I’ve observed something interesting lately, and to be honest it has me a little confused. When tasks or projects are being established and assigned, I’m seeing people not wanting to work on a project or task when asked. “I don’t have any experience in that area,” they say. “I’ve never done it before.”

The reason this is confusing to me is because that has been true for everyone for everything at one point or another. There was always a first time that you worked on some particular task. But you must have said yes to taking that task, and you managed to figure it out and get it done, and now you have that skill and experience.

The narrative here is simple. If You Never Say Yes To Doing Anything You Haven’t Done Before, Then You Will Never Grow.

There’s a corollary to this, which is that not only is it important to do new things, it is also important to know HOW to learn and do new things. If you were asked to do something that you don’t know how to do, what would you do to figure out how to do it? I have witnessed people who will stand there, arms folded, and say, “The company needs to send me to training.” Now I’m all for, as an organization, supporting people in their skill growth, especially if it is their job duties. But there’s a balance between demanding training and taking initiative. Can you find an online class (that the company will pay for)? Are there free videos (that you can watch on company time)? Can you find a book or free online materials to read (as part of your day-to-day job)?

I have no problem giving people time during their workday to learn how to do something, but I also need people to lean forward with being willing to take the time to do the learning, which might mean figuring out HOW to do the learning.