Jobs and CareersLeading by Teaching
By Jan Richards
Leading. It's many things, of course. Inevitably, some time, somewhere - often when you least expect it - leading means teaching.
Like you, I had managers who understood that, and others who didn't. Those who taught easily "in the moment," when need be, were the superior leaders, I found. They didn't get irritated or angry that there was an unplanned glitch in the system, that someone needed extra time or help to understand something. But more on that in a bit.
Several situations reminded me how critical it is to teach easily and well when the occasion calls for it.
In just one example, our son, Matt, fresh from the first day of 7th grade, asked for help with his math. He's always been a good student, so I expected he'd need help on just one or two problems. When the questions didn't stop soon, I began to look for patterns in what was blocking him. I wanted to "teach him through" the barriers so he'd find his own way the next time.
Here is what we did to improve his problem-solving for next time:
Read it right.
It's so basic it's easy to overlook. Relax, focus, read - calmly. Matt was discounting some errors with the comment, "Oh, I just read it wrong," as if that, in its own right were not a problem that needed solving. Reading - and interpreting - directions correctly is the critical first step to solving a problem. Think of a map. You have to read it right to get where you want to go. The alternative? Adventures - many undesirable - may ensue.
Simplify, then solve.
Look for the simplest possible way to "frame" or approach the problem. Then solve it. My son was doing the opposite - he was making the math problems more complex. I could see and hear it in the trial approaches and answers he suggested. I showed Matt - reminded him, really - how to break big problems down into chunks that were each very easy to solve.
Look for patterns.
Once we identified patterns in the things that were blocking him, it became easier to find solutions. I experimented with ways to teach and reach him until it was clear he "got it," and could find the final answer. When he knew what to do, Matt took over with great eagerness. The "problem" now looked like a "puzzle" and he knew he could solve similar ones in the future.
Learn from others.
Matt was looking to me that day to help him see, and find his way through the haze. Another day, hopefully, he would have asked his teacher or a classmate for help. Learn to ask for, and receive assistance when you need it. Get over the idea that you can't "expose" your need for help. Eventually, it'll be found out if you don't learn to ask for help or directions when you should have, and sooner is better than later to solve this problem.
Believe you will find a way.
The goal is to find a simple, elegant solution to each problem. Believe it exists, that it's there. Matt brightened up considerably as the water level - the magnitude of the confusion - dropped, and he knew he wouldn't drown. Soon he could see a horizon, and land ahead. He ended the work session with an extra bit of gusto in his voice, and in his step. That's what confidence can do for you - give you extra zest for the next challenge ahead.
Back now for a minute to my own experience as the frustrated student, this time on the job.
In this case, I was new at a high tech firm, fresh out of grad school.
I was well-fortified with the theory of accruals - accounting entries that assign outstanding expenses to the right budget in the right financial period. But I didn't have any experience actually booking one, and we were facing year-end close. My new manager was good at many things, but he clearly did not like stopping to teach or coach. He wanted to keep things moving, moving, moving.
I scrounged around, looking for anyone else who could teach me through my first accruals. I found a peer - the one among the many who understood my plight, and remembered being there himself. He took the time to teach, to lead.
My manager was finally forced into teaching, though.
It was during the Perfect Storm of year-end close and 13 rounds of business planning in that rapidly growing business. Without training for the software and computer I was using for the first time, I'd gotten so bogged down I couldn't move forward without his help, though neither of us wanted to admit it.
He had no choice, finally, but to calm down, sit down and work through the problem with me, teaching as we unraveled the Excel model I'd turned into a huge, horrible knot. I found for the first time that he was a very good teacher, and a leader.
The outcome?
As you've guessed, the result this time was much better for him, for me, our team, and for our client group.
Did I ever need help with that problem again, once he taught me through it? Not a chance.
What can you do to lead by teaching well, or follow by learning well?
If you're a manager:
- Do you check periodically to find out if your direct reports need help, or additional guidance?
- Do your teaching and coaching skills need polishing?
- Are you approachable, if employees do need help? (Are you sure?)
- Do processes and performance feedback need simplification or other improvements to enable employees to work better and easier?
If you're an employee:
- Do you let your manager know when you need his or her time or advice to work through something you don't understand, or know you could do better?
- Are there other resources inside or outside your company that you can use to learn and improve?
- Is there a peer you can ask for help?
- Are you willing and able to help others, when they need it, to conquer a problem at work?
A few quotes about leading by teaching:
Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty.
Albert Einstein
We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.
