I was speaking with a friend and she was sharing some things with me about her job. She has a new boss and all of a sudden, people who have never done anything at work or the bare minimum have become experts in the field and are jockeying for a position. After our conversation, I begin to question how does one truly become an expert in their respective fields overnight? Or are there just certain fields in which this happens?
I have always been an avid reader and I make sure I keep up with what is going on in my field(s) so I won't appear to be an idiot when engaging in a dialogue with others. I have some suggestions for those who are professing to be the expert in their field.
(1) If you have just entered this field, there is a GOOD possibility you are clueless to that field. I was speaking to another educator last night and we both laughed at some of the things we were taught in school and how it meant absolutely nothing when we started teaching. One of the reasons for this is the people who write the books are often so far removed from a situation or so out of touch with it they don't know what's really going on in reality.
(2) In most areas, your expertise comes from on the job experience. What people tend to learn in school is just a blueprint or guidelines for what may happen, but you really don't know until you experience it. If you know like I know, a lot of that stuff that is taught in school isn't worth what the bird left on the limb.
(3)Remain open and teachable. There are some people who feel like they have all the answers or all the knowledge and no one can tell them anything. WRONG! In order to become wise, you have to be open to learning. If someone is not open to doing so, then they are doomed for failure.
If you are an overnight expert, maybe you need to go back to the drawing board and re-evaluate your knowledge. There's nothing worse than a person who thinks he/she knows everything but in reality they know nothing at all. If you truly want to become an expert in your field, you first need to be open to learning on a continual basis. Once you have mastered that, you need to be willing to share this knowledge with others. It makes absolutely no sense to have the knowledge if you aren't going to share it. Also, I thought in order for one to become an expert in his/her field, others must recognize it.
Informative post. I find it quite intriguing sometimes. I've worked at 3 high schools in my 8 years as Technology Coordinator. At every school, there is always a teacher who informs me that they have done my job, knows somebody who can do my job, or has a neice, nephew, cousin, uncle, aunt, child, who is brilliant with computers. Remember: people are not their jobs. People do their jobs. Most of us utilize 10-49% of our knowledge to function at our current positions. Why do people believe that the job you perform is all you can do? It's mind boggling.
ReplyDelete