Learning to Cook, Learning to Lead
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Last weekend, my middle grandson described for me how he was learning to cook. He's twelve and this is a new adventure. He described the dishes that he'd mastered including his own "Diego's Pasta." Very impressive.
He's got some of the basics down, but that didn't just happen. Someone showed him. Someone helped him learn about safety in the kitchen. Now he's trying recipes, experimenting, and learning what works for him and what yields good results.
He's not completely on his own. There are people he can call to ask questions or request suggestions. There are people who will demonstrate how to do new things and help him improve his technique and his results.
It's funny, you know, we wouldn't send a twelve year old into the kitchen and ask him or her to whip up dinner without some preparation, but we do that all the time when we turn people into bosses. We wouldn't send Diego to a three day "Cooking Skills Course" and then expect him to produce great dishes with the help of a book or two, but we do that with new leaders all the time. And we sure wouldn't let him cook for a few months on his own until a "Cooking Skills Course" was available before we sent him, but we do that all the time with newly promoted leaders, too.
Both cooking and leading are complex "doing" tasks. You can learn about them by reading and attending a course or two, but you won't learn them without trial and feedback. In both cases, you'll learn them faster if you have someone to help you, demonstrate good technique, and give you feedback. In both cases, you'll never, ever learn everything there is to know.
Boss's Bottom Line
Help you team members learn by doing if leadership is something they want to
do. If it is, give them opportunities to try things and help them learn the
basics.
Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
Categories: leadership development
Tags: Leadership Development
Wally,
Good stuff... I remember early in my career when I worked at a big bank - I was sent to one of those training sessions and then was told to get out there and manage... Don't get me wrong - I was excited about being "The Manager" - but I had no coaching support and you can imagine how some of that played out...
You don't learn how to manage until things blow up - and you figure out how to pick up the pieces... Some time it is good to learn some lessons on your own - but most times we would all benefit by being told not to touch the oven burner - because it is hot...
Mike
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Thanks for those great comments, Mike. I remember those days well. I remember making some huge mistakes that I might have avoided with just a little training. I also remember that most of the advice I got from books and academics was long on theory and short on specifics. I discovered the power of role models on my own and I found some mentors (or they found me) who helped me learn a lot. I tried to put all of that into my training and my Working Supervisor's Support Kit.
I can shape my materials around actual behaviors that work for top performing supervisors. In the classroom, I can help new bosses learn from the good bosses they've had. What is still amazingly hard to do is get organizations to provide coaching and peer support on the job. There things are better than they were, but most of the coaching budget seems to be spent on the executive suite.
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Grandson demonstrated one reason why kids are good learners: they know they don't know anything. They approach the experience of learning to cook assuming everything they want to know they must learn and/or be taught.
A newly minted manager might make the mistake that his/her prior experience and success has prepared them for management. As such, they might not be open to admitting how little they know and might not be willing to learn/be taught. Truly, the ones who know it all will never learn anything new.
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That's a great point, Dan. You could say that he had the "growth mindset" that Carol Dweck writes about
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