The Value of Rookie Thinking in Your Business

Our guest expert today is Dr. Robyn Odegaard. Dr.Robyn is an expert in organizational psychology, which she uses to help teams and individuals achieve peak performance. Bio.

You’re an expert in your field or industry, and especially your business.

You have a “this is how it’s done” mindset.

When you’re trying to attain funding for the second, third, or even fourth round, you and your team might have what you think is a foolproof system that you use every time.  

Or, if you’re launching a new product or service, you’re going to hand it off to your product management team and tell them to do it the same way it’s been done in the last 5 product launches.

But what happens when the formula isn’t working? Or it’s less effective than it was the first 2 times?

That’s when you need a rookie.

Rookies’ Inquisitive Minds Break the Mold

A rookie asks: “why”

Because they aren’t an expert yet in the field, rookies are likely to examine, dissect, and ask questions about your process.

Having rookies around forces you to look at your business from a new perspective.

That doesn’t mean you should hire a t-ball player to pitch on your professional baseball team. 

A rookie can be:

• Someone close to, or parallel to, your field or industry.
• Someone who took a different path to get to the same spot in your industry.

Overcome Barriers, Make a Change, Improve Your Future 

Your “this is how it’s done” mindset is a psychological barrier.

The mindset is your past, keeping you from making changes to your future by exploring new or different ways of approaching things.

The solution to this barrier is in the present: the rookie.

And a successful future is your motivation. 

Make a change now so things are different later.

Overcoming psychological barriers is step 4 in my 5-Step Paradigm for Creating Success Out of Chaos. Apply the paradigm to your life and business for success. 

Cultivate a Culture That Gives the Rookie the Power to Help You 

Before the rookie can help you overcome your psychological barrier, you need to help them.

You need to create a space, and a culture that empowers the rookie to speak up by:

• Encouraging open communication and active listening. 
• Encouraging collaboration and teamwork.
• Providing opportunities for mentorship, training, and professional development.
• Recognizing and rewarding innovative ideas and contributions.

Creating a culture that values openness, collaboration, and diversity of thought gives the rookie the confidence and comfort to speak up.

Because of this, they’ll be more willing to share their ideas that can lead to innovative methods and help you break the psychological barrier keeping you from moving forward.

Guest Author: Dr. Robyn Odegaard

Dr. Robyn is a concierge high-performance psychologist. She provides luxury-level support to a limited number of executive, entrepreneur, celebrity, and athlete clients on everything from their personal mental and physical health to executive coaching and business strategy using her 5-Point Paradigm for Creating Success out of Chaos.