Have you ever had someone else lead your class or your team?
Years ago, Sarah Wilson, the executive director of the Tennessee Association of Independent Schools taught English to the 9th graders at Asheville School where we both worked.
Every year following Thanksgiving, she was generous enough to let me teach her class for a week. We always taught A Christmas Carol, which was a wonderful time for me as an administrator to spend a week with the students.
What I didn’t appreciate was that it was a very valuable time for Sarah as well.
You might think, “Oh, she enjoyed not teaching!” Well, if you know any of the teachers I know, you’ll know they are a dedicated crew so she wasn’t looking for time off. What Sarah most enjoyed was the opportunity to be more observational. Watching someone else teach her class gave her the chance to see how her students responded to a different voice, to a different teacher.
Recently, I had the great pleasure of facilitating a team WHY.os Discovery training with Sarah and her team at the Tennessee Association of Independent Schools. And that experience brought Sarah back to those years at Asheville School. She was able to listen differently and with more care and reflection to her team with someone else facilitating the conversation.
The ability to be observational and present in a different way is a unique opportunity for leaders.
It’s one of the takeaways that I often hear from the team leaders after a WHY.os Discovery team event. You’re able to look at your team’s ability with fresh eyes when you don’t have the stress of leading the event yourself.
When was the last time you were able to be observational in this way with your team? When was the last time you got to have someone else teach your class? I’d love to hear about it and would enjoy giving you this opportunity by facilitating an event for your team.