Bite Me is a special 14-installment series based on an undercover stint at a supermarket to draw out lessons on how to better relate to challenging colleagues in the workplace and how to be a better colleague.

These “profiles” are based on real people who wanted free food.

It’s cheeky and deliciously honest.

To read the others:
Introduction
The Humble
The A-Hole
The Slob
The Negative
The Snob
The Mute
The Righteous
The Culturally Insensitive
The Oblivious
The Frazzled
The Hanger-On

The Dilettante
develop an expertise

The Personality

The Dilettante loves samples. They flit from sample table to sample table, never fully stopping to engage or find out exactly what they’re eating or why it might be a product they would want to purchase. The Dilettante doesn’t like to commit. They’re nice and somewhat knowledgeable, but their knowledge may be a bit surface-level.

They flit by my table, asking me what it is I’m offering. They take it, makes a comment about how they prefers a particular cut of smoked uncured bacon. I figure they knows what they’re talking about, so I inform them the bacon contains no nitrates.

Then they say, “Nitrates, bitrates. Another made-up thing no one knows about!” I realize that they don’t really know about bacon or how it’s made. The Dilettante knows just enough to sound somewhat knowledgeable. If they were at a cocktail party, they might do fine if limited to one or two sentence conversations shared over a Swedish meatball, but their expertise ends there.

Before I can explain what nitrates are, they flit away, uninterested in learning more. I watch the Dilettante flit to the next table, nodding and saying something that sounds reasonable and genuine and then flits away again to graze elsewhere. And so they go.

It’s Not Me, It’s You….

At work, the Dilettante is the Jack-of-all-trades, but not necessarily in a good way. They know how to do a little bit of everything enough to sound like they know. They know how to fix your printer settings, but for only two functions. They know the lingo surrounding new product market entry, but don’t’t know the strategy behind it. They know how to read a balance sheet, but not how to reconcile it with an income statement.

The Dilettante sounds impressive at first with their vast array of knowledge, but they don’t ever stick with one thing to learn it well. They might get a lot of projects at first, but soon, they will be bypassed for colleagues who have taken the time to develop an expertise in one or two areas.

While the Dilettante is great for cocktail parties, he may get overlooked for long-term potential and promotions because he knows a little about a lot, but has little sticking power.

It’s Not Me, It’s You….

• Delegate. It’s easy for the Dilettante to get away with flitting around if they don’t have a specific role or set of responsibilities. By delegating clear to-dos, which require a level of expertise, they must step up or it will become evident that they may not belong in the team. Delegating the work – and ensuring they have the resources and support to develop the skills – can help them deepen their sense of belonging and need within the team.
• Set project milestones. Setting longer-term milestones can help the Dilettante to have a roadmap on where they need to go and what skills they have to develop in order to get there. By making these metrics clear and public, there will be fewer excuses for abandoning mid-way.
• Leverage versatility. Consider whether the role they are currently in is the most appropriate. Perhaps their strength is the range of their versatility – and that even if they may not be known for depth, their breadth can make him a clutch player

It’s Me…

• Find and be known for something. You don’t need PhD-level knowledge in everything or any one thing, for that matter. But finding one or two things that truly interest and excite you to dig a little deeper. Having a few areas of greater expertise not only gives you a sense of motivation to learn, but being known for particular areas of expertise builds your credibility and trust with others. It also allows you to stand out more in a crowd. Others will seek you out for your insight.
• Transfer knowledge. While early in your career, being a generalist was an incredible way to train and learn. Now is not the time to stop learning things outside your areas of expertise, but rather, to be wiser in applying knowledge and skill in one area to other. It’s not rocket science (unless it is); but it stretches your depth and breadth.
• Share with others. Share what you know with others. You don’t have to the expert to teach, but when you get excited about something, sharing your insight with others may motivate others to learn and deepen your own learning. As the saying goes, teaching is the best way to learn.