I glanced at those around me and the chilled
look of panic was in their eyes. We had gone past the deer in the headlights
directly to the gazelle noticing the hungry, charging lion. All these people
were terrified. There was no movement in this room; each person was absolutely
still, frightened to make even the slightest sound. Eyes dilated, adrenaline
pumping, fight or flight response ready to kick in. Time stood still. We were
terrified. It was obvious that the situation was grim. It was nothing like we had
ever seen before. There were beads of sweat breaking out on the foreheads of
some of those near me. This was strange stuff, really strange. The hair on the
back of my neck was standing straight up and my palms were cold and clammy. At
the end of the hour long presentation you could almost smell the burnt brain
cells in the room.
I was seated among a group of parents at an elementary
school being introduced to a new math learning program.
Now I myself am about
as good at math as I am at swimming, I can save myself, but would struggle
trying to save someone else. The question first on my mind and the first
question asked was…How are we supposed to teach this new type of math to our
kids? We can barely understand it ourselves!
The answer was quick, clean and wonderful. “Your kids”, said
the presenter, “will teach you.”
The understanding was almost instant on my part. Kids
teaching the parents, exchange of information, bonding, an authentic
relationship created, trust building, empowering the kids, a level playing
field, mutual respect, making them feel proud that they could teach someone who
is supposed to have knowledge and power, more buy in to the new process. I love
it.
I being a management minded person made the correlation to
manager/staff relationship was just as quickly. Take out “kid” and insert
“staff member”. Take out “parents” and insert “manager”. Absolutely perfect! I have seen the greatest growth, staff
engagement and satisfaction for all in the teams that have the highest collaboration
between management and staff. In those offices where you can’t tell who has
what ranking on the company flow chart. The teams where when the manager gets
stuck, they have no fear about asking a staff member for some help. In fact it
is encouraged!
No one really wants to be parented, not even kids, (just ask
them) and no one wants to be micromanaged either. Give up that key to the
executive restroom, park out in the farthest corner of the lot with the troops,
drink coffee from the same pot and you will build a strong engaged interconnected
staff where helping each other and shared learning is the norm, not the
exception.
When we all learn together, we all win.
