TRUST ME, I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING

Even if you do not know how to fix a problem, it is important to think of ways to handle it, instead of looking on helplessly

COMPETENCE goes beyond hav­ing a specific expertise. It cer­tainly means being knowledge­able and skilful in your field. But it also means possessing a problem-solving ability that goes beyond your own speciality.

Even if you do not know an answer or how to fix a problem, you will know how to go about getting some­one who does — if you have compe­tence.

Competence means having a can-do attitude and knowing how to fol­low through a problem.

You know incompetence when you see it. I speak a lot in public, and once in a while. I run into a situation where the person handling the tech­nical aspects of the event — the audio-visuals - does not know what to do when something goes wrong.

For example, there is feedback in the microphone or the projector is showing the slides crooked, and the person — who obviously has not had the right training for the job — looks on helplessly.

Some of them actually look at me to see if I know how to fix it!

I am happy to say that, the great majority of the time, I work with peo­ple who are truly competent at what they do.

When something goes wrong —like a buzz in the public address sys­tem, for instance — they may not know exactly where it is coming from, but they know how to trou­bleshoot to find it.

They check one piece of equip­ment, and then another, and then another, until they find the problem.

Exhibiting competence in knowing what you are doing, or knowing how to get something done, is communi­cated to others in a variety of ways.

There is the obvious level of actu­ally being able to do what you say you can do.

Your "non-verbals" — how you look, the sound of your voice — go a long way towards conveying compe­tence.

So does the style of behaviour you choose — whether you come across as a very casual person, or as some­one who is a professional and takes yourself seriously. Notice I said, "the style of behaviour you choose", because you do have a choice.

That is my tip on competence: You can choose to behave in a way that exudes competence, or you can choose to undercut what skills you do have by looking and acting as if you are not sure of yourself.

Your ability to gain influence with other people is dependent on how they see you, whether they judge you to be trustworthy, and whether they think you really know what you are talking about or can manage the tasks you claim you can.

You will go a long way towards gaining that trust when you are able to impress them with your compe­tence.