Do you suffer from the “knowing-doing gap”?
Sunday, February 26th, 2006In the last month, two different people emailed me to say that they already knew the information I published in my articles. Or that it was old information recycled.
Interestingly, at the same time they commented that they were overwhelmed or frustrated at work, or wanted to improve their professional effectiveness in some manner.
Hmmm… I thought. If you already know the information in my articles, why do you still have the problem?
So let’s explore this topic a bit more.
We often know exactly what we should do — like eating healthily, exercising, and so on — and yet, we don’t do it.
Can you relate to it? Yes, me too!
Well, the same phenomenon shows up in our professional lives as well.
We know exactly what we need to do to be more productive at work, to network successfully, to be a better listener, or a more effective leader.
And yet, we don’t actually do what we know we need to do, to make all this happen.
This is the “knowing-doing gap”, as described by the authors of the book The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action
Before we can look at how to close this gap, however, we must be clear about one thing: there are different kinds of “knowing”.
For example, you can “know” a lot about playing tennis or cooking gourmet meals by reading about it. However, this kind of “knowing” is very different from the “knowing” you get from actually playing tennis or cooking those gourmet meals.
So, you may know about all the principles that will help you to consistently play well, or the different techniques to enhance your game, from reading about it. But until you actually get onto the tennis court and do these things, a gap exists between what you know how to do, and what you can actually do.
OK, back to closing this “knowing-doing gap”:
If we already know what we need to do, to accomplish our goals, why don’t we just do them?
Well, there can be many reasons for this. However, in my experience, one of the most common reasons is “fear”.
Fear of failing, fear of making mistakes, fear of “looking bad”… I’m sure you can add to the list!
“Fear” is one thing perpetuates this knowing-doing gap.
So how can you overcome this fear and start closing the gap?
Well, here are a couple of ways:
- Expand your comfort level at being a beginner (and all the awkwardness that comes with it), so that you can do what you know you need to do, to become the expert that you want to be.
What I mean is this: Doing anything implies that you start by being a “beginner” at it. For example, you cannot become a tennis pro without being a novice first. And being a novice or a “beginner” automatically means that you will make mistakes.
There’s no way around this — sorry! So learn how to be comfortable at being a “beginner” in any area.
- Whenever possible, learn new things by “doing”, and/or teaching or mentoring others (vs. reading or studying about it only).
There is no “knowing-doing gap” when you learn (i.e. get to know) by doing. For example, if you never read anything about tennis, and learn everything about it by only playing and practicing, you can become an excellent player. On the other hand, if you just read about it and never actually play, you cannot become a good player, let alone an excellent one.
The same is true in any other area. So always look for ways to do or apply and practice what you read about or learn right away, to prevent or at least minimize this gap.
Sounds so simple, right?
Well, yes — and as we all know, “simple to understand” is not the same as “easy to do”. (There’s that “knowing-doing gap” again!)
So, if you need help doing what you already know you should do, seriously consider what kind of help that would be.
Perhaps you know what to do, but not how to do it. Or perhaps you know how to do it, but need feedback from another person on a regular basis to review your progress or fine-tune your approach. Whatever it is, once you identify what you need, at least take that ONE step and get it!
As I mentioned, I help people close this gap. Contact me if you want to explore how you can close this gap.
