Bloomport U

The Problem:

I worked a business transformation project back in 2002 when one of the business users complained about having to talk to three different “IT people” just to map a single business process. While IT viewed his “single business process” as three separate areas, the business user was horribly frustrated with the ridged seams built across his scope.  One conversation between the IT Expert and the business user went something like “after the document X is created, my job is done, you then need to go talk to XYZ to ask what happens next.  I don’t know what they do with it”.  The business customer was not delighted.

The solution:

About a year later, I moved into a new organization, my new VP presented me with the solution to that problem. Let’s call him Ron.

During my first join up with Ron, I mentioned having solid “expertise” in one area and Ron simply asked, “Are you an Expert or a Master, because I want a Master.”  I hesitated.  Sensing an opportunity, he launched into a long discussion about the difference between Expertise and Mastery.   His distinction between the two changed how I have approached every role since then.

Expertise vs. Mastery

Ron described “expertise” as going down deep, knowing everything there was to know within you scope of responsibility, inside and outside.  This includes taking ownership for figuring out the wicked problems within your scope of responsibility and pushing for process improvement; continually refining the process through both kaizen and step change.  Expertise was good, but it was not sufficient for Ron.

Ron went on to describe “mastery” as that same deep knowledge inside your own domain (expertise), but it includes significant expertise in the adjacencies before, after, and around the field.  Going to a supply chain example, it means that a true “Master of Purchasing” would have business and technical expertise in the purchasing domain, but she would also develop measured expertise in planning, production and some knowledge in inventory management.  Some will argue “yes, but then you overstep your bounds” and I would argue that the true Master is aware of the boundaries and what they have the authorization to comment on, and what they don’t. For those they do not, they walk the customer to the right source.

Visually, I describe Expertise as a simple bell curve that represents a person’s knowledge and two parallel lines that describe the boundaries of responsibility.  The X’s are the events / tasks / questions that an expert would clearly feel ownership for working to conclusion. The N represents an event outside of the expert’s scope, but within their scope of knowledge.  The expert might respond to the N event with something like “you need to go talk to xyz, that’s not in my scope.”

Now lets look at the Master.  The Master has the same boundaries of responsibility, the same ownership for the events inside their scope of responsibility, but look at how the knowledge level is dramatically higher in the areas around their scope.  The Y represents event outside of the expert’s immediate scope, but the Master would have the confidence to respond to the Y event with helpful input, knowing when deferring is required.  Note how the N in this case is outside the scope and knowledge area.  The Expert would clearly defer this point to someone else, whereas the Master would be curious to know the answer (if not poke at it herself).

 Why:

Building true Mastery makes business move faster.  Instead of reaching out to another Expert, the Master has the knowledge at her fingertips and can articulate cause and effects relationships across organizations.  The Master blends/eliminates seams and learns to visualize the entire picture, seeing beyond silo solutions.  From a career perspective, the Master gets called on first to work / lead the most interesting projects and work the tough issues.

How:

Practically, it makes sense to understand your own domain first, but once you get a feel for where your boundaries are, start asking questions.  How does this widget end up on my plate? Where does it come from? Where does it go to after I manipulate it?  What do they do with it downstream? What kind of issues can happen prior to it being sent to me and what kind of issues could I cause for the downstream systems?  Sit with those working around you for a day, and if you really want to develop mastery, find a way to teach a course or onboard a new person in an area other than your own. 

Ron made it clear that achieving “expertise” was only the starting point, a given or the base expectation.  To truly contribute, he needed Masters to lead his business.