mentoring

Why do you want to teach?

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In the past, I wrote about how I like to read, experiment, and learn as much as possible about as many things as possible. My goal isn’t to be the Jack of all trades and Master of none. Rather, I view knowledge and experience as pieces that can be used to build a mosaic of something interesting and/or worthwhile.

Years ago, when I first started programming, my manager had me work with the top performers in the group. Being inquisitive and always wanting to improve led me to ask many questions to understand why things were done the way they were. One Analyst I worked with was extremely sensitive, and after fielding a few questions, he told me, “Programming is like art. Two people will interpret things differently, but you will have two similar pictures in the end, and both do the job. So, quit messing with my picture.”

At first, I was somewhat offended, but then I realized that much of what he stated was true. That led me to incorporate better methods and approaches into what I did, making them my own to continually improve. From that perspective, learning really is somewhat of an art form.

What makes teaching worthwhile to me is helping people improve in ways that are their own rather than teaching them how to do things in one specific “right” way. One analogy is that you teach people to navigate rather than provide them with the route. Also, in order to be a good teacher, you need to have a solid grasp on the topic, be willing and able to relate to students, and want to help them learn. It’s rewarding on a couple of different levels.

Your ability to teach well starts with understanding the topic, but that is the foundation. Applying seemingly abstract concepts to concrete problems is a very helpful skill. In medicine, they have the concept of “See one, Do one, Teach one.” It is a great way to codify knowledge and develop desired skills.

Being open to other approaches that might seem strange at first, but then you see the brilliance in the solution is also helpful. Often a student would mention how they handled a problem, which sounded bizarre at first, but digging deeper into their approach resulted in understanding something pretty amazing.

Amazing teachers are out there, and I’ve met several of them. Those people are worth their weight in gold – especially when teaching children. They have their own kind of “magic” that can inspire people and provide the confidence and desire to do and learn more than they ever dreamed was possible.

Teaching is about helping others and not trying to be the smartest person in the room. And remember, not everyone wants to learn and/or improve, so don’t take that personally. Just do your best to help the people who want to grow and improve. Mentoring is another good way to do this. You will be surprised at the positive impact one person can have by doing this.

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Diamonds or just Shiny Rocks?

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During a very candid review years ago, my boss at the time (the CEO of the company) made a surprising comment to me. He said, “Good ideas can be like diamonds – drop them occasionally, and they have a lot of value. But sprinkle them everywhere you go, and they just become a bunch of shiny rocks.” This was not the type of feedback that I was expecting, but it turned out to be both insightful and very valuable.

For a long time, I have held the belief that there are four types of people at any company: 1) People who want to make things better; 2) People who are interested in improvement but only in a supporting role; 3) People who are mainly interested in themselves (they can do great things, but often at the expense of others); and 4) People that are just there and don’t care much about anything.  This opinion is based on working and consulting at many companies over a few decades.

A recent Gallup Poll stated Worldwide only 13% of Employees are “engaged at work” (the rest are “not engaged” or “actively disengaged”).  This is a sad reflection of employees and work environments if it is true. Since it is a worldwide survey, it may be highly skewed by region or industry and, therefore, not indicative of what is typical across the board. Those results were not completely aligned with my thinking but were interesting nonetheless.

So, back to the story…

Before working at this company, I had run my own business for nearly a decade and was a consultant for 15 years, working at large corporations and startups. I am used to taking the best practices learned from other companies and engagements and incorporating them into our business practices to improve and foster growth.

I take a systemic view of business and see the importance of optimizing all components of “the business machine” to work harmoniously. Improvements in one area ultimately positively impact other areas of the business. From my naive perspective, I was helping everyone by helping those who have easily solved problems.

I learned that while trying to be helpful, I was insensitive to the fact that my “friendly suggestions based on past success” stepped on other people’s toes, creating frustration for those I intended to help. Providing simple solutions to their problems reflected poorly on my peers.

Suggestions and examples that were intended to be helpful had the opposite effect. Even worse, it was probably just as frustrating to me to be ignored as it was to others to have me infringe on their aspect of the business. The resulting friction was very noticeable to my boss.

Those ideas (“diamonds”) may have been considered had I been an external consultant. But as part of the leadership team, I was coming across as someone just interested in themselves (leaving “shiny rocks” laying around for people to ignore or possibly trip over).

Perception is reality, and my attempts to help were hurting me. Luckily, I received this honest and helpful feedback early in this position and was able to turn those perceptions around.

What are the morals of this story?

First, people who are engaged have the greatest potential to make a difference. Part of being a business leader is making sure that you have the best possible team, and are creating an environment that challenges, motivates, and fosters growth and accountability. 

Disengaged employees or people who are unwilling or unable to work with/collaborate with others may not be your best choices, regardless of their talent. They could actually be detrimental to the overall team dynamics.

Second, doing what you believe to be the right thing isn’t necessarily the best or right way to approach something. Being sensitive to the big picture and testing whether or not your input is being viewed as constructive was a big lesson learned for me. If you have good ideas but are ineffective, consider that your execution could be flawed. Self-awareness is very important.

Third, use your own examples as stories to help others understand potential solutions to problems non-threateningly. Let them connect to their own problems, helping them become more effective and allowing them to save face. It is not a competition. And, if someone else has good ideas, help support them through collaboration. In the end, it should be more about effectiveness, growth, and achievement of business goals than who gets the most credit.

While this seems like common sense now, my background and personal biases blinded me to that perspective.

My biggest lesson learned was about adaptation. There are many ways to be effective and make a difference. Focus on understanding the situation and its dynamics to employ the best techniques, which is ultimately critical to the team or organization’s success.

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