As weird as this topic might seem, it is a very important aspect of our everyday lives. In several cases, we want to start something new or be a part of something new but we don’t seem to have the needed knowledge it takes to excel in this venture we want to embark on, that is where stealing comes to play.
I found myself in a dilemmatic situation once where I had just gotten a new job at this organization but I had no prior knowledge of what the job would require of me but they had seen the potential and decided to employ me. On resuming the job, we had a pitch meeting quite immediately and I was excited as much as I was scared because as the new employee, it was unmissable for every question asked to not be thrown at me because they wanted to know my “fresh” point of view. As the meeting commenced, I sat and watched as a select few of the employees always had something to say about every new topic raised and the other few were in the same boat as me, either dodging the questions or just lost. In the middle of my perusing, a question was thrown at me, I was caught off guard and everyone in the room was now looking at me waiting to hear this “fresh” perspective but in all honesty, I had nothing to say as I began beating around the bush for an answer to magically come to me. After the dreadful meeting, I decided to employ the S.T.E.A.L approach to help me avoid such a situation next time.
The S.T.E.A.L approach goes like this:
S – SELECT: This is the first step that requires you to find the person you will want to begin “stealing” from. You might have more than one person that you admire or look up to, this step allows you to focus on these people to begin the steal approach. In my case, I found a fellow employee I admired, this employee embodied excellence in the office. She is creative, spontaneous and thinks so well on her feet so she was the best person to select to facilitate the approach.
T – TAIL: To tail is to simply follow or keep a close eye on someone. Now that you have selected the lucky person you would be stealing from, it’s time to tail the person. Follow the person to see how the person operates. You can even go ahead to let the person know that you would be attaching yourself to them for a while till you accomplish the steal approach.
E – EVALUATE: You are successfully following this lucky individual so it’s time to evaluate this person. For your evaluation, you need to ask yourself, is this person going to help me grow? Does this person actually have a thought process or it’s just on the spur of the moment? What does this person do differently that makes following them worthwhile? Would following this person be a waste of your time? You might go ahead to take random questions to the person to just find out what the person’s answer would be. After a successful evaluation, you are on to the next step, which is to analyze. If the person does not pass your evaluation, its back to step 1.
A – ANALYZE: This step is simply deconstructing what this person does to excel in detail and finding ways to implement it in your life. Everyone has a unique way of carrying out tasks effectively that you might not have known, you have to break down how this person operates and what they do to finish tasks effectively. This would help you find the loop holes in your own process and you will also find out things new things to help you act effectively. With this in mind, you can now conclude the whole approach by learning.
L – LEARN: You have successfully studied this individual to the letter and you know how he/she operates, what makes them tick and how they excel at what they do, it’s time to learn from it all and implement the needed aspect in your life or process. If you are still unsure, do not be afraid to ask questions from this individual for clarification. Make it a habit to always learn after you have studied someone, it will help you become better at what you intend to do and you will stand out.
In everything we do, we should not be afraid to S.T.E.A.L when necessary because it is one approach that is designed to help everyone get better in whatever area they decide to use it. Tell us in the comments section, if you would be employing this approach and for what reason.
