On The Hook

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. ~William Arthur Ward


Now that my leadership training/mentoring proposal has been accepted by Senior Management, I am on the hook to produce a training program. The problem is, I am not trained to be a teacher. I am an Engineer who has, through trial and error, training, and many errors, has become a leader.  The challenging part is that the closest I have ever come to teaching a subject was as a soccer coach.

Coaching soccer was conceptually easier for me to embrace because I was working with kids, a group with which I am very comfortable and because my ability (or inability) to transfer my knowledge would not affect someones livelihood. My leadership program has the potential to directly affect a person's bottom line. It also has the potential to affect people further down the line when the trainees move into positions of leadership. This, for me, raises the bar for the quality of the training I will be providing to my peers.

When this idea was in the concept phase, a mere proposal to Senior Management, they importance of the task was an intangible. I could live happily in a world of theory that required nothing more than for me to bandy about ideas. Now, I must turn those ideas into something tangible. I am on the hook for a program replete with a lesson plan and materials with content necessary to build up the next generation of leaders at my company. There is a pressure on me to perform, a pressure from within because I know the importance of leadership in any endeavor and I take the role of mentor/trainer very seriously. The people in my program will be counting on me, the company is counting on me, I am counting on me....and that's just how I like it. It is under pressure that I do my best work, have the most fun. I am looking forward to an enjoyable next few months on the job.