Some time ago I was giving my oldest granddaughter a bike lesson. She was only 6 years old at the time and beginning to learn how to ride a bike without training wheels.
I would steady her bike with one hand by the back of the seat as she rode. I would tell her, “keep your body straight”, “don’t look down”, and to “take it nice and slow”. I would then let her go and she would continue to ride the bike without my help.
As I thought about this teaching session I began to make a connection to my professional life as a leader. If you are going to teach someone a skill, you must have a process to follow.
1. Be patient. If you are going to teach someone a skill it is going to take a lot of your time, and you have to be willing to put up with the frustrations that are sure to come. Remember that someone once taught you a skill and chances are they were very patient with you. Also, if you become frustrated and inpatient so will the person you are teaching.
Ephesians 6:4, ”Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
2. Break down the lesson into small chunks. If you are teaching someone a complex skill, you might need to break it down to smaller manageable parts, and then be able to bring them all together.
Isaiah 28:9-10 “To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast? For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.
3. Reinforce the skill. Teaching someone a skill is not a one-time event. You’ll need to schedule time to ensure that you are reinforcing what you want that person to learn.
4. Allow for demonstration of the newly acquired skill without any interruptions from you. This will show both you and the person you are teaching that they have learned the skill, and that you have been successful at teaching.
2 Timothy 3:17 “That the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”
5. Encourage. When the skill is acquired and done well, you have to encourage. When you encourage someone it will make them want to do it correctly. They will feel the joy of being able to do something well. And you will have the pride of knowing that you shared your skills and knowledge with someone else.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”
How are you teaching those that depend on you?
At a prayer meeting last night we shared some praise reports. Then one man stood up and said just because God has answered our prayers doesn’t mean we can stop praying for those people. They still need our prayers.
your post reminds me of this. We can’t teach something or pray something and feel our obligation is met. Daily we must invest in others lives. That is a sacrifice but it’s worth it.
Like you said, someone has invested in ours.
TC, thanks for sharing. God bless.
It always amazes me that, when we look for life lessons on purpose, we find them everywhere. I have been asking God to reveal mysteries to me recently and I have been finding lessons the the oddest places.
Thanks for the post.
Hutch, I am glad to hear the Lord is speaking to you in the most unusual ways. His ways are mysterious. God bless.
I think living what your teaching is so important. If the leader is not practicing what they say or teach then the people will not be committed to the leader or applying the teaching. Great points. You really nailed it.
Dan, that’s a key point – living what we are teaching. Thanks for stopping in an sharing. God bless.
In describing the qualifications for elders and leaders in the church, the ability to teach is one of the few things explicitly mentioned – so it’s pretty safe to say it’s important!
Loren, thanks for sharing. I’ve always known that teaching is important as a leader. I have to admit, I didn’t realize that teaching as a skill for elders and leaders in the church is explicitly mentioned in the Bible. Thanks for the enlightenment. God bless.