I was active in age group Cricket when I was in my teens and has attended many coaching camps. A Right handed batsman, I was taught the importance of my LEFT HAND while batting. Not many know, but it is the LEFT HAND that is crucial for a right handed batsman and vice versa (illustrated by the Sachin picture on the left). It is the controlling hand, and it also helps keep the ball along the ground (remember, it was the Sunil Gavaskar era, where hitting the ball in the air like Sehwag was frowned up on). The left leg positioning was also critical while playing forward, either in defence or while driving. Early in my career, I had a tendency to drive with my dominant right hand, leading to my getting caught in mid off or mid on. Coach got fed up advising me, called me up one day, asked me to put my right hand behind by back, tied it with a piece of rope to my back, and started throwing balls at me from half pitch to make me drive or defend only with the left hand. Later, I spent hours hitting a ball tied to a rope with my right hand tied to the back to perfect the drives.I found to my amazement that I just couldn't hit in the air even if I want to, and went on to score many many more runs.
In another Coaching Camp, I was standing near a very good bowling coach, who was explaining and demonstrating the importance of the non bowling hand to the bowlers. He showed how the position of the weaker non-bowling hand helped in improving accuracy, and also the criticality of correctly landing the left leg, which is the leading leg for a right hand bowler, correctly. In both the cases the relatively less strong part of the body played a critical role in improving performance(See the wonderful picture of Dennis Lillee in his delivery stride).In both the cases, the right hand (dominant hand) provides power generation, while the left hand (less strong hand) allows the player to gain better control. An analogy will be the Engine and the Steering Wheel.
This is true in professional life too. I have certain skills which I consider to be my core competencies, and certain others which to me are tangential and not so important. But I have noticed with amusement that it is quite often my lesser skills that have paid off in the long run. I consider Knowledge, out of the box thinking, problem solving, analytical skills, ability to take quality decisions under pressure, team building and leadership to be my strength. The less important skills, at least in my eyes, are my communication skills, being organized, handling routine affairs with minimum fuss and my doggedness to get things done. And surprise, surprise!! I always use my core competencies to give me the real push, while using the less dominant skills to guide me in my day to day operations.
Ditto in my teaching career. I consider my knowledge and my mentoring skills as my core competency. But whenever I ask students as to what they like about me, they always tell 'puctuality'. Also when I ask students why he/she preferred to choose me as a project guide, the answer is 'sir, you will make me work and ensure I finish the project on time'. It is as if my lesser skills are more prefered by students for it controls them in a way.
Such is life!
