Jumpstart Your Employee Engagement Step #10 - Be Their Student

This may be the step that generates the highest ROI, Return on Investment.

This may be the step that creates a culture of learners, sustaining your organization's growth through innovation, chaos, fear and...opportunities.

This may be the easiest and least expensive step to recognize your employees.

Think about it. You can put your feet up, really savor that cup of coffee while they teach and you learn. You don't have to prepare. You don't have to be the expert, with all the answers. Matter of fact, you can let go and learn.

That might be why it remains such a challenge for so many leaders of any title.

So, let's break this big step down with a mini-lesson in the math.

Employees* have the most knowledge.

1. There are more of them than you.
2. They work in the frontlines every day, delivering the value and experience that creates sales and retains customers.Their work in those frontlines creates your brand.
3. What are you doing? You're in meetings, far from their twisted reach of crazy sorrow working and learning in those trenches.
4. They're crafting solutions for today's challenges, right now, as you read this post; just like they've done every day since they were first taught policies and procedures and how to perform tasks and use equipment that are now outdated. And they no longer use or would no longer use if you listened.
5. Their daily work is a clinical lab, performing experiments, testing theories, evolving each with their experiences and data and resulting solutions.
6. And they teach and help each other every day, every hour,  collaborating with each other both in doing their job and teaching each other better, faster, easier skills, techniques, keyboard shortcuts, rules and policies.

And now they have the most knowledge.

So, it's time for you to learn from them.  

A great teacher helps the student discover what the student already knows, let's them celebrate that understanding, giving them the confidence to tackle greater challenges.

What's not to like about that?

Would you let go and humble yourself to be their student if it created a culture of learners, as Gary Harpst described, learning new solutions and products and services?

Being their student, lets you stand on their shoulders and see farther. If Sir Isaac Newton can stand on the shoulders of giants, then surely you can stand on the shoulders of those whose work carries your brand and careers.

Don’t worry. It'll be your turn to be the teacher, again. Just as soon as you see what's coming. 

This is how you sustain your ability to grow in the face of ever-changing markets, technologies, business models, competitors....That teaching creates a culture of learning in your organization as Gary Harpst talked about with me. That culture of learning is what sustains your ability to rise to the next greater challenge. Your reward for success is a greater challenge.

Be their student.

Keep the learning alive and growing. Take turns standing on each other’s shoulders so you can continue to see, learn and sustain your organization.

Photo Credits:

* Main Photo: diane39

* Isaac Newton