Three knives
I recall, when I was in the grades, we only had three knives. One medium-sized, one that seemed to rule most of the cutting requirements. It was straight and sharp and was used to fillet the fish or slide beef to the thin. Slicing everything from meat to vegetables and spices. Our other knife was larger and it was used mainly for chopping. While the other was serrated, and I guess that feature was needed to cut the bread.
Those were the knives we used until I left home and those were the same knives we used every time I would return to our ancestral place. Three knives. All efficiently serving their purpose and faithfully holding on to remain useful until their handles gave up on them and it was hard to suit another one in.
Now we have all sorts of knives. I never knew then that there were several types for every kind of cutting need. We just relied on three.
But in a brief tete-a-tete with one of the grocery chain owners, I realized that we only needed one good, versatile knife to do all the needed kitchen cutting. For her, it would take only one sharp instrument to do most of the slicing needed in the kitchen as most of the bone chopping is already done at the grocery stores or meat shops.
Having one knife that works reduces kitchen clutter. As long as it remains sharp, and is continually sharpened, it will serve its purpose until it is retired.
This reminds me of some of the workers now-a-days. In the workplace, we find some people like knives overused with so many cutting jobs that need to be done all at the same time. Inadvertently they get destroyed due to the many tasks that have to be fulfilled even if the capacity of that one knife is only for a particular kind of material. If this were a person, the worker would be overwrought and bedraggled and would either burnout faster or breakdown.
In other workplaces we also find dull knives. No longer useful and better rested, as they only add to disarray and present a wrong image. But there are reasons for the knife’s being dull. Sometimes, if left unused for a long time, it is no longer sharp. Not using the available skill in the workplace will also create dull demotivated people. Again, if we think of knives, overstocking them would also result to less utilization of available resources. Applied to people, having too many employees to accommodate favors will likewise end up with unused manpower and will leave the hired labor idle and superfluous. A dire waste of resources!
Still I prefer the wisdom of having appropriate knives, like the ones we used at home. Each serving a purpose. Like at work, having a designated function that does not overlap or overload a person will strengthen the organization.
Having only one knife, or just one skilled person, may in a way increase the skill of that person as he or she multi-tasks, but it may also overstretch him mentally and physically. It also creates a shallow the bench for succession. If that one knife is lost, then the whole process of concise production may also be shaken.
So let us choose our people well, give them specific tasks that will make them feel accomplished in the end and tool them if needed. Sharpen them with training, exposure and motivation. In today’s world, we are constantly challenged to keep our good people just as we need to declutter. We have to be open but focused. Pragmatic yet creative. We need to communicate with candor but remain purposive.
Even knives need sharpening, oiling, and a good place to be kept. So do people.
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