Being asked for input makes a person feel valued.
And being able to see the results of the input contributes tremendously to that feeling.
When I was in Secondary 2, one of my seniors was writing an article for a magazine targeted at teenagers.
He was tasked to visit and write a review about an unusual restaurant that served fried scorpions, ants, and the like. As I understood it, the concept was grounded in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Because he was coming up with questions to ask the owner, he asked if I might be able to come up with one.
I gave him the first question that came to my mind - "Where did the supplies of scorpions and other exotic ingredients come from?"
He said that it was a good question and, if I recall correctly, I saw the question and answer in the published article a couple of months later.
It wasn't some huge accomplishment on my part, but I felt that I had contributed in some small way, and I felt valued because my senior could easily have left it out or not bothered to ask me to begin with.
In part because of this, I frequently ask my students for their thoughts on how to improve their learning experience. If I can, I implement it as soon as possible, so that they can see that their suggestions do make a difference.
Vanity Metrics Can Be Useful. If They Result in Serving Others.
We're all susceptible to some sort of vanity metric in our lives.
When I first started as an educator, I wanted to be liked.
I wanted to be that interesting teacher who's chill about things going off the rails, cool with my students being students, and savvy about the things they were interested in.
If I really think about it, I wanted to be the teacher I never had when I was a student - one I could relate to and see as less of an authority figure, more a person I could look up to.
And it wasn't that difficult. Most of my students weren't that much younger than me.
We were able to relate to fairly similar cultural icons and had similar life experiences.
I can't really tell if I succeeded in being liked, but I know that my efforts towards infusing relevant things into lessons and making my presentations as interesting as possible (because I, too, had some horrendously boring teachers) were not wasted.
Till today, I make these 2 things - relevance and interesting talking points - my top priorities in any of my programmes and lessons.
And I've received feedback, from past students (now friends), present students, and other educators, that they enjoy sitting in my sessions.
So perhaps it's not necessarily a bad thing to have a vanity metric if it results in serving others.
Stop Wasting My Time on Ice Breaker Games and Energiser Activities
Ice-breaker and “energiser” activities.
I learned them.
I’ve been asked to conduct them.
I hate them.
Why make everyone stand up and move around needlessly, answer frivolous questions, and waste precious time that could be better spent on other things?
When I attend a workshop, seminar, course, etc., I don’t care what the person beside me likes to eat for breakfast or what movies he/she likes.
I don’t even care what his/her opinion is on anything.
I’m there to learn something from the speaker/trainer, not from random members of the audience.
In turn, I respect the time and energy of my audience by getting straight to the point as soon as I’ve introduced myself.
And, so far, I’ve never received a single comment or piece of feedback that wished for ice-breaker or “energiser” activities.
I’m certainly not stopping other trainers/educators from running these activities if they feel that it’s important to their flow.
Just, for goodness’ sake, give your audience the option of opting out, keep them concise, and at least explain the activity once it’s over.
I am of the opinion that it makes more sense to be the energy-giver, especially right at the start, instead of demanding that your audience generates their own.
Becoming a Sought-After Expert? That's Tough.
Being an expert is easy.
Being a sought-after expert is what's difficult.
To become good at something, all you need is the general correct direction, a little self-awareness (or someone else's awareness), and plenty of time.
Relatively speaking, it's easy. Just a little tedious and tiring.
Now that you have that expertise, though, letting people know that you have it? That's the tough next step.
Because even with determination, resources, and time, it won't automatically happen.
For this, you need the right guidance.
By right, I mean guidance towards actions that will work for you in your particular situation and field of expertise.
Blindly copying someone else won't necessarily work for you.
It has to fit you. Like a glove.
