It's experience season, so let's reap the harvest
Gathering experiences is vastly underrated. Gathering experiences is as equally important as the gathering of knowledge, if not more so. Some of us are extremely knowledgeable, yet unworldly and experienced; others of us are extremely worldly and experienced, yet we lack a lot of knowledge.
Some people place a greater emphasis on what they think, and others place a greater emphasis on what that do. Neither mindset is better than the other and neither approach is correct. Yet wider society tends to place a higher level of respect and esteem on the knowledgeable rather than the experienced.
Why this disparity exists in unclear, and many of our respected and esteemed peers in the world of people management now understand that recruitment processes biased towards knowledge over experience are flawed. Change will provide a huge boost in efficiency and effectiveness to businesses that are being throttled by a compulsion to employ unsuitable people who appear suitable on paper.
The most important factor should be engaging (and retaining) capable people with the right attitude and skills.
Furthermore, we now see many employment professionals recognising that “education” does not necessarily equate to knowledge, especially when “education” is used simply as a byword for attending an institution. No longer is X, who sat behind a book for six years, considered a better candidate than Y, who, rather than continuing in “education”, spent six years being an entrepreneur, building a business empire and gathering a level of commercial experience that no amount of theoretical study could provide.
Moreover, it is no longer acceptable to consider X a better candidate because he or she comes from a more affluent family than Y. Perhaps continuing in “education” was deemed too much of a financial challenge for Y. Either way, it is no longer considered accurate that affluence buys wisdom and inherent acumen.
Generation Z and beyond are likely to see a paradigm shift in the jobs market due to the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution.
A person’s suitability for particular roles may no longer be simply inferred by knowledge or experience, but may combine the three most important factors (personality, potential and passion) with his or her cognitive flexibility, judgement, decision-making competence and a talent for creativity and innovation. Emotional intelligence with a capacity to interact, coordinate and negotiate with others in a proper manner will be a mandatory requirement. An aptitude for thinking critically and solving complex problems in customer-focused and service-orientated environments is a must.
Personally, I like to be balanced. I’m happy being neither too focused on knowledge nor too focused on experience. I’m happy being both a thinker-who-does and a doer-who-thinks. It’s a challenge to find the right balance between experience and knowledge, yet it is a challenge I gladly and wholeheartedly accepted, way back when.
COMPLEX PROBLEM SOLVING | COORDINATING WITH OTHERS | CRITICAL THINKING | CUSTOMER FOCUS | DYSFUNCTION | EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE | INNOVATION, CREATIVITY AND DISRUPTION | JUDGEMENT AND DECISION-MAKING | NEGOTIATION AND CHANGE | PEOPLE MANAGEMENT AND ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP | PROCESS MANAGEMENT | SERVICE ORIENTATION | STRATEGIC PLANNING AND GOVERNANCE | WORDS AND LITERACY
If you or your organisation is affected and needs any help, support or assistance in dealing with or responding to any of these topics, please contact us at Matsuda Mulville — the home of Matsuda Mulville Thinking.
We are a consultancy that seeks to think critically and solve complex problems in the pursuit of innovation, creativity, disruption and continuous improvement. Happy in the role of Devil’s Advocate, we strive to make a difference: transforming dysfunction into success; advocating, adopting and adapting to emergent behaviours; improving communication; and being antifragile through gaining from disorder.
And we would love to respond to any writing needs you have, too.
(Peter Mulville has over 23-years’ professional experience of adding value and enabling quality through a determination to facilitate desired outcomes or resolve organisational challenges. Besides a passionate love for the application of words and literacy, Peter is globally-focused and driven by change enablement, strategic planning, governance and the harmonisation of process deficiency and miscommunication. Peter is also experienced in the management of processes, projects and portfolios, as well as leading international teams and being a passionate advocate of people-first. Peter is defined by structured adaptability, ordered chaos, rigorous agility and meticulous flexibility, specifically in the areas of skills, knowledge, capability and administration.)
"Never confuse luck or advantage with skill!"
Keywords: #MatsudaMulville #MatsudaMulvilleThinking #CoordinatingWithOthers #EmotionalIntelligence #FourthIndustrialRevolution #PeopleFirst #PeopleManagement
CEO at Linked VA
5yWow, love that perspective, Peter.
Financial Training | Business Finance Training | Business Acumen | Financial Understanding | Financial Wellness
5yThank you Peter, for a great post.
Manager, Ferris Printing Services at Ferris State University
5yLove this Mr. Mulville. I never started out cognizantly chasing a goal of experience and knowledge, however looking back I realize that I'm a naturally curious person. I love to learn things that are new and I get bored easily without a challenge. It's always been strange to me that someone would think a simple 4 year degree is required to succeed. Anyone can get a degree but can they apply what they've learned? My undergrad education was focused on print because that's what I love. Perhaps I was lucky to have found an industry that was something I really liked early on in my life. When I've had the responsibility to interview and hire people I've done my best to determine as early on as possible what traits a potential team member had. Education and experience should be aligned. This article really presses home the need for recruiting in a way that is not 'canned'. Why do we think that we should be able to make the process of identifying great people to add to our teams and our lives should be simple? Anything worth having takes care and work - it's not a simple as hiring for a certain set of data - that desired data might be a starting point but shouldn't be the ending point.