Peter F. Drucker
The mediocre leader tells. The good leader explains. The superior leader demonstrates. The great leader inspires.
Anonymous
It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations.
J. R. R. Tolkien
Jan Richards, J. G. Richards Consulting, helps companies improve profitability and revenues while decreasing business complexity and costs. This occurs in many different business-improving ways, such as by clarifying company visions, goals and priorities, creating strategic and action plans, and implementing effective, user-friendly business process design, management, and improvement practices.
To learn more about how Jan can help your business, too, give her a call at 408-249-7287 or visit her website, http://www.jgrichardsresults.com or her blog, http://www.jgrichardsresultsblog.com
=======================================
Leadership - 5 Reasons Why You Might Be Lacking Creativity
By Duncan Brodie
A core competency of successful leaders is creativity. After all, creativity is what unlocks potential opportunities and sets up the organisation for success. While most understand this, creativity especially in tough times might well be lost. So what are 5 key reasons why creativity might be lost?
Reason 1: Fear
Times are tough. You might be under a lot of pressure with all the talk of credit crunch and poorly performing organisations. In these situations it is easy to become paralysed and stuck where you are. Always take time to remind yourself that if you don't do something different, nothing is going to change. It is also worth noting that if things are going as badly as you think what you have got to lose by taking action.
Reason 2: Safety in numbers
Sticking your neck out or bucking the trend is tough at the best of times. Yet those that are willing to be bold and take a chance despite what is happening in the wider economy are likely to be the winners in the long term. No truly successful leader got to that position by following the pack.
Reason 3: Fire fighting
You might have heard the term "it never rains but it pours." In other words when things are bad you seem to be on a never ending downward spiral. In these situations it is all too easy to fall into the trap of leaping from one problem to the next without taking the time to stand back and think. All of your time and energy is utilised on putting out small fires or dealing with small problems. In this mode of operation it is impossible to be creative.
Reason 4: Stress or fatigue
When you are under a lot of pressure it is easy to become stressed or just simply exhausted. When this starts to happen you need to take time out to recharge the batteries if you are going to get yourself back into creative mode.
Reason 5: Complacency
If things are going well and your organisation is performing well, it is easy to fall into the complacency trap. If this happens, you stop looking for ways to improve and in these circumstances you can easily get left behind or caught up by the competition.
Bottom Line - Creativity is essential to your success as a leader. So what do you need to do to tap into your creativity?
And now I invite you to do something positive to become a better leader by taking advantage of my free audio e-course at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk/
Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements (G&A) works with professionals, teams and organisations to develop their management and leadership capability.
With 25 years business experience in a range of sectors, he understands first hand the real challenges of managing and leading in the demanding business world.
=================================
Leadership - The 4 Benefits of Clear Organisational Values
By Duncan Brodie
As a leader you set the tome for the organisation. In many organisations there are often regular changes in senior people which can make the maintenance of values challenging. Organisations that have clarity on their values have a number of benefits. So what are some of those benefits?
Benefit 1: Improved decision making
There are many decisions that organisational leaders need to take. With so many decisions to be taken, it is easy to become stuck. Values can provide an important yardstick against which key decisions are made. Simply asking whether a particular decision is consistent with the organisational values can go a long way towards more effective decision making.
Benefit 2: Helps with recruitment
Organisations sometimes forget that recruitment is a two way process. The employer has a need for a set of skills, knowledge, experience and attributes. The candidates are offering themselves as a potential source of meeting that need. Increasingly, candidates and the recruiting organisations will be interested in exploring values. After all, the last thing you want is someone joining and leaving after a short period of time because they were a poor fit in terms of values.
Benefit 3: They help set expectations
Values are also of great benefit in setting expectations of both employees and leaders. They inform, for example:
• How people behave internally and externally
• How different parts of the organisation interact
• How people are treated
Benefit 4: They provide boundaries
In business there are lots of judgements to be made. The recent choices on bonuses for banking staff or not provide a very clear example. With judgements there is lots of uncertainty. Values can provide the boundaries that inform the judgements that are made.
Bottom Line - Organisational values have many benefits. The question is does your organisation have clearly defined values?
Now I invite you to take advantage of my free audio e-course available at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk/
Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements (G&A) works with professionals, teams and organisations to develop their management and leadership capability.
With 25 years business experience in a range of sectors, he understands first hand the real challenges of managing and leading in the demanding business world.
By Jan Richards
Leading. It's many things, of course. Inevitably, some time, somewhere - often when you least expect it - leading means teaching.
