“Look Out Below!”
May 12, 2009
Usually it is a good idea to let an expert take care of issues that arise that you are not qualified to handle yourself. Don’t be afraid to ask for help!
Many times we find ourselves overwhelmed by a huge project or a rapidly approaching deadline. Part of the reason for this can be our tendency to try and take on too much of the load ourselves and our inability to seek or accept help from others. As the following example illustrates, sometimes the solution to a complex problem can be as simple as getting help from the right people at the right time.
Having grown up in an apartment in New York City, I never had the opportunity to learn how to work with tools like most kids who lived in the suburbs or out in the country. In the city, we didn’t build decks or landscape the backyard. When something went wrong we called the “super” (short for superintendent) who took care of the building and who fixed any problems in our apartment.
Today, I live in a house in the suburbs. Unfortunately there is no super to call when something needs to be fixed so even with my limited mechanical ability I have to take care the problem or find someone who can.
After a hurricane had come through our town and had left behind a backyard full of fallen trees, I had phoned a friend to borrow his chainsaw so that I could clear away some of the wood and debris. Fortunately, knowing my limited skill with power tools, my friend quickly replied, “No, absolutely not” and instead came over and cut up most of the fallen trees for us.
Anyway, we still had this huge poplar tree that had survived the storm but was all but dead. It was obvious to us that at some point in time, another hurricane or high wind would take down that tree. And since it was leaning towards the house, we thought it would be a good idea to take it down soon.
Needless to say, I wasn’t going to do it myself. But I knew right where to turn. We had worked with a father and son team earlier when we had landscaped our yard and knew they had the expertise to do the job.
You see, they couldn’t just cut the tree down, since there really was nowhere it could land without damaging some part of the house or yard. They would have to drop it in several large pieces.
I felt like a little kid the day this team of men took down the tree. I stood around with my hands in my pocket and my head cranked back watching in awe as one of the men strapped a belt around the tree and used special climbing spikes attached to his shoes to quickly scramble to the top. This he did with ease even while he had a heavy chainsaw dangling from his tool belt. When he got near the top, he shouted to one of the men to clear a spot about ten feet from the trunk of the tree. He then examined the tree for several seconds from a couple different angles and made two cuts.
The top section of the tree fell with a loud thud and landed precisely where he had indicated. He pointed to another spot on the ground about four feet away and dropped the next section there. This went on about a dozen times until all that was left was a stump in the ground.
I felt I was watching an artist at work. His weathered, worn face and hands made him look much older than he actually was (mid fifties) and gave the impression that he had been honing his craft for many, many years. In fact, his assistant told me that he had been cutting down trees since he was 15 years old. This was clearly someone who had the benefit of experience.
At the time, I remembered thinking that there were two valuable lessons to be learned here. First, no amount of book studying could provide you with the level of expertise needed to work as precisely as he did. And secondly, it is always best to have the most qualified person perform a job that demands specific expertise.
You see, as leaders, we tend to think we have to know how to do it all and that asking for assistance is a sign of weakness. In fact, it’s not necessary to know everything, only to know where to find the right people who have the knowledge or the information you seek.
As you begin to tackle a complicated problem, try not to take on the entire weight of the project yourself. Rather try to find the person with the expertise who can help you deal with it – one piece at a time.
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