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.

Kevin is Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group (http://KevinEikenberry.com), a learning consulting company that helps Clients reach their potential through a variety of training, consulting and speaking services. To receive your free special report on "Unleashing Your Potential" go to http://www.kevineikenberry.com/uypw/index.asp or call us at (317) 387-1424 or 888.LEARNER.

---

Managing People - No More Mr Tough Guy

I believe the media and our culture sends the wrong messages about how to manage people and this makes it difficult for Business Owners and Managers.We've all... Read More

Do You Hear That?

I read a report in the Toronto Star stated that 70% of workplace errors happen because of communication breakdown and that many of them directly relate to... Read More

Making Change Work

Shaky FoundationsWhilst over 60% of businesses will be looking to implement some form of business improvement initiative over the next 18 months, less than 1 in 4... Read More

Creative People, Innovative People

The title implies that some people are and others not.This is a myth.First, creativity can be described as problem identification and the generation of a quantity of... Read More

Diversity Training: The Worst Possible Reasons to Request Executive Funding

You're on your organization's diversity committee. You have the best of intentions.And that's the problem.It leads you to appeal for funding for all the wrong reasons.Take healthcare... Read More

The Diamond Cutter

Geshe Michael Roach is a Princeton graduate and a Buddhist monk. After graduation, he spent seven years studying the wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism. At the suggestion of... Read More

Creating Your Own Business Upturn - Powering Business Development

We all see it . . . business markets are trying hard but continue to be flat, easily scared, and "frozen in the headlights," - - -... Read More

The Permissive Environment is the Suspect

The permissive and participatory conduct which most employees take for granted, eventually escalates into the more serious assaultive behavior commonly referred to as employee on employee workplace... Read More

Counseling Interviews for the Marginal Employee

ACTIVE LISTENING: The most frequent cause of failure in therapeutic counseling interviews is the interviewer's tendency to talk too much. Numerous studies have shown that in counseling... Read More

Organizational Culture and Creative Blocks ? the Similarities

Few Decision makers see the link between between creativity and innovation management, as performed by MBA's in firms, and creative endeavours such as screenwriting. In fact, there... Read More

Performance Evaluations Can Be Beneficial

THE PERFORMANCE REVIEW MEETING: It's a fact - most supervisors and employees have negative feelings toward performance appraisals and appraisal interviews. It's often necessary to shift people's... Read More

Manage Your Time - Save Your Business.

If you work from home, chances are you already know that you're really pulling "double duty". You probably work on your business while doing the laundry, corralling... Read More

Re-Discovery Procedures for Building Effective Management Systems: Phase V

Now we turn the corner to our final phase: Re-Discovery.Last year marked the 200th anniversary of the expedition of Lewis & Clark, and much has been written... Read More

Do Customers Like the Feel of Your Organization?

In two recent articles "Some Evidence of How We Are Spiritually Connected" and "Healing Dysfunctional Families" I reported on how individuals who live or work within a... Read More

Leadership in Troubled Times

Leadership in Troubled Times The first task of a leader is to keep hope alive. - Joe Batten Leading an... Read More

Don?t Forget Where You Came from - Why the Past is Important in Implementing Business Change

Much of the literature and advice on implementing business change focuses on knowing where you are going and making sure that you understand and communicate a consistent... Read More

Four Employee Behaviors That Can Kill Your Business

I found it important to clarify for employees what "deal-breaker" behavior was at my company. These are the things I insisted would not be tolerated and would... Read More

How to Reduce Temporary Employee Turnover

The use of temporary services to stock a farm of employees is beneficial in a number of ways for an employer, and detrimental in others; but the... Read More

Managing People - Why Is It So Difficult?

Managing, supervising, being a team leader is the hardest job in the world and I'll tell you why. Imagine what it's like to drive a car. You... Read More

The Three-category Approach to Performance Management: Effort, Ability, or Environment

Performance Management is the act of managing personal or organizational performance. What can complicate this process are all the factors that can arise where a textbook process... Read More

Whatever it Takes!

I have a sign on my office door. It pretty much summarizes my philosophy of life.The sign simply says?.."Whatever it takes."Short. Simple. To the Point."Whatever it takes,"... Read More

Why Half of All Mergers Fail After the Honeymoon Ends

Marriages and corporate mergers in America have at least one thing in common, more than 50 percent end up on the rocks. In fact, according to a... Read More

Business Innovation ? Value versus Quality

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this... Read More

Can You Sleep While The Wind Blows?

Let me repeat a story I heard many years ago that has stuck with me throughout my life. The lessons from this fable are many and have... Read More

Get Down With OCP: Evaluating DBA Job Applicants in an OCP World

Not long ago, weeding through DBA applicants with a tech interview was a straightforward process. You'd ask candidates 200 or so technical questions. If they got 100... Read More

Resistance - How to Handle It

Do you ever meet with resistance from other people - I bet you do! It might be a customer, a colleague, a member of your team or... Read More