we know, we take shortcuts in explaining it to someone else.
How?
By using jargon or skipping what seem to be obvious steps.
In order for us to successfully transfer our knowledge, or teach someone what we know, we must break the steps down. We must share each piece of information one step at a time.
We have learned this information and so can others. But we must teach them from their perspective, not ours – remembering what it felt like to be a beginner.
Connect the Dots
My daughter loves to color and has many coloring and activity books. One of the activities found in many of these books is something I used to call a “Dot to dot.” In a dot to dot puzzle, you draw straight lines from point 1 to point 2 to point 3, etc.
By looking at the page before you start to connect the dots, you can’t really tell what is going to be drawn. You may have some clues based on how many other lines and related pictures exist on the page, but until you complete the puzzle, you don’t really know what you have.
Our expertise is like that. We are asked to share what we know with others for their benefit. What our job really is is to set a context and provide a bigger picture for them. Telling them the steps or the procedure or the technical components of something isn’t enough. They need to know the situation the environment, the surroundings. They need to understand the relative priority and importance of the various things you are teaching them.
As the “expert” you help them complete their own mental puzzle by guiding them in connecting their own dots.
Making these connections is how we will be most successful in having our expertise valued and used by others. And you can only connect these dots when you have the other three barriers reduced or eliminated for yourself.
Your success will expand as you expand the success and capabilities of others and the lessons of this article can help make that happen.
Yours in Learning,
Kevin's Recommends
 |
Never Eat Alone (and other secrets to success, one relationship at a time) by Keith Ferrazzi (with Tahl Raz) |
I ordered this book soon after it was published, because I heard so many good pre-publication reviews. It has now sat on my reading stack for several weeks. I am sure glad I pulled it from the stack and started reading it.
I actually started in earnest last night about 10:30 and by midnight, without having finished it yet, decided I had to review it this week.
That’s right, I am writing a recommendation for a book I haven’t finished yet. It doesn’t matter, because I got enough ideas and inspirations in the first 100 pages to pay for the book 100 times over.
As of now, 9:20 the next morning, I have already successfully used two of the ideas and will have used several more before lunch. I can’t wait to finish the book tonight.
It is a well written, easy to read book with great ideas and techniques. Each idea is illustrated with a story. And the philosophy of the book isn’t about manipulation or complete self-interest – it is about service. Ferrazzi explains over and over that the process of building your network of connections only works when your focus is on being of service to others.
By the time you read this I will have finished the book and will have even more good things to say about it – but it doesn’t matter – buy it for the first 100 pages. The rest is a bonus.
You can also read the author’s blog – I recommend it too!
You can learn more and order a copy at Amazon.com.
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