Why Teaching and Learning Must Be Two-Way

Why Teaching and Learning Should Be a Two-Way

AThe value of DDING and sustaining growth is achieved by developing others to lead at every level. Simply put, Noel Tichy writes The Leadership Cycle“The company that puts the best team of the smartest people together and keeps them working on things that create the most value wins over its competitors.”

The way it is done is through an interactive teaching/learning process, not a lecture. Good teaching is a two-way street—both become smarter through mutual interaction.

It’s not about switching roles. You teach me, and I teach you. Rather, it is a process of mutual exploration and exchange in which the “teacher” and the “learner” become wiser.

Interactive teaching/learning is a critical skill, and it comes from a curious mind. This can be seen as innovation and openness on the part of the leader. Executive coach Art Petty uses this idea in his workshops. she WRITES, “Each individual comes to a program with a unique perspective and experiences, and together, we look for common themes and threads that we can draw on to help us all.” And always Art shares those insights on his blog.

One-way coaching is a natural way to think about leadership development. But it limits us as we only share our vision and often miss the new dynamics that are placed in the current reality of the organization. A hierarchical teacher does not have the opportunity to grow and learn. Surprisingly, the more we learn, the less we think we need to know. We have become knowledge and not students. But the more we learn, the more we see the need to explore more.

Leadership is learning at all levels, or it is not leading. If teaching and learning are two ways, we can all learn.

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