Like you, I had managers who understood that, and others who didn't. Those who taught easily "in the moment," when need be, were the superior leaders, I found. They didn't get irritated or angry that there was an unplanned glitch in the system, that someone needed extra time or help to understand something. But more on that in a bit.
Several situations reminded me how critical it is to teach easily and well when the occasion calls for it.
In just one example, our son, Matt, fresh from the first day of 7th grade, asked for help with his math. He's always been a good student, so I expected he'd need help on just one or two problems. When the questions didn't stop soon, I began to look for patterns in what was blocking him. I wanted to "teach him through" the barriers so he'd find his own way the next time.
Here is what we did to improve his problem-solving for next time:
Read it right.
It's so basic it's easy to overlook. Relax, focus, read - calmly. Matt was discounting some errors with the comment, "Oh, I just read it wrong," as if that, in its own right were not a problem that needed solving. Reading - and interpreting - directions correctly is the critical first step to solving a problem. Think of a map. You have to read it right to get where you want to go. The alternative? Adventures - many undesirable - may ensue.
Simplify, then solve.
Look for the simplest possible way to "frame" or approach the problem. Then solve it. My son was doing the opposite - he was making the math problems more complex. I could see and hear it in the trial approaches and answers he suggested. I showed Matt - reminded him, really - how to break big problems down into chunks that were each very easy to solve.
Look for patterns.
Once we identified patterns in the things that were blocking him, it became easier to find solutions. I experimented with ways to teach and reach him until it was clear he "got it," and could find the final answer. When he knew what to do, Matt took over with great eagerness. The "problem" now looked like a "puzzle" and he knew he could solve similar ones in the future.
Learn from others.
Matt was looking to me that day to help him see, and find his way through the haze. Another day, hopefully, he would have asked his teacher or a classmate for help. Learn to ask for, and receive assistance when you need it. Get over the idea that you can't "expose" your need for help. Eventually, it'll be found out if you don't learn to ask for help or directions when you should have, and sooner is better than later to solve this problem.
Believe you will find a way.
The goal is to find a simple, elegant solution to each problem. Believe it exists, that it's there. Matt brightened up considerably as the water level - the magnitude of the confusion - dropped, and he knew he wouldn't drown. Soon he could see a horizon, and land ahead. He ended the work session with an extra bit of gusto in his voice, and in his step. That's what confidence can do for you - give you extra zest for the next challenge ahead.
Back now for a minute to my own experience as the frustrated student, this time on the job.
In this case, I was new at a high tech firm, fresh out of grad school.
I was well-fortified with the theory of accruals - accounting entries that assign outstanding expenses to the right budget in the right financial period. But I didn't have any experience actually booking one, and we were facing year-end close. My new manager was good at many things, but he clearly did not like stopping to teach or coach. He wanted to keep things moving, moving, moving.
I scrounged around, looking for anyone else who could teach me through my first accruals. I found a peer - the one among the many who understood my plight, and remembered being there himself. He took the time to teach, to lead.
My manager was finally forced into teaching, though.
It was during the Perfect Storm of year-end close and 13 rounds of business planning in that rapidly growing business. Without training for the software and computer I was using for the first time, I'd gotten so bogged down I couldn't move forward without his help, though neither of us wanted to admit it.
He had no choice, finally, but to calm down, sit down and work through the problem with me, teaching as we unraveled the Excel model I'd turned into a huge, horrible knot. I found for the first time that he was a very good teacher, and a leader.
The outcome?
As you've guessed, the result this time was much better for him, for me, our team, and for our client group.
Did I ever need help with that problem again, once he taught me through it? Not a chance.
What can you do to lead by teaching well, or follow by learning well?
If you're a manager:
- Do you check periodically to find out if your direct reports need help, or additional guidance?
- Do your teaching and coaching skills need polishing?
- Are you approachable, if employees do need help? (Are you sure?)
- Do processes and performance feedback need simplification or other improvements to enable employees to work better and easier?
If you're an employee:
- Do you let your manager know when you need his or her time or advice to work through something you don't understand, or know you could do better?
- Are there other resources inside or outside your company that you can use to learn and improve?
- Is there a peer you can ask for help?
- Are you willing and able to help others, when they need it, to conquer a problem at work?
A few quotes about leading by teaching:
Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty.
Albert Einstein
We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.
Peter F. Drucker
The mediocre leader tells. The good leader explains. The superior leader demonstrates. The great leader inspires.
Anonymous
It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations.
