Leaders as Teachers

A lot has been written which implies leadership means helping others to succeed – but is that the same as being a teacher?

How many business professionals have dedicated time to learning how to teach verses how many do it by instinct alone? You may have learned how to give an inspiring speech, but does what you say teach people anything new?

The following 7 tips will help you be a better teacher to your audience, able to not only inspire them to action, but help teach them new skills and techniques you’ve learned along your career.

1. Ask For Feedback:
   It’s the number one step for anything in leadership. If you want people to leave a session with you having learned something, you best check your success. Survey your attendees, find out what they’ve taken away with them they didn’t have before.
   
2. Tell Stories:
   If you’re teaching, bring in real world stories to support your key points. Let people see you embrace continuous learning by sharing examples of when you’ve learned something outside of the workplace. Maybe you learned something about the power of the receiver in communication through your children? Perhaps you noticed an interesting consumer behaviour in the supermarket? These stories help people remember the key message and humanise the content.
   
3. Prioritise The People:
   Getting your audience engaged and active is important to their learning. A good rule is to never go more than 10 minutes without having people participate or engage somehow. Invite them to ask questions, then move over to the person who asked the question and talk with them directly. Get people moving about, even if it’s just a quick show of hands. Encourage them to reflect on a personal experience and give them time to really do so.
   
4. Be An Authentic Expert:
   Know why these people should be listening to you. Ask yourself this before you being preparing and be able to sum it up in one sentence. Why are you the right person to be talking about this? Understanding where your role as ‘expert’ is coming from will help you clarify your teachings in an authentic way.
   
5. Have Fun:
   Everyone will take something different from this. I naturally laugh, a lot. So I’ve embraced it as part of my business style. You might not think my jokes are particularly funny but you’ll see the energy telling them gives me, and energy begets energy. Understand what gives you energy and use it in your teachings. Don’t be afraid to engage with the content in playful ways or use fun scenarios to demonstrate a point.
   
6. Prove You’ve Planned
   Don’t just have a plan, outline it at the beginning. Let people know what they’re in for. Kick things off by sharing the ‘chapter headings’ or key learning points. This will help if your attendees have specific questions to know when to ask them. It will also make sure you hone in on what’s important in each section and keep you on track.
   
7. Conclude It:
   Your conclusion is as powerful as your introduction. With a strong, meaningful ending you can ensure participants leave encouraged to develop on what you’ve given them and continue to ponder and engage with it in the days to come.

Leaders who are also good teachers add so much value not only to their business, but to the people who surround them. With these simple tips you can help others to learn and improve.