At a family function my son, who is a senior in high school, surprised me by saying that he would miss school. He said he likes it; this following 11 years of perhaps not liking it so much (save for music!). So why does he like school now? He has a study hall with a teacher. . .and they discuss stuff like economics and politics and world view. Because he is engaged in a conversation - he is enjoying this learning. And because he is enjoying this learning - he is learning so much more.
His experience rings true for me. The teachers I remember the most, the ones I learned the most from, were those teachers who engaged in conversation in the classroom. We had discussions! We addressed what were the hot topics of the day (coincidentally, still the hot topics). We learned how to interchange, how to research, how to civilly present viewpoints and either agree to disagree or come to consensus.
It is a pity that currently we force our teachers to prep (and prep and prep) their students to do better and better on standardized tests (Education should not be a competitive battlefield folks) and in the process, we negate the value of learning through dialogue and experience.
It is a pity that in the workforce we often to the same thing. We press and press toward higher and better KPIs, and in that process, we ignore the value and the education offered by simply having a conversation. That ability to exchange ideas, to be proponents and opponents, to learn from one another is one of the things that I personally find exciting about business. It is that process that perpetuates innovation, that allows us to agree to disagree or build consensus, that creates vitality.
And. . .it builds integration. It is those conversations that enable us to reveal more of ourselves and through that revelation we learn how to benefit from others and others learn how to interchange with us. Just like conversations in the classroom, it creates personal relevancy. Relevancy means we are judged as important, and when we are important, we like what we do.
Yes, standards and measures are important; however, we can't just "go there" without foundational work. Conversations form those foundations.
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My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" is available on Amazon Kindle.
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