Your Business Has A Skill/Will Issue

Knowing where you are in the matrix can help skyrocket your results.

Photo by Daniel Chekalov on Unsplash

The skill/will issue usually works like this: Let’s say one of your employees, John, can’t seem to get the work right. You take some time out to have a chat. But John’s answers are disappointing. Not because they’re confirming your concerns about his work. But because they’re not helping you understand the nature of the problem. You sense that John himself might not understand the nature of the problem.

This is when the skill vs. will management model, popularized in the book The Tao of Coaching by Max Landsberg, can be effective. Landsberg states that when coaching on a specific task, there is always a combination of skill and will guiding an employee’s actions. Once you assess the coachee through this lens, you can apply the right coaching style for the best results.

• Low skill and low will: Needs direction
• Low skill and high will: Needs guidance through training
• High skill and low will: Needs motivation
• High skill and high will: Needs delegation

Let’s switch gears a bit. This concept helps hundreds of thousands of managers worldwide. They can apply the right skill, guidance, and motivation necessary to bring about change. However, this matrix can apply to almost everything, even our business. When we’re stuck or not sure where to start, we need to ask ourselves if we’re having a skill or a will issue. It also takes tremendous honesty and self-awareness if we want to progress. For example:

Do you know how to sell to increase your revenue?

If you don’t, you lack the skill and need training. If you lack the skill and well, you need both training and mentorship.

Do you want to do it?

If you know how to do it but don’t want to, you’re demotivated. It’s time to explore why. If you have high skill and will, it may be time to hire.

You’re in a space to train others and multiply your income.

That way you can work on other areas of the business where you have a high will, but low skill.