Chapter 12 – Teaching Others
I truly believe that if you want to really learn something, study it well enough to be able to teach it to someone else. That’s the point of this chapter, for me at least, anyway. I will lay out a plan as to how I can teach the concepts of this project to those around me at work and at home. I will also briefly touch on how I will share the actual ideas in my chapters to benefit both others and myself to whom which I share.
Teaching others about leadership: self-reflection, evaluation, and improvement
One of the key concepts I learned about put together this project is that the study of oneself is invaluable to the betterment of individuals. By conducting thorough self-assessments and analyzing them, I was able to learn a lot about myself. That allowed me to devise numerous ways on which to improve myself to be better at what it is that I want to do. Defining my aspirations were the building block of all this.
Taking the opportunity to mentor a co-worker, whenever available, is the best way for me to put my knowledge gained to use. My company does actually take the initiative to formerly assign mentors in certain situations. As mentioned in chapter 11, I will seek out these opportunities to help better myself, but also to help teach others about the process of defining aspirations, examining yourself, and how to link it all together into an improvement plan. I may need to re-read the syllabus to this course a few times over in order to gain a better knowledge to present to a mentee.
While mentoring, I will not only describe the process stated above, but I can also explain the importance of selecting quality self-assessment tools, and to really put some deep thought into them when taking them. I will let them know that taking one or two self-assessments is okay, but to really benefit in depth, multiple examinations should be performed. This helped me see recurring traits in myself by having a larger sample to pull from, and I am sure it would do the same for anyone else.
I can also do all of the above with at least one of my current employees who is in an informal training path to a financial services position. Currently she works as a hybrid teller/banker, and her and I would both love to see her progress into a banker role. We meet formally about twice per month, and this type of coaching could easily be implemented throughout our meetings.
Sharing the knowledge gained
The difference between this and teaching others about the ideas above is that here, I will teach the actual concepts and ideas discussed in my content chapters. Before, I was simply discussing teaching how to think in terms of self-reflection and evaluation.
There will not be as much to teach here as not all of the material discussed in this book can be “taught” – some of it just has to be read. However, I can make all of these materials available to anyone at work or outside of work who wishes to learn more. This web site will serve as a nice host of material that I can reference whenever the opportunity arises to discuss certain topics related to what I have studied.
I have seen this method of teaching occur mostly outside of work with friends and family. And I feel that it will continue to be this way until much later in my career. I say this for two reasons. The first is because at this stage in my career, work is so busy with the day to day, we do not have much time to sit back and discuss academic or business concepts. Generally, if it does not pertain to the here and now, it does not get discussed. However, as my career progresses into bigger and broader roles, ones that entail more big-picture thinking, this type of thinking will come into play more and more. The higher up I go into an organization, the more strategic planning will be involved, and thus the need for more knowledge based decision-making. This book will hopefully still be a good reference point for that. The second reason is that conversation with friends and family is often much more casual. The opportunity to discuss and share ideas is more prevalent in these types of discussions where time is not always of the essence. I plan to use this to further enhance the knowledge of those around me to become more effective leaders themselves.
I look forward to the opportunity to share what I have learned in the hopes that it will enrich my life, the life of others around me, and maybe even show that I add value to my organization. After all, that’s what I aspire to do, right?
I truly believe that if you want to really learn something, study it well enough to be able to teach it to someone else. That’s the point of this chapter, for me at least, anyway. I will lay out a plan as to how I can teach the concepts of this project to those around me at work and at home. I will also briefly touch on how I will share the actual ideas in my chapters to benefit both others and myself to whom which I share.
Teaching others about leadership: self-reflection, evaluation, and improvement
One of the key concepts I learned about put together this project is that the study of oneself is invaluable to the betterment of individuals. By conducting thorough self-assessments and analyzing them, I was able to learn a lot about myself. That allowed me to devise numerous ways on which to improve myself to be better at what it is that I want to do. Defining my aspirations were the building block of all this.
Taking the opportunity to mentor a co-worker, whenever available, is the best way for me to put my knowledge gained to use. My company does actually take the initiative to formerly assign mentors in certain situations. As mentioned in chapter 11, I will seek out these opportunities to help better myself, but also to help teach others about the process of defining aspirations, examining yourself, and how to link it all together into an improvement plan. I may need to re-read the syllabus to this course a few times over in order to gain a better knowledge to present to a mentee.
While mentoring, I will not only describe the process stated above, but I can also explain the importance of selecting quality self-assessment tools, and to really put some deep thought into them when taking them. I will let them know that taking one or two self-assessments is okay, but to really benefit in depth, multiple examinations should be performed. This helped me see recurring traits in myself by having a larger sample to pull from, and I am sure it would do the same for anyone else.
I can also do all of the above with at least one of my current employees who is in an informal training path to a financial services position. Currently she works as a hybrid teller/banker, and her and I would both love to see her progress into a banker role. We meet formally about twice per month, and this type of coaching could easily be implemented throughout our meetings.
Sharing the knowledge gained
The difference between this and teaching others about the ideas above is that here, I will teach the actual concepts and ideas discussed in my content chapters. Before, I was simply discussing teaching how to think in terms of self-reflection and evaluation.
There will not be as much to teach here as not all of the material discussed in this book can be “taught” – some of it just has to be read. However, I can make all of these materials available to anyone at work or outside of work who wishes to learn more. This web site will serve as a nice host of material that I can reference whenever the opportunity arises to discuss certain topics related to what I have studied.
I have seen this method of teaching occur mostly outside of work with friends and family. And I feel that it will continue to be this way until much later in my career. I say this for two reasons. The first is because at this stage in my career, work is so busy with the day to day, we do not have much time to sit back and discuss academic or business concepts. Generally, if it does not pertain to the here and now, it does not get discussed. However, as my career progresses into bigger and broader roles, ones that entail more big-picture thinking, this type of thinking will come into play more and more. The higher up I go into an organization, the more strategic planning will be involved, and thus the need for more knowledge based decision-making. This book will hopefully still be a good reference point for that. The second reason is that conversation with friends and family is often much more casual. The opportunity to discuss and share ideas is more prevalent in these types of discussions where time is not always of the essence. I plan to use this to further enhance the knowledge of those around me to become more effective leaders themselves.
I look forward to the opportunity to share what I have learned in the hopes that it will enrich my life, the life of others around me, and maybe even show that I add value to my organization. After all, that’s what I aspire to do, right?