What do you think would happen if you read a lot of books about golf, hitting a baseball, or painting. You might understand the fundamentals of what to do, however, do you think that when you actually got the tools in your hands, do you think that you would be able to perform the task and perform the task well?
This period in time is called the “Information Age”. People are able to call up a vast amount of information in a moment, via their smart phone, their desk top, or their laptop. Within moments, a person can have all the information about a subject that they desire. Within moments of being asked a question, they can give data, facts, statistics.
Understanding is another subject. Just because someone can spout the data doesn’t necessarily mean that they understand what they’re talking about. In the recent months, I hear more and more employers complain that someone had come up with lots of facts on a subject, but when it came to implementation, nothing happened. Upon further investigation, when the employer asked why the implementation wasn’t happening, the employee who had come up with the brilliant data, facts and statistics that they had found, it was also discovered that the employee had little understanding of that information.
We can train people with tips and techniques. We can give people the steps to finding out information. But only experience will bring the understanding. I find that often people want to be able to know something, but often do not do what it takes to bring that knowledge the next step and gain the experience of knowing and understanding. Often, they do not know how.
This is where coaching and mentoring comes into play. A coach or a mentor can bring a person from the place of knowledge to a place of understanding by helping them through the steps of implementation. Even failure can bring someone a better understanding of the knowledge that they have gotten. A coach or a mentor can help someone gain a greater understanding by helping the person look at a problem through different lenses, from different perspectives, and through their own experiences.
At some point in time in life, we all need a little help taking knowledge to the next level of understanding. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. The most complex problems in the world are figured out over time, through experimentation, sometimes failure and always through experience.
A book gives knowledge, but it is life that gives understanding. – A Hebrew Proverb
Leah Henderson, President, Leah Henderson & Associates
Twitter me!
