Habbits of successful people

Spark 7 — Teach others.

The first thing I learned from my very first manager ever (thanks Mark for that!) was to make sure you are never the only person that can do the job. It felt so contradictory to everything I expected (especially if that first job is in a high tier technology consultancy firm). I thought that being the only who could do a certain job meant power and a secure future. Thanks to Mark, it did not take me long to realise that keeping ‘knowledge’ from others is the most stupid thing anyone can do in today’s world.

Let’s explain by kicking in with the most interesting one:

You can enjoy holidays if others can do your job. If you are the only one who knows something, prepare yourself for having a boss who will be reluctant to grant you holiday and for lots of incoming text messages while you are sipping your cocktail at the beach.

When you want to be a leader, you are more evaluated on your ability to teach others than to actually perform tasks yourself. Delegating means making sure your people can do what you do.

From an organisational perspective, people having the monopoly to a certain task, process, knowledge,… are a single point of failure. You don’t want to be called that

Sharing knowledge is fun: it gives you a good feeling: you should try it out!

Giving new ideas to others might spark their feedback… and eventually might even deepen your own knowledge.

And probably the most important thing: In today’s world, you need to be able to adapt yourself… which means learning new things. How do you think your peers will share their knowledge with you if you are being a protective lone wolf?