A message to leaders and educators.
I’ve been an Airman Leadership Instructor for almost four years now! I can’t believe the time has gone by so fast and I still continue to learn lessons from my students and the classroom.
As a leaders and educators, it’s not enough to give them the material. It’s not enough about just communicating vision and goals. It’s lot only about giving them tasks.
There’s another part of this equation.
HOW are we behaving that helps communicate our visions, mission, goals, tasks, and curriculum?
It’s not enough to tell them.
We have to show them.
To speak about empathetic leadership is different than applying it.
In five weeks of class, I take pride in the connections I’ve been able to make. Sure, I won’t connect with every single person, but I don’t stop until I do. When they leave I want them not only take the lesson material with them, but the feeling of it being applied in real time. My goal is for them to duplicate it.
I pay attention to their facial expressions, their body language, and I keep mental notes of the patterns. I then make sure to check in! It’s that simple.
When we talk about creating a good environment, we should not just teach about it, we should show them.