I love smart people. Really. Think about it. If you’re like me, some days you wake up and think you know nothing. You have a problem to solve, a project to finish or just in a quandary for next steps. What do you do?
If you’re like most successful professionals, you try to figure it out yourself. But that is hard. The answers don’t automatically flow. That’s when smart people come in.
Now, you can go to YouTube U. You will find a lot of smart people there making lots of brilliant videos. I have learned how to defrost a freezer tube, put together a shelving unit and make homemade carpet cleaner all from YouTube. But these video lessons only offer one perspective.
To really grow in your resilient behaviors, at some point you will need to seek the advice of others. And to be the type of leader that develops resilient behaviors in her team, you will have to share knowledge. This huge disruption has helped many of us become more collaborative in our approach to problem solving. A big part of the reason is NO ONE HAS ALL THE ANSWERS. If you read my post from last week, you’ll know that most of us are suffering from some form of COVID Brain.
How do you go about being a smart person? And how do you know if people need to know what you know? ASK. No one wants a know-it-all around, but people do need help finding answers. Be that person.
ASK: If you see someone struggling reach out. Ask. “Would you like to know how we did that on our team?” Many people do not ask for the help they need. Whether it is embarrassment, lack of confidence or just plain old, I-can-do-it-myself attitude, we don’t like to ask for help. So, to be a resilient leader you may need to be the one to ask HOW you can help.
You may be asking people you don’t normally talk to. Are you an assisted living executive director? Could you reach out to other directors, even not within your state or city and just ASK how they are doing? You will be shocked at how many people want to talk to someone who understands what they are experiencing. Are you an HR director who just successfully virtually on-boarded new associates? Could you share in a group that you would be happy to tell the group how you did it? ASK.
Many of us are not in the habit of giving out our knowledge as often as we should. But if you know something, be like the woman who taught me how to properly fold a tamale on YouTube. Share your successes with others who may need the information for their success. Being someone smart for others is one way for both parties to rise on the resilience curve and work through the disruption.
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