Teach Them How To Fish

There's an old saying, usually attributed to Confucius, that goes something like "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you've fed him for a lifetime." There's an important life lesson in that simple statement. Some people translate it conceptually into something like "Education is the most important thing you can give someone to better his circumstances." For me I don’t believe this gets to the heart of the matter.

The translation I like goes something like this:

Give a man the answer, and he'll only have a temporary solution. Teach him the principles that led you to that answer, and he will be able to create his own solutions in the future.

It's considerably less catchy, of course, but I think this is the true meaning of Confucius’s statement.

Suppose a employee comes asking for information that they could easily collect themselves if they are given the right training and have the necessary skill set. However, you decide to give them that information because you believe it is faster and easier than trying to teach them how to collect that information. You have given him a fish.

FAIL.

Sure, you were able to help that person by solving their problem at the moment, yet you lost time. You were ineffective. Switching costs stole your efficiency.

Why is this considered a fail? If you provide all the answers and solve all the problems, you are not helping the business. If you are the person that is always providing information and yet there are others around you that could support it with the right training and experience, you would be better served to spread that wealth by teaching them how to fish.

We need to transfer knowledge or skill from a single person to others. We need to share that information. We need to train others. Turn them into teachers and allow them to teach others within your organization. They need to teach others how to become as good as they are at that particular role so they can grow and become bigger and better at what they do for the company.

The next time you are learning a new task or a new activity, something that no one else has done before, take the time to find a peer or subordinate that can help you with learning. They can grow alongside you building that new skill. They can share the burden of how that particular process works. In that effort, you are building relationships because relationships matter.

You are also teaching them how to fish.