SOMEONE TELL ME HOW!

I'M SICK AND TIRED OF WHY AND WHAT- SOMEONE TELL ME HOW!

It’s just NOT ON and I know many right-minded people will agree with me. I don’t want to be told all the time “You should do this, and You should do that” like some spaced out Christopher Walken dance video.

No! I want to be told HOW to do it!

Why is it so difficult to find out the steps we should take to get a perfectly good suggestion (WHAT) in place? I think I know the answer… It requires a bit of work.

“So, so much easier to write like a writey thing about what other people should do. Gives one such a warm glow that one has helped a lesser being, darling! The alternative is too, too demanding! Perish the thought of giving valuable energy to actually showing the Great Unwashed Masses HOW to do something!! And anyway, I don’t actually know.”

I read an article this morning on effective recruitment for SMEs. It was in an online magazine for entrepreneurs. There was a list of 10 things detailing WHAT I should do. I counted the sub-tasks in the same article. There were 23 little gems … such as “develop a competency matrix for all your roles”. How? Well, it’s obvious, innit! No, it’s not.

As a time-served HR, I have done this competency stuff several times, and it is very hard work. And I didn’t have to run a business, manage staff, make sales, pay the bills, find out what the bloody hell is digital marketing (is that like letting your fingers do the walking in the Yellow Pages?) at the same time.

So the chances of an SME owner completing the 23 sub-tasks necessary to make the advice worth-while are slim to zero.

We did a bit of research and found out that a very large percentage of information on the internet for SME owners, managers and employees is all about the WHAT.

And a very small percentage is about the HOW. And where there is some, it’s tied to consulting hours, commitments to software, etc. and why is that? Because traditionally the HOW bit has been the province of teachers. These days it’s the province of Consultants.

Rule No. 1 of Consulting: Don’t give away your Intellectual Property. If you show a client how to fish, you’ll be out of a job. Better to keep them cutting bait, so they feel involved, but are still ignorant.

We (Businessmentals) were recently accused by an Aussie consultant (who works for one of the global, Big 4 consulting firms), of “democratizing the consulting space and letting everyone know the trade secrets on how to get things down.”

Now I’ve been cursed at a few times in my life, but none were as sweet as that.