Story

Is too many bad or good?

Is too many bad or good?

Too many cooks spoil the soup, goes an old saying
But folklorists see many cooks as an advantage. They say it takes four people to make a salad. A spendthrift to pour oil, a miser to add vinegar, a wise to season and a madman to stir it all up.
So what is the truth? Is too many bad or good?
Too many cooks do spoil the soup, when everyone is doing the same task.
In salad making, one of the most common flaws is an overabundance of vinegar and a miser can handle this activity well. A person with unique skill set is assigned for the activity.
The above resonates to me in our work life. A good boss does not find fault with his team members. He understands each team member's skills, abilities, strengths and weaknesses. He does more than simple delegation. He aligns the task with a person's unique skills. He shapes the task and knows when to step in with requisite support.
He knows how to best utilize his team members unique strengths and talents. He is a good leader, who wants every team member to succeed and inspires confidence in them due to his nurturing..
I salute to the bosses, from whom I picked up this insight of "shaping the task" and applied with my team members where everyone could flourish.
What is your take ? Anything to add, please?
Photo Adaptation https://pixabay.com/users/geralt-9301/
Share on

Your Comments

Similar Stories


The interview is a game and practice can boost the performance

Everyone wants to do well in the interview. Some don’t know how to do it and some are over confident. When one does not prepare, the end result in both the cases is an outcome based on chance. If we need to increase our chance to succeed in the interview game, then we need to know, learn, prepare and play this game well. The interview is also like any other game. The better get at this game, the chances of success increase. Good thing about interviews is that we can strengthen our skills with practice and improve our ability to present ourselves confidently.

If you are early in your career stage then you need to know what questions will be asked and how to prepare. What is the right approach and avoid common mistakes. You will need to learn what makes a right or wrong response? Know the questions and learn dos’ and don’ts. If you are able to do this step then you have moved up the ladder in the interview game.

Knowing is good but not enough! Career experts point out that very few candidates take the process seriously, they do not prepare at all. They simply lack preparation. Hiring is not only about job knowledge skills or your education. The job skills, education and your background does matter but how you present yourself, your responses matter more than anything else in the interview situation. This fact is surprising to most of the candidates. How can something matter more than the job skills? The good thing about responses is that we can learn correct responses and these can be improved to be more impactful. The key to improvement is to practice your responses.

In fact there is no substitute to good practice. Practice requires discipline and determination. Allocate a dedicated time slot to learn and practice the questions on a regular basis. This effort will help you hone your interview skills. This will help you know what are the common questions, how to answer well, know the dos and don’ts.