J. R. R. Tolkien
Jan Richards, J. G. Richards Consulting, helps companies improve profitability and revenues while decreasing business complexity and costs. This occurs in many different business-improving ways, such as by clarifying company visions, goals and priorities, creating strategic and action plans, and implementing effective, user-friendly business process design, management, and improvement practices.
To learn more about how Jan can help your business, too, give her a call at 408-249-7287 or visit her website, http://www.jgrichardsresults.com or her blog, http://www.jgrichardsresultsblog.com
=======================================
Leadership - 5 Reasons Why You Might Be Lacking Creativity
By Duncan Brodie
A core competency of successful leaders is creativity. After all, creativity is what unlocks potential opportunities and sets up the organisation for success. While most understand this, creativity especially in tough times might well be lost. So what are 5 key reasons why creativity might be lost?
Reason 1: Fear
Times are tough. You might be under a lot of pressure with all the talk of credit crunch and poorly performing organisations. In these situations it is easy to become paralysed and stuck where you are. Always take time to remind yourself that if you don't do something different, nothing is going to change. It is also worth noting that if things are going as badly as you think what you have got to lose by taking action.
Reason 2: Safety in numbers
Sticking your neck out or bucking the trend is tough at the best of times. Yet those that are willing to be bold and take a chance despite what is happening in the wider economy are likely to be the winners in the long term. No truly successful leader got to that position by following the pack.
Reason 3: Fire fighting
You might have heard the term "it never rains but it pours." In other words when things are bad you seem to be on a never ending downward spiral. In these situations it is all too easy to fall into the trap of leaping from one problem to the next without taking the time to stand back and think. All of your time and energy is utilised on putting out small fires or dealing with small problems. In this mode of operation it is impossible to be creative.
Reason 4: Stress or fatigue
When you are under a lot of pressure it is easy to become stressed or just simply exhausted. When this starts to happen you need to take time out to recharge the batteries if you are going to get yourself back into creative mode.
Reason 5: Complacency
If things are going well and your organisation is performing well, it is easy to fall into the complacency trap. If this happens, you stop looking for ways to improve and in these circumstances you can easily get left behind or caught up by the competition.
Bottom Line - Creativity is essential to your success as a leader. So what do you need to do to tap into your creativity?
And now I invite you to do something positive to become a better leader by taking advantage of my free audio e-course at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk/
Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements (G&A) works with professionals, teams and organisations to develop their management and leadership capability.
With 25 years business experience in a range of sectors, he understands first hand the real challenges of managing and leading in the demanding business world.
=================================
Leadership - The 4 Benefits of Clear Organisational Values
By Duncan Brodie
As a leader you set the tome for the organisation. In many organisations there are often regular changes in senior people which can make the maintenance of values challenging. Organisations that have clarity on their values have a number of benefits. So what are some of those benefits?
Benefit 1: Improved decision making
There are many decisions that organisational leaders need to take. With so many decisions to be taken, it is easy to become stuck. Values can provide an important yardstick against which key decisions are made. Simply asking whether a particular decision is consistent with the organisational values can go a long way towards more effective decision making.
Benefit 2: Helps with recruitment
Organisations sometimes forget that recruitment is a two way process. The employer has a need for a set of skills, knowledge, experience and attributes. The candidates are offering themselves as a potential source of meeting that need. Increasingly, candidates and the recruiting organisations will be interested in exploring values. After all, the last thing you want is someone joining and leaving after a short period of time because they were a poor fit in terms of values.
Benefit 3: They help set expectations
Values are also of great benefit in setting expectations of both employees and leaders. They inform, for example:
• How people behave internally and externally
• How different parts of the organisation interact
• How people are treated
Benefit 4: They provide boundaries
In business there are lots of judgements to be made. The recent choices on bonuses for banking staff or not provide a very clear example. With judgements there is lots of uncertainty. Values can provide the boundaries that inform the judgements that are made.
Bottom Line - Organisational values have many benefits. The question is does your organisation have clearly defined values?
Now I invite you to take advantage of my free audio e-course available at http://www.goalsandachievements.co.uk/
Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements (G&A) works with professionals, teams and organisations to develop their management and leadership capability.
With 25 years business experience in a range of sectors, he understands first hand the real challenges of managing and leading in the demanding business world.
Jangan Lupa Share Artikel Ini Ya...?
Bagikan artikel ini ke temanmu melalui "SosMed" kamu di bawah ini:
Bagikan artikel ini ke temanmu melalui "SosMed" kamu di bawah ini:
Posts
