A deep understanding, knowledge, and ability to correctly and effectively execute the fundamentals. Prepared to cover the details.
Skill is knowing all of the details related to complete a particular task and being able to execute them well. Expertise--deep skill--goes beyond knowledge and execution. It includes timing, the ability to perform the skills under pressure, in adverse environments, and the ability to improvise when necessary.
Timing is not about speed, per se. Timing refers to how quickly we need to make decisions. Decision making needs to happen in a second. A quarterback considers where to throw the ball. A surgeon performing a difficult surgery decides where to make the next incision. A NASCAR driver determines when to press on the gas. All individuals are under immense pressure. The quarterback risks losing the game and perhaps the season based on how they play the ball. The surgeon risks losing their patients. The driver could take a turn wrong and die and make the course deadly for others.
If we don’t respond quickly to challenging situations, we could find ourselves in trouble. To be effective, we need to execute our skill fast, correctly, and at the right time.
As a manager, I sometimes had to choose between an employee with a specialized skill and one with more general capabilities. People with specialties do not help the team because they don’t know enough general skills, like project management, to be effective under pressure. There have been great project managers who could not help the team because they couldn’t go deep on a particular topic. But someone generalist with some basic research skills could make a more significant contribution than one who has deep subject matter expertise but can’t move as quickly along with the needs of the business.
Any measure of competency requires a command of the basics. The higher the skill, the more nuanced and detailed they are in carrying out the fundamentals. Therefore, a person with limited competency can become at least somewhat skillful if they work on the details of the fundamentals.
We can’t do much about the IQ we were born with. But we can impact our brainpower and potential through education, training, and experience. There will always be those with natural talent. For the rest of us, the path toward success and reaching our unique potential is deliberate practice.
Gaining proficiency in executing the fundamentals of our craft and learning to do them quickly increases our potential for success. To achieve significance through our efforts, it’s a good idea to select an activity for which we’ve got at least some natural ability.
PRACTICE:
Apart from sleeping, let the top five activities in which you spend the most time.
After each letter below, circle the one phrase that best describes you.
A. People drain me, people energize me, or I prefer small groups.
B. I communicate best with: spoken words, written words or artistic expression.
C. I like working with: things or ideas.
D. I am most skilled: working with my hands, solving problems, selling or teaching.
Measure the time spent in your top 5 time-consuming activities against the choices above. Are you spending most of your time doing what seems to come naturally?
COMMIT
[ ] I commit myself to developing and using the talents and gifts I currently have.
Alongside technical skills, people who can master a range of subjective skills are better able to influence, deal with ambiguity, bounce back from setbacks, think creatively, and manage themselves successfully in their pursuit of mastery. Learn more about applying craft skills in the modern world.