Untapped opportunity in Leadership Development

We all know that to learn something really well you should teach it to others. There is an opportunity beyond the benefits that arise from basic learning principles that are engaged when teaching others including Retrieval, Elaboration, Practice.

Self-awareness is a strong predictor of leadership effectiveness. There is a deficit of self-awareness in the majority of leaders. Research suggests that organizational leaders have lower levels of self-awareness than non-leaders. Those with MBAs fair worse.

Integrating teach-to-learn sessions with regular learning modules can increase a developing leader’s self-awareness with the following modifications to the process.

✅ Teach-to-learn is integrated as an element of every lesson
✅ A written follow-up by the participant includes responses to the following:
🔹 The topic I taught
🔹 The demographics of the person to whom I taught the topic (i.e., # times I’ve taught this person. Their relationship to me organizationally—in/out of my group, at/above/below my level in the org)
🔹 “What I learned about myself by attempting to teach this topic: “

The critical response is “What I learned about myself by attempting to teach this topic: “ The key here is not what I learned about the topic, but what I learned about myself.

Most people require multiple attempts before they begin to address this self-reflection item properly. Few arrive naturally to the place where they are able to examine themselves inside of their own teaching interactions.

With a little coaching support and by the time they have completed 50+ such conversations, their level of self-awareness moves worlds beyond the self-awareness of the majority of today’s organizational leaders.