Todd Herman Associates e-Update — September 2009

There Are Teachers Everywhere

Alan Weber's final "rule" in his excellent book, Rules of Thumb: 52 Truths For Winning at Business without Losing Your Self, is this — "Stay alert! There are teachers everywhere." In the management consulting profession, constant learning is a necessity for sustained success. So I do all of the "formal" learning items — attending seminars and webinars, completing group and self-study continuing professional education, and reading a wide variety of books, magazines, newspapers, and newsletters. But my real learning comes from "everyday teachers."

These lessons are invaluable — and these teachers don't even know they're teaching me. Perhaps I am visiting a client and, in passing, observe a supervisor discussing a performance shortcoming with a subordinate in a public setting — there's a lesson: "Praise in public. Critique in private." Or maybe I'm participating in a demonstration of an almost-completed software project at a client's office, and see how the president, with a fine mix of lightness and seriousness in his voice and an obvious concern for both the person and the company, gets a hesitant manager to commit to begin using the software soon — the lesson: "Being pleasantly relentless is effective."

While I learned those two lessons on management style from client personnel, lessons come from a variety of teachers. My friends and colleagues provide many different perspectives on topical items, helping me evaluate and apply concepts from articles in The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times in a particular aspect of my life — home, the workplace, volunteer settings, and the like.

My staff members provide several valuable opportunities for learning. Because I know their areas of particular strength and competence, I turn to them for advice in their relevant areas. After they have attended a continuing professional education course, I enjoy picking their brains to not only see what they learned, but also to transfer some of their learning to me. In fact, many times, I ask my staff to present a summary of this course to all of us at a firm meeting.

Our consultants frequently work on diverse projects at many different client locations, so it's always valuable — and fun — for everyone to have a Staff Roundtable, where everyone takes about 15 to 20 minutes to describe the projects they are performing. Many times, these roundtables become like the campfire game "Tale Toss" because it becomes a contest of mutual storytelling — everyone builds on what has been said, with each person offering their own enhancement to the basic ideas. And, with a group of high-performers, there is always the desire to trump the project just described!

Our clients provide outstanding opportunities for learning, because they are typically leaders and innovators in their fields. These are executives and managers who run good companies, and who are always looking for ways to get better! Besides the obvious lessons of observing the techniques of confident and successful people, discussing their company and industry with them provides insights on the real-world challenges they face — and the opportunities they see. These are lessons even the best trade journal cannot convey, because the written word never fully captures the rich meaning of personal interactions.

The diversity of these teachers is sometimes surprising, even humbling — because often the most valuable lessons come from someone totally different than me. Perhaps the lesson is one in patience and understanding — the need to practice empathy with some people or in some situations. Or maybe the lesson is gleaning a non-obvious insight from someone holding views completely opposite mine. Contrarian? Yes — and potentially invaluable.

And here's a paradox — if you're not open to the possibility of learning something from everyone you encounter, then "not learning" may become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Being open to the possibility of learning something new from an unlikely source requires one to be fully present in the "here and now" to learn the lesson. Sometimes the lesson is obvious and will reveal itself immediately — many times, the lesson is subtle and requires some time to surface and some distance from the event, before it yields a "learning experience" which ideally becomes an "evaluated experience."

There are teachers everywhere — and it takes both a willingness to learn and a commitment to always be actively engaged to reveal our teachers and their lessons.

Todd L. Herman