Results Matter: When You No Longer Can Fake It Until You Make It

“Faking it until you make it is also known as lying. Lying is usually an act reserved for CVs, kids and sociopaths.” — Adam Fletcher

Raise your hand if you’ve ever made things up, said you can do something you’ve never done before or had any idea how to do it whatsoever. If we’re honest then I guess we’re all guilty to some degree.  There’s nothing all that wrong with of faking it until we make it; that is unless we don’t achieve the results we said we would.

I recall back in the ‘90’s there was a scarcity of skilled IT sales resources who sold Enterprise Resource Planning systems in Melbourne. To win the war on talent, companies aggressively poached sales staff who had these skills on a regular basis. All was fine, except with a minority of sales personnel who didn’t have the skills they claimed they had. This saw them moving onto a new employer every 2 or so years when it was discovered they weren’t going to reach their sales targets. Some of these guys literally worked for every vendor in Melbourne and even more than once for the same vendor!!!

Good metrics generally catch out those who pretend they’re something they’re not. Employees are better off recognising where they need to improve themselves rather than waiting for an employer to discover it. This is where honesty and authenticity are critical in determining whether the individual is prepared to embrace it and upskill.

An approach to upskilling is to:

•       Understand what needs to be improved
•       Determine the activities that need to take place
•       Do it (this is the hardest part and might require a little elbow grease)
•       Review progress
•       Get help if need be

It’s true that Richard Branson said: “If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later.”

Like a fake Rolex watch doesn’t last the test of time, we can only fake it for so long. At some point, we must learn how to do it if we are to have any chance of being successful. Results matter……

About Glenn

Glenn Tranter helps businesses improve culture and performance by showing their leaders and teams how to get more done, relieve pressure and achieve better outcomes in less time. 

Glenn’s customers report productivity improvements of 100 minutes per person per day. 

Contact Glenn to explore how he helps people and businesses be more effective at what they do.