About twenty-five years ago I made a decision that would stick with me throughout my lifetime. Some, like Fezzini from The Princess Bride might call it one of the ‘Classic Blunders,’ whereas others might laud me for the tenacity this decision would require. What was that decision?
I made the decision to work with people in and around things that everyone thinks they already know how to do.
I will never forget a quote from a peer’s husband during grad school. “Communication?” he questioned. “You have to teach people how to communicate?”
The short and long answers are both yes, with a myriad of things that most people never, ever consider when communicating. From nonverbal responses to persuasive methodologies to visual aids and far, far beyond, people struggle to communicate effectively in almost every context imaginable. But since most humans have “communicated” since they were 2 years old, there is an assumption by most people that communication is natural and inherent. It’s not.
Then, there is the direction I’ve had for the last 15 professional years, helping teachers learn how to teach. Man, what a sticky wicket that can be.
As I posted a while back, I am honored to add two chapters to academic books this Fall. The OER books will highlight some of my work and thoughts around teaching and learning, as well as holistic analysis of students for the purpose of success. But, as I write the academic texts, meaning there are a lot of citations and references, it has struck me once again how little information exists about college professors lack of training around teaching and learning. It truly is an “unspoken” topic of conversation. While professors won’t deny it (usually), they certainly do not highlight their lack of pedagogical knowledge, as partially evidenced by being one of the few areas I know of with little, significant research whatsoever. It seems that professors are not overly concerned by the lack of teaching around teaching seeing them model the teaching behaviors that helped them get to the front of the classroom despite thousands of studies suggesting those methods are not ideal.
This lack of research absolutely dovetails my personal, historical perspective around the confirmation bias of teaching and learning. When I give a talk or a workshop, I almost exclusively hear one of two things. First, I hear how my talk reinforced what professors already knew to do or had already tried, just without knowledge of what it was called. Or second, I am approached by faculty who wish their colleagues could have been there to hear it, as those colleagues really need to teach differently. Nobody ever says, “Wow, I’ve been dong it wrong for so long!”
And so, I am consistently surrounded by people who wholeheartedly believe they are performing quite well, despite never having any training or instruction about how to do what they do…
Finally, my leadership and innovation work proves out the same way. Bosses typically believe they are great bosses, largely because they’ve been bosses for so long or because they know what they would want in a boss, which makes it easy to live out. Pastors believe they are the best speakers or ministers or shepherds because they were raised in the church or because they have practiced religion for some time or because of similar beliefs from professors, thinking that copious study of something equates to teaching or leading. Even entrepreneurs and innovators, especially if they have had a success under their belt, do not feel any need to hear better ways to think or act. They’re natively good at it, after all.
Now, if you are like me, the first thing you are thinking is, “OK smart guy. Why aren’t YOU subject to confirmation bias about your own abilities? Maybe YOU’RE wrong, after all…” It’s a fair question that I have a genuine answer for…but I think I’ll save that for another blog. (Or perhaps one might use my entire blogging portfolio as the answer….)
But in the meantime, why am I bringing all of this up? Well…despite all of the challenges you can imagine this decision to work with people who already believe they are good at what they do brings my way, I wanted to share a rare but exciting intersection of all my disciplines as they align with “real life.” I have always thought it was interesting that so many people refer to life after college as the “real world”… don’t get me wrong, I understand it. But it’s an interesting take on life. But regardless, here is my “real world” congruence of information – the really helpful, really practical application of much of my work, in one spot.
In other words, here is how many of my worlds collide in a very real, authentic fashion. This week’s blog is actually a pointer to a podcast. I had the distinct honor of being interviewed by a great colleague-turned-friend for a podcast on hiring. If you are so inclined, I share some tips and tricks from the communication world, some others from the education world, and yet a few more from the innovation world. Looking to get a new job, change careers, or move up? Favorite this podcast. But at the same time, I also share some ideas with would-be hiring managers that might just be of interest.
So I hope you’ll check out the “Glass of Water” interview / podcast. I think it’s 40 minutes of your time well spent. (Or anyone you know who is hiring or job hunting…)
Good luck and good learning.