The value of experience can be hard to judge. You only know for sure when you find yourself in a situation that demands it, and you perform – or not.

I’ve been reminded of this whilst working on a project for an SME client that’s involving a significant rollout of product across the UK. Unsurprisingly, there have been some challenges and I’ve been able to draw on experience from my days in the Auto industry, in particular about how to handle supplier quality issues.

The steps I developed were to first focus on fixing the problem, then clearing up the fall out, and finally investigating why it happened.

Without the right experience, it’s easy to get oneself, and others, bogged down in the less important items. Looking back at one role I did earlier in my career, as MD of a car component company, with hindsight I could see that I spread myself too thin. I had to think hard on every move as I didn’t have the prior experience to just “know” what needed to be done, and in what sequence. 

To give some context, there were problems to be dealt with in virtually every area: behind on a multitude of new projects, high scrap levels, poor quality (and unhappy customers), lack of business in one overseas subsidiary, a problematic start up of a new plant in another, cost overruns, no long term strategy… 

My mistake was trying to do a bit on all of them and in particular initiating work on developing a strategy. But as any experienced business person would spot, the issue that really needed to be dealt with cash flow. If that didn’t get fixed, we wouldn’t be around for any new projects or fancy long term strategy! Learning from the experience, I now work with a clear list of priorities: cash, existing customers, new customers. 

In many situations, you can work your way through. Experience is less important as you have time to consider your next move. It’s only in crisis situations, where there can be little margin for error, that experience is worth so much.

What I value most about experience is:

• Knowing what to do instinctively – picking the right things to focus on and what to leave out
• Knowing how to do things – in particular handling a variety of people
• Having a nose to sniff out whether something is a big issue or not
• Having a big contact base – being able to call up others for advice straightaway and having people I know and trust
• No – or at least few - surprises.  I’m less likely to be shocked by something, and better able to anticipate. It helps me to keep calm in crisis situations, with clearer thinking and lower risk of panic measures

It all adds up to the ability to focus effort more effectively and get results faster. So to the crunch question – how to get it and get old ahead of your years?

• Being on the planet for longer helps! Although, in my opinion, having a range of experiences is just as important as having depth of experience in just one field
• Ensure you’re getting good quality of experience. The things I most value now are having handled high pressure situations – for instance product launches, cash flow problems, operational problems, presentations to Boards of plc’s, preparing and delivering a major address to over 1700 people – in German etc. My recommendation would be to seek out challenges that continue to stretch you – whatever stage you’re at in your career. Of course they carry a risk of failure – but if you stay in your comfort zone, you’ll never get the scar tissue that makes up truly valuable experience
• Observe and learn from others. You’ll be in contact with people with more experience than you – perhaps in different fields – whether at customers, suppliers or high profile business people through the media. Take the time to notice what they do and understand their approaches. They’re likely to have developed strategies to handle all kinds of situations that crop up in business.

For most people it’s inevitable that the older you get the more experience you have, so it really does pay to be old and to have older employees around you (preferably mixed in with younger ones). If you want the experience of an older person then seek out opportunities to grow and stretch yourself. If you’re willing to learn from each experience then even ones that feel like disasters can add to the tools and knowledge in your box and ensure that you behave as someone with experience beyond your years – however old (or young) you are.

Author Hilary Briggs is Managing Director of profitability specialists R2P Ltd. During her earlier career, Hilary was Logistics Director for Rover Group Large Cars; European Product Marketing Director for Dishwashing, Whirlpool Corporation and Managing Director of Laird Group plc’s German-based Car Body Sealing Division, with a turnover of £200m and over 4,000 employees worldwide.  For more information about Hilary Briggs see www.hilarybriggs.co.uk