3 General Skills for Specialists
Sep 16, 2023
Have you heard of “The Peter Principle?”
It is a book describing how people are inevitably promoted to their level of incompetence.
People who are good at a job then get promoted to manage people who do that job.
In this situation, technical experts must become leaders and managers.
But without learning additional skills, this is a recipe for disaster.
One cannot rely on specific technical expertise to rise to the new challenge of management.
And so, all leaders should be generalists to some degree.
In this article, I am going to share with you 3 “general” skills to learn which will help you perform in any situation.
Learning the hard way
When I was 19 years old, I was “Peter.”
I was a fence builder and had an opportunity to become a foreman (I would run a crew of builders).
While I could build fences, I didn’t know about leadership or people management.
So I struggled…
I struggled to motivate my crew, earn their respect, and keep them from quitting.
It sucked.
But, I changed how I behaved and stumbled into being a better leader.
With these changes, my crew worked harder, we had less turnover, and I was all-around happier.
Looking back, I can see how there were 3 developmental areas I practiced and incorporated to make these changes:
- Self-awareness
- Balanced communication
- Positive psychology
Let’s start at the top…
Self-Awareness: Clarity is Key
When things went wrong (and something always went wrong), I would be very reactive.
We might show up to a job and discover that we were digging through solid rock.
We might break a sprinkler line on accident.
We might have forgotten to load a key piece of equipment.
Anger, frustration, fear… all these emotions would flood through me and I would show it.
I had no idea this was negatively affecting my team.
I mean, why would it? They were my feelings.
In a moment of reflection, I remembered how a previous foreman handled these situations. He did so preemptively.
He would talk about the potential risks of the job, where we might run into trouble, and what we should expect.
He also spoke about his expectations: “When we get there I expect you to do X.”
He created clarity before we got to the job.
He had an impact on me, so why don’t I try?
I started doing the same.
Knowing that I would react to the unforeseen, I started creating clarity and expectations with my team.
What would we do when we showed up on site?
Who would do what by when?
What would we do if we ran into trouble?
Having this quick chat before a job had a huge positive impact on our attitude and satisfaction on the job.
Creating clarity led to less reactivity. This leveled up my leadership.
Balanced Communication
Communication is a 2-way street.
This section is not about listening, though that is an important topic as well.
I am talking about balance between assertiveness and diplomacy.
Assertiveness is speaking up for what you want or need.
Diplomacy is the ability to state things in a tactful manner.
To effectively communicate the expectations noted above, one must balance the two.
Early in my foreman career, I was only diplomatic.
I was overly soft with my communication, fearful of negative reactions, and I wanted my team’s opinions to be heard.
This came at the expense of clarity and brevity.
While being diplomatic, conversations that should have lasted seconds took precious minutes, and I was not clear with what was needed.
When you are paid by the job, and not the hour, you are attuned to the time cost of everything.
I started being more assertive, but over-indexed at first.
If a teammate was doing something unsafe, I would bark at them to change what they were doing.
This barking rightly led to bad attitudes and discontent.
Over time, I learned that a balance is necessary.
State what you want and what you expect. State it clearly and without emotional baggage. Use neutral language.
Ask for feedback and input.
When you are diplomatic, you show respect for the other person.
When you are assertive, you show respect for yourself.
Positive Psychology
Construction is tough.
I grew up in Spokane, Washington where we built steel fences in 100-degree heat, all summer long.
Also, lifting 275lb rolls of fencing was a daily practice.
Digging holes through rocky ground… you get the picture.
With the challenge of the elements, it was easy to get frustrated.
When things got tough, negativity was pervasive.
It took me one experience to learn how to fight this tendency.
I worked on a difficult job with another foreman who was hilarious.
His positivity was infectious. No matter how hard the job got, his team stayed engaged and positive.
After that experience, I brought a positive attitude to my day.
Each day I would wake up and immediately tell myself, “Today is going to be a god day.”
And it worked.
I smiled more, walked taller, handled setbacks, and it had a positive effect on my crew.
There was less complaining, more willingness to do hard work, and overall better comradery.
Being and thinking positively impacted not only my attitude, but those of my crew, as well.
The Wrap Up
I could layout a fence line, strategize effective building strategies, map out concrete truck runs, and more.
None of this helped me be a better leader.
Only when I practiced self-awareness, balanced communication, and positive psychology did I start to be a better leader.
Learning about things outside my area of expertise was the key to improving.
You are an expert is something.
That expertise will only take you so far.
For further growth, you must learn and develop new skills.
To some degree, you must generalize!
Go crush it today!
Clark