If you don’t know something it’s ok to say so. I doesn’t matter if it’s your first day on the job or your 15th year. We can’t be experts in all things all of the time.
To say you don’t know takes…
- Curiosity – if you want to be successful, be curious about what you don’t know. Curiosity increases your potential to learn, grow and improve and it demonstrates an interest and eagerness to develop your skills.
- Courage – you have to be courageous to admit you don’t know something but recognise, sometimes it isn’t because you lack skill. It might be because someone hasn’t explained something in a way that you understand.
- Communication – be aware of how you like to receive information and respectfully ask for it. People have different communication styles and one person’s ‘full and unabridged explanation’ may be your ‘passing comment’.
Being open about what you don’t know gives you the chance to know better next time.
“Do the best you can until you know better, then when you know better, do better”
Maya Angelou
If you’re not prepared to be vulnerable you’ll never grow!
The only stupid question is the one never asked, right?