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“Teacher-able” part 2

I’ve read books and listen to leaders that speak about the person who is teachable.  The teachable person is humble, is pliable and is willing to change his or her behavior. A teachable person is a learner, someone who is willing to be taught by other people. If only more of us were teachable I think we’d have a lot less problems in our culture.  But I think that teachable ness is only half of the equation. There is another side that we are missing as a culture; yes we all should be teachable but what about being what I call “teacher-able”.  This is a new word that I am proposing, an adjective that is defined as ‘capable and willing to teach others’. The attitude of a teacher is just as important and I think is more rare as is the attitude of a learner.

teach
Teaching others can be done in a variety of ways, teaching others can be done through one on one mentoring, it can be done using software, it can be done with writing, it can be done in meetings, in presentations, in sharing of data. It’s true not everyone can or will teach, it’s also true that not everyone can be taught. Why do we as a society emphasize being “teachable” and not “teacher-able” ?  Both require attitude changes, I think it is actually easier to become teachable than it is to be teacher-able.

The bible says in 2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

Here knowledge is referred to as a fragrance and people are the diffusers of that knowledge, in every place.  The teachable person is humble and is willing to change.  The teacher-able person must also be humble, she must be willing to change if teaching doesn’t come easy to her, the teacher-able person must also become a giver.  Teachable people receive benefit of the new knowledge.  Teacher’s seem at first
glance only stand to lose; especially if they feel that what they are teaching could benefit them in some way by withholding.  Herein lies the difference, the teacher-able
person is a giver.  Being a giver is not a universal quality that we all share. Transforming our work behavior from selfishness and insecurity into one of selflessness and generosity is the essence of becomeing teacherable.

If we could transform our organizations from a siloed insecure place into a horizontal team of teacher/ givers, the rapid technology innovation would take care of itself much faster.

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Teacher-able, part 1

You heard it here first, a new word ‘teacherable’.  No doubt you’ve heard of the word ‘teachable’. 

The definition of teachable according to dictionary.com…

teach·a·ble

  /ˈtitʃəbəl/ [tee-chuh-buhl]

adjective

1.capable of being instructed, as a person; docile.

2.capable of being taught, as a subject.

 my new adjective ‘teacherable’ is defined as:

 teach·er·a·ble

 1. capable and willing to instruct others

Notice I added the word ‘willing’, that’s the interesting thing about educating others, many are capable but few are willing.

If only in the R&D community there were more ‘teacherable’ researchers.  Many R&D organizations tout the fact that they have cultures of continual learning and collaboration. One step further is a culture that is ‘teacherable’.  We need more of that in our R&D organizations. We need researchers who are willing to collaborate but to also teach, not teach undergrad level basics but their current research, their current learning’s in their development work, not only to their managers in their monthly reports but to everyone who cares to look their way and they do this using a variety of tools.

Reseachers who are teacherable personify what it takes for faster innovation….more to follow.

Are you ‘teacherable? if not why not?

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5 Tips for Fast Innovation

Developing new products and processes involves several things, it involves inventing, it involves reseaching, it involves manufactring and it involves hard work.  But one thing that is common to every stage of R&D and manufacturing is the prinicpal of continuous learning.  Below are five ways to lay a strong foundation for fast innovation, whether you’re in a University setting, a large corportion or are planning a high tech start up these steps can help.

  1. Study external publications, save experimental and study time by learning from others, I am amazed that people skip or skim over this step, there is much to learn from others, if you’ll take the time.
  2. Study inventions, patent’s teach in detail what someone is patenting, take advantage of this by studying other peoples patents (be careful to not infringe).
  3. Collaborate with others, you can learn from others by seeking out the expertise of others, take advantage of other people’s place on the leanring curve.
  4. Use tools like hypothesis trees to guide experimentation, by taking alot of time sitting down with other experts you can intensely focus your experimentation time rather than guessing what to experiment on.
  5. Write down what you are leanring as a team, its easy to forget what has already been learned, write down everything that has been learned in one place, make sure everyone has access and can contribute to this document or blog.

R&D and manufacturing is a learning process primarily, take the time to place rigor around your learning process and you will not regret it.

Do you know of other ways to encourage fast learning for the innovative organization?

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