For much of my life I took pride in knowing the answers. You have a question? I’ve got the answer. You have a problem? I’ve got a solution. My people quickly learned I loved solving problems, so they kept bringing me their problems to solve and before long, I ended up doing as much of their job as mine. Yes, I was quicker to the mark than they were but… they weren’t growing or learning or developing into their best selves… and neither was I!
That is when I decided I needed to shed my old superhero identity of ‘Answer Man’ and convert on over to ‘Teaching Man’. It took a while to break old habits, theirs and mine both, but once the green shoots of greater engagement and empowerment began to sprout up, there was no going back. Yes, a few missed the old days of command and control but most enthusiastically embraced the freedom of ‘I Intend To.’ For me, it freed up more of my time to shift into one of my favorite modes, ‘Learning Man’.
How best to move from Answering to Teaching? In yourself and in others? A very powerful way to drive change is to change your or another’s self-concept, their/your identity. One awesome way to do that is by changing their understanding of their responsibilities, duties, and job descriptions. For example, when you wholeheartedly embrace the following sentences, your actions and attitude will come into alignment: I’m a leader and leaders develop and grow people. While leaders may do great things personally, their highest leverage point is inspiring and enabling many others to do great things. As Harvey S. Firestone (1868-1938) said, “The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.”
Closing Quotes:
“The best development programs change the way people see themselves.” – John Bright, 1811-1889
“Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.” – Isaac Asimov, 1920-1992, ‘Three Laws of Robotics’ and ‘Foundation Trilogy’
“Learning is not attained by chance; it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.” – Abigail Adams, 1744-1818, wife of 2nd U.S. President
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier
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