Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes, Habits and Talents - How do they differ?

In the article on 'Promoting people and thereby putting round pegs in square holes', I had mentioned the term 'talents and its importance'. It is absolutely a must for managers and supervisors to understand the difference, so that they can evaluate, judge and motivate people.
Knowledge:
Knowledge means knowing some subjects very well. It is the 'Know-How'. It can be acquired and learnt. It can be taught. Expertise can be acquired in a particular field of knowledge. Our entire educational system is oriented towards imparting theoretical or factual knowledge. It needs some amount of intelligence to acquire knowledge. However, one need not be a genius. Because of varying intelligence levels, some people learn things quickly and some take a longer time. It is impossible and foolish trying to acquire all available knowledge under the Sun. It is for this reason, many individuals and organizations look for super specialty in some fields. New subjects and technologies are constantly developed. Acquiring knowledge is always a strategic advantage. There are two kinds of knowledge. One is called 'factual knowledge'. This means what is known as a proven fact and taught by our teachers. The other is 'Experiential knowledge'. This is acquired through personal experience. Both are important and are mutually dependent and not exclusive.
Skills:
Skills mean knowing 'How to do' or 'Show-How'. They are capabilities in individuals that can be transferred from one person to another. Skills can also be taught. Knowing the double entry method in Book Keeping is a skill. Knowing MS Office - Excel and Word is a skill that is required in Administration. If you are Presenter, knowing PowerPoint is a skill. Doctors and Nurses need to know how to give a safe injection without pumping air into your veins and killing you. It is a skill. Mechanics, Carpenters, Plumbers, Electricians and all such manual jobs are skills. The best part of skills is that people need not know the theory behind how the things work. For example, a good mechanic repairs a car. He need not know the complete theory behind why a particular part was put there in the first place. But over a period he knows as to why it is there by experience. This is the reason large companies train mechanics free, to impart knowledge. Skills help you in acquiring factual knowledge over a period of time.
Attitudes:
Attitude means the approach, way of thinking, outlook, manner, stance, position, feelings, thoughts, mind set, opinion, point of view and posture. This is a very key component of a personality. More has been written about it than anything else in HR management. What is important is to have a positive attitude to people and situations most of the time. Attitudinal change can be brought about by counseling and mentoring. However, it needs patience, time and is very expensive. Gifted stars who have attitudinal problems need this to be done more than others who may not be that gifted.
Talents:
Talent is different. It is a unique gift in people. It cannot be taught. It cannot be acquired. Either it is there or not there. It is inborn. There are 3 kinds of talents - Striving, Thinking and Relating. Talent needs to be sold, needs to be identified, needs to be nurtured and needs to be managed. At the workplace, it is the love of perfection and precision in the work of the people concerned. How many people can become a Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods or a Roger Federer or (Late) Luciano Pavarotti or a Nadia Comeci? Many people may know the subjects concerned or have the necessary skills but only some love perfection and precision. Great Talent is often found in sportsmen and women, movie stars, painters, artists, singers, dancers, writers and sculptors. Unfortunately, talent is ignored or killed at many regular workplaces like offices and factories (see the real life example in the summary & conclusion). All people have some latent and hidden talents. It needs to be kindled, nurtured and encouraged.
Competencies:
Competencies are a combination of some specific knowledge, some specific skills and some specific talents. This term was developed by the British Military during World War II to identify special people for difficult and dangerous assignments. Generally, Special Forces involved in commando or covert operations need such competencies. Over a period of time it was absorbed into business management jargon like many other military terms. It is better not to use this term singularly as it can be misleading. If you want to become an astronaut, you need some special competencies.
* Brigadier General Dan Flickinger had to select 7 people for the NASA's 'Putting a man on the Moon' program way back in the 1960s. He had to pick and train 7 people, who were not taller than 5 feet 11 inches, in perfect physical condition, highly intelligent, skilled graduates of military test pilot school and with minimum 1500 hours of flying fighter jet aircrafts. He found Alan Sheppard, Gus Grissom, John Glen, Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra, Gordon Cooper and Deke Slayton*.
