5 Ways Teaching Will Make You a Better Leader
Why the Best Leaders Are Often Excellent Teachers
If you can accept teaching will make you a better leader, how you relate to others will become a higher focus.
It’s not surprising the best leaders communicate well and see themselves as guides or teachers. They make it easier to support others accomplish what they want.
1-Minute Summary Video
The Relationship Between Teaching and Leading
Leadership implies guiding others to an outcome or destination. A leader role-models the way and offers support when others face challenges, ensuring they learn and grow as they overcome them.
Teaching involves sharing knowledge, skills and experience so others can learn and benefit. A teacher supports others to learn effectively, develop self-confidence and competence. A teacher has an outcome or destination they want to guide others to.
Therefore, the role of a teacher and a leader is the same.
Common Qualities Between Teachers and Leaders
The qualities teachers and leaders include:
- They take risks.
- They want others to succeed, so they can too.
- They help develop others to become the best they can be.
- They help shorten other’s learning curve.
- They are vision-driven and outcome-focused.
When you embrace your role as a teacher, your leadership skills will improve, which will make you a better leader.
5 Ways Teaching Will Make You a Better Leader
Here are five ways teaching will improve your leadership abilities, so you can become the best leader you can be, while helping others to be the best they can be.
- You will show genuine interest in others. When you teach, you want others to get what you convey to them. This means their success is one of your main objectives. For others to succeed, you will need to know more about them and what is important to them. When people know you want them to succeed, they will respect you more.
- You will value curiosity and learning. You will learn more about those you lead if you develop curiosity. This will require you to develop higher self-awareness and how you relate to others. As you learn more, you can offer new perspectives or ideas to help others reach their outcomes easier.
- You will improve your communication skills. Communication is a foundational teaching and leadership skills. When you teach, you will have to explain things better because everyone has a preferred learning style. This also means you will improve your listening skills, and know what to pay attention to or how to ask intelligent questions.
- You will value being prepared and organised. Imagine a teacher leading a session with no preparation. They probably won’t perform as well as they can. Teaching will require you to prepare well for the sessions you lead. This also means you will need to plan and organise yourself to facilitate better outcomes.
- You will discover your leadership style. As you embrace your role of a teacher, you will better understand how to deal with different personalities. You will gain valuable experience, which will allow you to embrace your unique leadership style.
Final Thoughts
The best leaders are often excellent teachers because they constantly create teaching moments for those they lead. When you accept you are a teacher to those you lead, every interaction you have with someone will matter.
Challenge yourself to learn, improve and support others become the best they can be, which will also make you a powerful leader.
Action Step: Reflect on how you view your leadership role and style. Identify ways you can add teaching moments to those you lead to better support them to reach their objectives.
Question: What are more ways teaching will make you a better leader?
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