The key to everything good in your life and leadership is…
If there is one word that describes what I’m looking for in the leaders around me, hands down, it’s the word, Teachability. I swear, I’m going to write a book on Teachability at some point in my leadership career, because I am completely convinced that Teachability is the key to just about everything else that we need in leadership.
Bottom Line: If you’re not teachable, then you’re going to struggle in your leadership. I rarely get dogmatic in stuff like this, but on this one, I’m pretty darn sure. Teachability is the key to everything good in our lives and leadership.
So for the next two weeks, I want to share with you several of my thoughts on this idea of teachability. I hope you’ll take 90 seconds each day, read the thought and then spent 90 more seconds thinking about your own heart as a leader. 3 minutes / day for 2 weeks could change the whole demeanor of your leadership.
It’s easy to talk about teachability and write about teachability. But it’s really hard to actually be teachable. Everybody says they’re teachable until you ask them to relearn something they think they already know. 90% of preachers think they’re in the top 50% of communicators in their field. Clearly, we preachers have some learning to do!!!
The essence of teachability is humility. Until we’re willing to humble ourselves, we’re not going to learn anything. For me to be teachable I have to first and foremost humble myself. I have to become the student. And here’s the kicker… the further you go in leadership, and the more successful you become, the harder this gets. When you’re successful, people think you know more than you actually do. And you actually do know a lot. So being successful and staying teachable is a rare thing for a leader.
Being teachable for me, means listening more than I talk. If I’m talking, I ain’t learnin’. Period. Saying your teachable and actually being teachable are two very different things.
? What about you? On a scale of 1 to 10, how teachable would you say you are? How teachable would your boss and colleagues say you are? What about your spouse and kids?
Just a thought,
Matt
Interesting question. And I'd say “it depends”. One of my top 5 strengths is learner so I would think it's kinda hard to have that as a strength if I'm not teachable. But I say depends because it sometimes depends. To be honest I think I'm very teachable in learning settings or with clients as a certified Life Coach we are taught to listen 80% of the time and go deeper with relevant questions the remainder of the time. But in reading your article the one thing that came to mind that I may need to work on is in marriage. After 29 years of marriage I've (We've) kinda gotten set in my ways. It's definitely something to consider next time there's a disagreement – “Am I being disagreeable because I'm not being teachable?” Thanks Matt for the insightful post. Looking forward to more.