Tag Archives: knowledge skills

Curiosity

Being inquisitive, that is having a healthy sense of curiosity means you a have desire to learn and know about anything and everything.  Of course, as the well known saying goes, ” curiosity killed the cat”

This is a cautionary note, a reminder really to practice balance in everything.

While knowledge can be a powerful tool in helping you reach your goals or assist others with theirs, misuse arising  from misunderstanding or an incomplete picture can lead to negative results.

Worrying Yourself

Often when we think others have information they are not sharing (restricted or secret information) we get upset.  This can drive curiosity, but this is generally not a healthy curiosity.

Care is needed in attempting to gather information others might not want you to have.  This could be used by them as leverage to get a reaction from you if someone realizes what you are doing.

As well, you can worry about the unknown and make up scenarios that might be far from reality.  This can lead to actions on your part which you may later regret.

Self Control

There will always be things others know and you don’t.  And of course things no one knows.  Seeking knowledge in a balanced way lets you control how much, when and what you do with it.

Knowledge that others have, unknown to you won’t impact you.  Once that information becomes known to you it might have an effect but there is little value in seeking it out in advance.

To what purpose?  Even advance knowledge could be worrisome.  My advice, relax, all will unfold in the fullness of time.

 

 

Leadership versus Knowledge skills

In general your skills fall into two categories.  First, knowledge specific skills, those that are focused on a function or subject area , for example plumbing, law, medicine or construction.

The other main skill category falls into the leadership classification.  Things like empathy, optimism, self awareness and communication.  Often called the soft skills.

Identifying Managers/Leaders

Many organizations promote to managerial and leadership roles based first on “hard knowledge” and leadership skills are often just an after thought.

Often the new managers, very capable in their knowledge areas, flounder when it comes to managing or leading.  The skill requirements are actually distinctly different.

While  capability in subject matter expertise can complement leadership skills, it will not compensate for their absense.  The results  are often frustration both for the newly appointed leader/manager  and their teams.

My advice to hiring managers/leaders is to always start with validation of the so called soft skills   (unless the role is purely technical/professional).

A qualifier about this would be no role is purely focused on knowledge skills and things like self motivation and ability to communicate clearly are always required to some extent.

Understand the Mix

The mix between leadership and knowledge specific skills can be highly variable and is very much role dependant.  Typically the more senior your role in an organization the higher the requirement for leadership focused capabilities.

If you are in a selection role for vacant or new posotions keep this in mind.  Consider carefully what the mix should be and take this into account when validating the canidates fit to the position.