Being A Good Teacher At Work

Unlike being a teacher at home, being a good teacher at work involves awareness and respect of professional boundaries.

Here are 5 simple but essential things to do as a teacher at work

1. Accessibility - Open Door Concept

All the best teachers have this rule and it is definitely one of the 5 good things to do as a teacher at work. The Open Door Concept is the implied rule that anyone can approach the teacher to discuss things and there will not be any bias or repercussions. It is called an Open Door Concept because it means that there is nothing in between stopping people from entering the room for a meet up. It also implies that there is transparency and nothing to hide in the relationship.

2. Understanding

Nobody is a mind reader hence communicating your feelings to one another allows for mutual understanding between the two parties. When you can understand, you can empathise with the person. When you can empathise, you can work together in a healthier manner.

For example, if a colleague knows their friend has dyslexia and faces difficulties reading, they will give them extra time for tasks involving running through documents. It doesn’t mean you are giving people special treatment but you are managing people healthily. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. It is just a matter of working smart.

Understanding and empathising with one another is what keeps us efficient and effective as a team.

3. Role Model

Do what you say and say what you do. Meaning, if you want to teach your colleagues discipline of reaching the office by 8.30am, you should be in the office by 8.30am. People watch the leaders who teach through action.

Work ethic is something you should expect from colleagues but as a teacher at work, you have got to be the role model.

4. Objective Argumentation

At work, you need to understand that you are dealing with other well educated adults who work hard to support their family. When in need to argue a matter between employees, the good thing to do as a teacher at work is to prove points with results and statistics.

For example, if you are working in an Events Management company, you can measure events by the number of events delivered. The quality of the events can be done by collecting feedback from the team and attendees via a Post-mortem if possible.

Measurement through empirical data is an unbiased, fair, and safe way to calculate an employee's performance at work. As a teacher at work, you teach this to your colleagues so that they can learn to improve the quality of their arguments for the sake of the organisation through the use of data and numbers.

5. Recognition & Reward

One of the good things to do as a teacher at work is to recognise effort and improvement by rewarding your colleagues. For example, if you know a colleague is working on his or her stage fright, but keep on showing up onstage during the company town-halls or work events, tell them you see them and thank them. Reward does not need to be in physical form. Even a simple ‘thank you’, ‘that means a lot to me’ or ‘I understand your struggle and appreciate your effort’ goes a very long way.

Everyone wants to be heard and everyone needs to be seen. Remember, psychologically, the worst thing you can do to someone is make them feel invisible. So always look people in the eye and notice them even for the smallest things.

For example, you realise your colleagues who usually come to the office late has been coming in on time. Point it out (recognise) and thank him/her in-front of the team (reward).