Most admire Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin to be the first men on the moon. The above 7 courageous and great men were responsible for that achievement because they took very high risks in agreeing to be shot in space inside a rocket first. What was going on in Col. Yuri Gagarin's mind when he was shot in space inside a Soviet rocket as the first man ever? Were all these astronauts and cosmonauts sure of coming back safely to earth? What was in the 17 year old Crown Prince Alexander's mind when he sailed out of Macedonia to conquer the whole old world before he became 'the great’? One quality that is often forgotten by many is the ability of pioneers to take great risks in stepping into the unknown. It is fairly easy to be a follower and to do what is known and established. Pioneering calls for extraordinary leadership qualities.
Habits:
The term habit is often mixed up with talents and skills by many. Habits result out of self discipline and self control or the lack of it. Habits form in the cradle and continue till death. Parents, Teachers and Good Friends have a great role to play in inculcating good habits. We also acquire good and bad habits through our acquaintances and associations. If you always arrive on time for appointments, it is a good habit inculcated and not a talent or a skill. We must ensure that our bad habits do not affect our effectiveness and efficiency at the workplace. Nobody is born bad. A thief is not born a thief. It is the society that makes a person a thief or a bad person. It then becomes a habit in such people because it is easy money. It is not easy to change bad habits in people. If their bad habits affect the workplace, they will have to face the consequences. If not, it hardly matters.
Summary & Conclusion
Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization in their book 'First Break all the Rules' (Published by Simon & Schuster, New York, USA, 1999 - ISBN 0-684-86138-0) wrote that managers should focus more on Knowledge, Skills and Talents and less on habits and attitudes. I agree fully with them and commend them for this astute observation after a great amount of research. While attitudes are important, there is no point in having too many good natured but ineffective souls at the workplace. We need to get things done by people, whether with good or bad attitudes. While attitudes are important in team building, all people may not have the same type of attitudes. There is bound to be some disagreement between people. We can't expect everyone to agree to one point of view. At the end, people must agree to disagree but get on with the job. A team has to deliver results in a specific time frame. That is of paramount importance. Try to find talented people with good attitudes. If you find talented people but with attitudinal problems, you need to understand, control and motivate them. Find out what is bothering them. Find out what turns them on. They may be more useful to organization in the long run. Bad attitudes result out of associations with people who set bad examples, bad personal work experiences, personal or family problems, frustrations and disappointments. Help them in such cases. You will soon have them eating out of your hands. There are some critical situations when we need aggressive and bold people to get us out of trouble. There is always a reason for people exhibiting bad or wrong attitudes and behavior. Sometimes, people behave aggressively out of fear. Eliminate those fears. Aggressive instinct is not always bad as painted to be. It needs to be controlled. The aggressive instinct in people must be turned into a tactical or a strategic advantage. It needs great management skills and leadership qualities to do just that. I will end this article with a small real life example.
Tihar Jail in New Delhi, India is one of the most notorious and dangerous places in the world. It has convicts, murderers, death row inmates, drug peddlers and such undesirable elements within its precincts. Even the toughest cops find it difficult to handle the prisoners there. Ms. Kiran Bedi nee Ahuliwalia is a very senior IPS officer and a highly respected, bold and very capable lady. She led a baton charge alone on an unruly mob which is in the annals of police history in India. She is a former national lawn tennis champion. She took charge of this notorious jail a few years ago. She brought about a transformation in the inmates there. She is very honest, aggressive, combative and outspoken. She cared two hoots for the political bosses. What was her reward for the commendable job done? She was bypassed and she did not get to be promoted as the Commissioner of Police of New Delhi a few months ago. If India had some more cops like her, it will be a far better place. There is an old saying in my mother tongue - Donkeys do not know the smell of camphor.

© Copyright, Written on March 24, 2008. All rights reserved



Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes, Habits and Talents - How do they differ? - To learn more about this author, visit Madhavan T Gopalachary's Website.

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