Teach employees what to do, don’t just tell them what to do. Most experts say teaching is the top responsibility of managers. But, managers don’t practice the art of training their staff. Why? Most managers function 5,000 – 10,000 feet above the day-to-day grind. They’re busy dealing with critical thinking or fighting wildfires.

How to Teach and Lead

Terry St. Marie at Terrystarbucker.com in “Why Above All Else, Leaders Must Teach and Not Tell (and 6 Ways To Do It Right)” presents six methods that managers can use to become excellent teaching-leaders

Why Above All Else, Leaders Must Teach and Not Tell (and 6 Ways To Do It Right)

The teaching element of leadership is so often overlooked and overshadowed by more glamorous things like vision, strategy and execution. It’s a lot harder than just barking out the orders and hoping they’ll be followed. It may seem weird to sound like a broken record all the time, but it really does work. Read more..

Here are Terry’s six approaches:

• Repeat things often.
• Be consistent. Make sure words match your actions.
• Use simple English.
• Show common sense.
• Roll up your sleeves and show how it’s done.
• Infuse focus and fun into your teaching.

My closing observation is you need to use patience when leading. Restraint sets a climate favorable for training. A day may occur when you want to tear a sheet out of a worker’s hand or shut the door and deal with the job yourself. Stop, and take a deep breath and repeat yourself. Show your employee, one more time, how to deal with the task or problem.

 

 

[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]Have patience. Everything is difficult before it is easy. -Saadi[/social_quote]