Reluctant lessons

I’ve been at the same company for twenty years. I am currently the training “guy” and I spend most of my day fielding questions. Questions about how does this work and where can I find that. I have come to the realization that basically people fall into two groups in the work place. One group plugs along getting things done but never seems to fully understand how what they do fits into the scheme of everything and they often times don’t have any idea of the content of what they do; they just do. The other group has the capacity for understanding of how all the pieces fit together. This group however isn’t so good at getting anything done; all experts and no execution. I fall into the later group and the people in my group answer the questions from the first group. Now I understand that the first group has the capability for understanding and occasionally they slow down long enough and soak it in but it usually gets in the way of getting things done and in their minds accomplishing the task is more important and ultimately more satisfying. The group I belong to finds the interactions more interesting than the final score. I’ve been to many a seminar on “personality inventories” and I am trained on one of the more business oriented assessments. They are all very similar and usually put you in some “quadrant” that identifies your communication tendencies. The irony of it all is that the best teams have equal parts from both groups and these two groups almost never get along. Sure they tolerate each other but when it comes right down to it the “doers” are frustrated and annoyed with the “dreamers” and vise versa. Each group finds it extremely difficult if not impossible to see the world from the others perspective. Just think of the last intense argument you were in or witnessed. Why we are different and why we struggle are questions that don’t really have answers. The “why’s” usually don’t make any sense anyway and it is the outcomes that provide value. The battles are what teach us who we are and who we’re not. The people that cause friction in our lives act as mirrors. They reveal in us what we can’t see by ourselves. The trick is to have the courage to look in the mirror and the strength to not break it. I havent figured this out yet but I intend to keep trying.