Don't do it if someone else can do it better?

[Torsten]

Hi my friends. I would like to hear your opinion on the following statement:

Don't do anything if you can get someone else to do it better than you. In other words: If there is a job you have to do and you happen to know somebody who has more exerience doing that job than you, then it's better if you get this person to do the job instead of doing it yourself.

Now what do you think of this concept?
Regards,
Torsten
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[FangFang]

Hello, Torsten
Your question is very interesting!
Imagin that you are the boss ! Of course it is a wise way to do that! As a manager you needn't know all and do all the jobs. Just assign some work to the right people who can finish them effectively. That's what a wise manager must do!
In fact when you talk about this question you have to give some premise first. That is to say in different situations things would be different. Here it is reasonable that a manager ask his smart employees to do things for him. There is a sort of employment relationship between them. We take it for granted that this manager is a wise man , and his employees work for him as "economicmen". Both the boss and the employees are obeying rules, if not someone must be out of job. Meanwhile, for the boss he must let suitable persons finish their jobs . Thus, his business won't be driven out of market . In other words he will waste human resources , which isn't consistent with the Economy Rules.
But things will be different if you change the premise. When it comes to different people and different situations the Economy Rules may not work effectively any more. Objects, conditions ,people and tasks are various. The example above can't explain all. Everybody knows it!
F.F

[medeya2012]

Hi Torsten!

First of all, I want to say everybody must get practice of his/her job before starting with it.I think if someone can't do his job perfectly yet, he can improve it while working on some project, in this way he can make progress in his job.As I know, one can improve and know perfectly his/her job only working in this work.So, when I graduate from university I'll work anywhere,then what happens if I 'll see other more professional people there who can do one job( for example mine) better than me, I must give up?????? HOw must I act in this situation? Of course, I have to try to do my best and catch up with others, if not,I'll lose my job.If I say to myself I can't do this, the other workers can do this better than me,then I'll never do this job better than they! It's just matter of time.

Also, maybe one person can't just work in some job, or it's a very big project, and needs a professional, then let that professional to work for the best results, at the end all achievements for one company( where nonprofession works ) or just you give this job to more professional worker also for your gain, for not to be embarrassed That's what I think, but yet I didn't tell everythink
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[Butterfly]

Hello, Torsten

Personally, I don't argee with this concept. Imagine what would happen if you were constantly getting somebody to do your job as they are more experienced/ older than you.

Your problem might simply be that you really have no idea how to do the job. In this case, why don't you try to learn something useful that may help you and then to do the job yourself. It must work !

I'd rather paraphrase this concept : `Don't do anything if you can ask someone to help you, and than do the job in the best way you can!`

[Tamara]

Hi

A bit tricky statement… the ‘true answer’ depends very much on the situation and on the level of the personal maturity.

Sometimes (time pressing, critical or dangerous situations) it’s obviously true, sometimes it (the attitude, I mean) just leads to stagnation (preventing gaining of own experience, as Batterfly has mentioned).

Not to mention 'division of labour' issue and its advantages...

I think, it’s normal for people, for everyone of us, to do something just knowing that there are some (many, plenty or just a few) people who could do it much better than you. With the knowing and… against it.

And, I agree again, Butterfly made a good point about cooperation (not only asking for help...) with other people.
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[Torsten]

OK, maybe it helps if we try to define the phrase 'to get another person to do that particular job for you'. As I understand it, another person will do a job for you only if you give them something of equal value in turn. You cannot force anybody to do something good against their will. Everyone of us can do certain things better than others. If you like what you do, chances are you get better at doing them. So, it makes sense to create a system in which every person does exactly what they like best and are best at doing. I think this is the secret of any successful company. Often people might not see their own potential and it takes another person who is capable of identifying the strengths of other team members and developing them.

Let's think of concrete examples, companies or other organizations (what about your family) that follow that principle? What comes to my mind is Google. Not that I am a Google employee but I have read a lot about the reasons why they have been so successful. Guess what: They try to identify what every employee is best at doing and let them do exactly those things. They also believe in the principle that if you really love a particular task you will invest time and energy to get better and better at it.
Any thoughts?
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TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[medeya2012]

HI Torsten,

I think you're absolutely right! I want to give one example from myself, when I was preparing to pass examination for university, I wanted to enter only the faculties where I will be tought languages(English, Frech or German) but my mother want me to be a teacher of Azerbaijan literature.So, I didn't want to be a teacher and used to fight with my mother , but fortunately, my father understood me and said that, if I choose the profession which I don't love,then I'll never learn it better and will not rise and be professional in my job.Choose the profession which you like most, which you enjoy of doing.At the end, I wrote faculties teaching languages, and entered with high results(point) to translation faculty I think I made the right choice
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