This past Monday night, I did something that comes exceptionally unnatural for me. I accepted the invitation of a friend and took both of my girls to a dance class. I knew my youngest would love it, and thought my oldest would tolerate it, so off we went.
We all learned a beginning version of the hustle. (No, don’t ask, I won’t demonstrate it for you-even if you persist.) And even though the steps were simple and clearly defined and demonstrated, I felt like a fish out of water. Totally self-conscious. Our instructor made the statement that there are 2 kinds of dancers: experienced and inexperienced. Not good or bad. Natural or unnatural.
And it made me think: it is so comfortable to do the things you’re experienced at, and often extremely uncomfortable doing the new. As a business owner, I think we all need to think thru this on multiple fronts: customers, employees, and yourself.
1. Put yourself in the shoes of a potential new customer. What can we do to take the pain out of the newness? Go over “what to expect”. Offer tutorials. Show pictures or videos to better introduce new concepts. Explain things more simply. Etc.
2. Think thru the new things we ask of our employees. Even though the veterans have already walked thru the awkward beginning, ask them what was especially tough at the beginning that could be made easier for new employees.
3. For ourselves – as we grow, we need to constantly remind ourselves we’re not bad at it, just inexperienced. I like to reframe my discomfort as progress. And a metric to know that I’m growing. That personally gives me the necessary motivation needed to push thru.
Challenge: Put yourself into all 3 view points and look for opportunities to improve.
