Lead like a teacher

With the rising diversity in the workplace population and the additional need to increase employee engagement given the current workplace conditions, leaders are faced with the challenge of equipping their teams for what lies in the uncertain future.

RECENTLY, I was teaching my son a problem-solving skill in Math and I had to draw it for him so he could visualize it. He had a hard time understanding what he needed to solve so I had to show him step by step how to solve it. It was then that I discovered he needed to review the basics and help him along the way until he could do it by himself. He struggled at first but later on, I could leave him to solve the problem on his own and when I checked his work, I was happy to see he already understood.

In engineering, this is what is known as scaffolding—temporary structures used to support workers as they build new structures. The same principle is used in learning. People learn a new concept right away when it is buttressed by prior knowledge and using mutually accepted assumptions. It is a fairly easy concept to understand and yet many leaders today make the mistake of creating new workflows, processes and policies without providing the necessary support for people to accept them. And with the rising diversity in the workplace population and the additional need to increase employee engagement given the current workplace conditions, leaders are faced with the challenge of equipping their teams for what lies in the uncertain future. And to survive emerging issues and technologies, leaders are hard-pressed into educating themselves and teaching others to cope with new and unusual demands. In teaching others, we need to be very mindful in how we come across because if we are not careful, what can be a learning experience can become hard-headed rebellion.

Malcolm Knowles in 1973 published a book, titled The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species, which put forth six adult learning assumptions on andragogy or how to teach adults. In 1984, he distilled these into four principles in teaching adults. The term “andragogy” was originally coined by Anthony Kapp but it was Knowles who popularized it with adult learning principles. What is surprising is that the principles he put forth almost four decades ago remain relevant today.

Adults need to know why they need to learn something. Have you ever attended a training or a webinar for compliance training and you had to sit through endless discussions or videos of topic after topic of things you probably will not encounter in your workplace? Chances are you will not even remember all of it. Why? Because we retain what we think is important to what we do.

I remember how people reacted last year when there was an earthquake. I saw people just standing and looking at everybody else what to do next. But everybody took the mandatory course on earthquake preparedness and evacuation. How come people did not act immediately? Probably because they did not find the relevance of the training to their work and they took the course only to comply rather than to learn, or perhaps the course material did not engage them as much. Whatever the reason, it was obvious the training needed to be improved so people would find it relevant and engaging.

For work-specific training, your team needs to understand why they are being sent to training. They also need to understand how specific learning objectives in the training will actually help them in their work later on. People have different motivations for training—personal inclination, career development, promotion, or even as a break. As a leader, your role is to sift through those motivations and allow for people to position themselves so they can significantly contribute to the team.

Another principle is that adults need to learn experientially. People have preconceived notions and assumptions which sometimes go against what is acceptable in the workplace. And when these clash in the workplace, this could either result in realization or confusion. Use cognitive dissonance to challenge preconceived notions and assumptions by putting your team in conditions where they have to adapt and choose for themselves which would be the easiest and most effective way of doing things. So instead of you telling them, they will learn for themselves and only come to you when they actually need your help or when they encounter difficulties. Experience will be their best teacher. Your role as a leader is to allow them to make those mistakes so they can learn.

One way you can do this is to hold learning sessions where each one shares best practices they have picked up while working on a project. These learning sessions can be weekly one-hour sessions where a team member can be assigned per week to showcase an improvement in the workflow. This was especially helpful to my team before when we were asked to create more engaging and gamified online courses. Team members stepped up to the plate and pretty soon we were creating scenario-based modules, compelling videos, and gamified courses. What surprised me was when my team members even discovered free applications to make courses and videos fun and interesting.

Speaking of scenario-based learning, adults approach learning as problem-solving. People have the mindset that if it is not broken, do not fix it. So if they do not see a problem, why would they look for a solution? As a leader, your role is to look ahead so you can anticipate roadblocks and prepare your team to overcome them. The first time I developed an instructional video, I did not know how to operate a camera, much less do a storyboard or even make a shot list. I thought I just needed a script and a camera, and then point and shoot. Little did I know, there was more work involved prior to the video shoot than the actual event. My manager helped me prepare by asking me about so many things that could happen. But however I prepared, I discovered there were so many things I did not consider. It helped me fine-tune a list of things I needed to prepare which could help others in return. I also realized that encountering a problem head-on is a sure way of enhancing your creative and critical thinking skills.

Which leads me to the last principle which explains that adults learn best when the topic is of immediate value. A lesson is best learned when there is immediate application. After making people attend a training session, ask them to apply it right away in their work. Apply the 70-20-10 principle which says that people learn more (70 percent) from on-the-job experiential learning than social (20 percent) or formal training (10 percent). As leaders, we need to ensure people have the opportunity to apply what they have learned.

Leaders need to understand that their success as people managers lies in how much they have developed their people, and how much time and effort they have invested in helping their team grow. Your legacy is the success of individual members of your team, whether they continue to be part of your team or move on to other teams. And the best time to start investing is now. n