The Leader’s Role in Others’ Learning

One of your many responsibilities as a leader is to help your employees learn. The way that you approach this task will make a difference in the results that you see. Consider how your role differs when you’re helping others to learn rather than simply teaching them. There is a time and place for both, and your job is to figure out which approach is most appropriate.

Helping others to learn implies more involvement on the part of the instructor. A different kind of relationship has to exist – one that underlines partnership. When it comes to choosing what and how to teach, helping others to learn suggests not only allowing the learner to be involved in the decision-making process, but encouraging it. This approach resembles coaching, where one person is there to guide and support the other, and to hold them accountable for what they’re learning. At the same time, during this process the leader is being held accountable herself, which gives her opportunities to learn.

Teaching comes in many styles and can be done in a variety of ways. Teaching others seems to focus more on conveying information and leaving the decision of what to do with this information up to the learner. Although teaching can be done in an involving and active way, the relationship has more of a top-down feel/structure (rather than the partnership seen when helping others to learn). Learners can sit through a presentation daydreaming and absorbing nothing. Accountability is not as great for either teachers or students in this approach.

Which approach seems most appropriate for you? Can you identify situations where one method would’ve been the better choice? Practice teaching others and your success rate will increase.

Spring-Cleaning

Spring has sprung in most parts of the country, which means that many of us get the urge to do some spring-cleaning. Although that’s a fine idea for your house, a different kind of spring-cleaning is just as appropriate at the office. This is the perfect time to take stock and assess your own performance as a leader/manager. In fact, it’s a good idea to take a look at your own progress on a regular basis – you don’t have to wait until spring to do it. There are many benefits to this kind of maintenance. Staying on top of your performance will help you to understand your strengths and weaknesses, which in turn will allow you to spot opportunities for improvement. It’s very simple, a better leader/manager will get better your results.

What kind of manager are you? What’s your management style? Are you leading by example? When is the last time you reviewed your leadership plan? What about your vision for the company (or your department)? Have you been coaching and developing your employees? These are only a few of the questions which should have your attention on a regular basis. Take the time to do some spring-cleaning to ensure that you’re doing your best. You probably take the time to assess others’ performances. Why not reap additional benefits by devoting some of that energy to a self-evaluation?

Polarity Management

Throughout most of our formal education we’re encouraged to solve problems which have only one correct answer. This means that all the other answers are wrong. Polarity management moves us away from the one-answer approach to a problem. It invites us to look at things in a different way allowing for more than one right answer, all of which are interdependent (Johnson, 1998). The polarity management approach aims to create a win-win outcome.

When parents teach children how to share, they’re addressing a polarity issue, where two interdependent answers are both right. The child is taught that by sharing she can create a win-win situation where both she and her friend get to enjoy something (Johnson, 1998). In adulthood, polarity management can equally invite people to seek win-win solutions. It can promote looking at the whole spectrum of available choices, seeking the advantages of all alternatives.

Johnson (1998) warns that neither the one-answer approach nor polarity management can offer best results on their own. He further states that polarity management is a “supplement to either/or thinking not a replacement” (p. 4). So as we coach and develop others, we can enjoy the benefits of adding polarity management to the picture. It will promote a broader range of options to the coachee. When someone is struggling with finding a solution to a problem, invite them to look at the other side of the spectrum. This may offer a whole new interpretation of the original problem.

Johnson, B. (June 1998). Polarity Management: A Summary Introduction. Polarity Management Associates.