The Curse of the Experts

Every growing business sometimes needs an infusion of critical expertise. If you need to expand online, you'll need an IT expert. If you want to increase your press exposure, you'll hire a PR expert. If you need to maximize your return on investment, you'll hire a qualified accountant or financial adviser.

But we're often our own worst enemies when it comes to experts. In thrall of their expertise, we bring them into our business and say, "Do your thing." We abdicate our leadership position, often compromising our vision in favor of someone else's -- someone who doesn't understand our goals and expectations for the business. And when things then go horribly awry, the result is what I call the Curse of the Experts.

Don't waste your money

Let me start with an example. I have a client I'll call Ken. When he first came to see me, he was at wit's end. His health care supply company was growing, but he struggled with an undisciplined office staff and haphazard salespeople.

"Where did you find these employees?" I asked.

"I ran an ad, emphasizing that experienced is required," he answered. "I then hired the most highly experienced people and paid them well."

"And yet your business is paralyzed by chaos and you're captive to your staff," I ventured. He shot me a how-did-you-know look. "Yes, and even worse, I paid a pin-striped, spit-shined expert to solve the problem. This over-educated so-called "organizational specialist" arrived with clipboard in hand, brimming with self-assurance and technical expertise. I told him to 'fix things.'

"Two months and thousands of dollars later, the expert produced an impressive array of charts and recommendations that proved - quite decisively - that he knew nothing about my business problems or how to solve them. What a waste of money!"

Employ expert systems, not expert people

Next, Ken hired an office manager who claimed expertise as an organizer and morale booster. "I'll whip the troops into shape," she promised. "The office will purr like a well-tuned engine."

Before long, the business was indeed running more smoothly. Employees arrived at work on time, morale was better, sales people were more attentive, and revenue increased. But with the challenge gone, the office manager got bored, claimed victory, and quit.

At this point, I suggested that his problem was not in employing experts, but rather in not employing expert systems. While the office manager truly did deliver the goods, when she left there was no system established that could sustain her efforts. I urged Ken to identify critical office operations, such as reception, inventory control, lead conversion, and billing, and to create expert systems for those operations that anyone could run.

Ken reevaluated the qualities each operational function required, and discovered he needed employees who were articulate, flexible, and able to listen and follow instructions. Most of all, they needed to project confidence and competence. Looking around, Ken was struck by how few of his employees actually possessed those qualities! He had always hired people for their expertise, expecting competence to follow.

What can you do?

Do you recognize your business in this scenario? What can you do to keep the Curse of the Experts at bay? Before you think about putting "experience required" in your want ads, consider whether you're really hoping to find someone who possesses true expertise, or simply the capability of performing certain required tasks.

Look for enthusiastic folks who can soak up your systems, learn to run them, and come together as a strong, cooperative team. Break the curse, my friends. Realize that expert systems can provide all the "expertise" you really need.

Check List:

• Consider if you really need to rely on an expert at all
• Develop expert systems in all operational areas, and hire staff with the skills to follow and operate those systems
• Make sure your staff understands the goals and expectations you have for the business
• Hire for requisite qualities such as competence and flexibility, not experience