#GuildChat for 08/05/16: Jack of All Trades or Master of One?

Our next #GuildChat takes place Friday, August 5 at 11AM PT/2PM ET. In our topic this week we’re discussing the value of being a Jack of All Trades or a Specialist.

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Organizations have needs in many areas and often hire for a specific skill set. L&D is no different. Yet like many areas, needs and direction can shift. New business focuses or new technology can shake the very foundation of your “expertise.”

So, where is it best to position yourself? Should you go all in and truly become a master of your craft or is it better to play the edges and have a good but not deep understanding in many areas related to learning and development.  What if you feel you have no choice and are thrust into one or the other? What next? There are risks and there are rewards.

Join the community this Friday as we tackle the issue around should we specialize or diversify in our skill sets.

Prospective questions:

Q1. Which have you focused on being – A Jack/Jill of All Trades or a Master of One? Why?
Q2. Which is riskier today? Going deep in one skill or knowledge or being broad in many? Why?
Q3. What are the benefits of just specializing in a few areas?
Q4. What are the challenges of building a basic level of broad skills but never going deep?
Q5. When it comes to L&D skills, is depth always better than breadth?
Q6. How do you decide when it makes more sense to hand off a task to an expert over learning the skill yourself?
Q7. How do you go about diving deep on learning a new skill?
Q8. Should the balance between breadth and depth be the same for every member of L&D? Why/Why not?

 

Missed the chat? Don’t worry – you can still read through what happened on Storify!

 

 

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