Times are tough. Money’s even tighter. Despite all these challenges, you still have to build a team. So, what are you going to do? Hire a slew of people to fit all of the positions that you need filled? No, wait. Hire less people that do multiple things… Wait! Try and find one person that does it all?
On the surface, some of these options might sound great, but in the end, it’s not going to help you or your business. And here’s why:
Expertise takes time.
It’s possible that you could go out into the world and find a few people that can do more than one thing very well. However, more than likely a person will still be better at one thing than many. There’s one simple reason for this—it takes time to learn anything. It takes 12 years to go through elementary thru high school. Another four to get through college. Longer if you decide to get a masters, a PhD, or become a lawyer or doctor. That time adds up. It takes time to become good at one thing.
Even when we’re finished with school and have more time, we start to work for 8 to 10 hours a day as we chase our careers. After all is said and done, there are only a few hours left to better ourselves, professionally and personally, in each and every day.
The reality is there are only 24 hours in a day. We sleep 6 to 8 of those, realistically. If you commute, you’re looking at maybe an extra 1-3 hours a day. Do you take breaks? Workout? Go on walks? Spend time with your family? All these things add up. So, where do you find time for self improvement? You may have about 2 to 3 hours per day for self-improvement per discipline, when all the above is said and done.
This results in a person playing expert at something they lack knowledge in, so, instead of helping you disrupt your industry, this will just disrupt your company. For as much as you may save with your perceived multitasker, this kind of disruption will only cost your company more and more money over time.
Choose experts. Not a jack-of-all-trades.
Once you start to dedicate the few hours you have remaining in the day to study one discipline, your knowledge base grows exponentially. You delve deeper into that subject, have the time to absorb, and more importantly, have the time to see how it applies to the challenges your company is facing. An additional benefit of an expert in one discipline is focus. An expert considers options, predicts problems, and finds solutions. A jack-of-all-trades wouldn’t even know where to start.
It might be nice to hire a creative director that also video edits, does motion graphics, could build a custom website from scratch, and can balance your books. Wouldn’t that be nice? But, it’s much better to hire a series of experts who can do their jobs extremely well. This is not just good for your company. It’s good for your sanity.
Author: Jason Tucker, Art Director
Editor: Nicole Cassese, Copy Editor
