Page 173 - Make Work Great

From Contributor to Advisor

remember personal experiences in the context of an intense lesson,
a kind of “note to self”: your bad manager didn’t set fi rm expecta-
tions about your regular reports, and it caused a huge problem. The
moral of your story is that managers should always be specifi c about
reporting requirements. That’s a good lesson for you, but it may have
nothing to do with your advisee’s problem with Mary.
You can—and no doubt will—use your experience as one frame-
work for understanding other people’s situations. It is important,
however, to remember that it has limits.

The Framework of Models
Models, or the concrete representation of abstract ideas, are every-
where. They come at every level of specifi city, from how to conceptu-
alize a corporate revenue stream to how to wire a light switch. The
right model can be a powerful advisory tool: if you can take another
person’s situation, help analyze it using a relevant model, and together
draw conclusions from the results, you have the platform for giving
some truly outstanding advice. If, during the process, you’re also able
to draw parallels between the conclusions the model suggests and
your personal experiences, your advice will be that much more pow-
erful and memorable.
Advising with models also has its own set of challenges. For one
thing, your analysis and conclusions are only as relevant as the model
you choose. The sheer number of available models can be overwhelm-
ing, and it’s easy to inadvertently pick one because of its familiarity
or ease of use rather than its appropriateness to the situation. As
Abraham Maslow said, “When the only tool you have is a hammer,
it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail.”
Perhaps more importantly, if the model is too complex or abstract,
or if your advisee is resistant to it for some reason, you’ll fi nd your-
self derailed, caught in a conversation about the model instead of the
situation. If you’re not able to provide some linkage from the model
back to your personal experience (a story or example to support its
practicality), then you’ll have eliminated the personal connection that

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