Cross post from ARP journal - regarding Self Discovery
We worked on the outline for my colleague's online presentation today. It is going quite well and I see his confidence in himself and what he has to offer to others increasing. He is now interested in writing some white papers or articles for the eLearning Guild on some of the technical issues one encounters when trying to design online training with tools like Flash. I think this is an excellent endeavor for him to pursue!
I'm learning how to encourage without smothering and the more I work with him the more I'm learning about how to enable someone to accomplish something themselves rather than just do it for them or tell them all the steps they should follow to get it done. Most interesting is that I didn't realize that I wasn't doing that before, but when I look back on my interactions in the past, I realize that I have a tendency to either just clearly explain exactly how one should go about a specific task... or... if I have the time, I just offer to do it for them. I realize now that neither of those approaches is truly helpful in the long run. Sure - it means the task itself gets done and may get done quickly and correctly... but it also means that the next time a similar task needs to be accomplished I have not set up a situation where that other person will be better equipped to do it themselves. I think this is an extremely important lesson to learn and I am rather intrigued that I had not recognized the difference until now - or had not recognized that my actions didn't represent my own beliefs about learning. The echoes something I reflected on some time ago - that somehow the lessons I learned when I worked with students did not transfer to my work with professional colleagues. With students I made an effort to facilitate and enable their own discoveries but somehow I didn't transfer that type of action to working with adults in a professional collegial environment.
It makes me a bit sad that it has taken me so many years to recognize this. I wonder how many people I've hindered when I thought I was helping. Not much to be done about that except try to do better from now on.
posted by susan @ 3:51 PM
1 Comments:
Susan,
Wow! There is a lot going on here. Right away I sense your empathy for Sam and a sincere desire to help her meet her goals. You’ve become involved in different aspects of her life. Part psychologist, part social worker, and part career councilor and part friend. How do you think Sam views your relationship?
How do you know when to just listen, when to offer suggestions and when to teach? What cues do you look for?
I wonder why you tend to be natural facilitator for students but not for colleagues? Do you have more confidence in children to solve their own problems? Is there stress or pressure at work that makes it easier for you to do the job yourself vs. collaborating with colleagues? Interesting discovery.
Dr. Gina
Post a Comment
<< Home