Do you remember when you first learned to tie your shoelaces? Or how to use a gas pump? Or how to use breakout rooms in a videoconference? Each of these probably wasn’t something you learned on your own, but once someone showed you how to do it, you probably do it regularly without much thought. Our lives are full of things like these: small things we’ve learned from others that have made our lives easier – or richer – in some way. These small moments of someone showing you how to do something new? These are prime examples of “Tiny Teach.”
“Tiny Teach” is also the name of a walk-and-talk activity used in many experiential education programs; during a transition between activities, participants are asked to pair up and take a minute to teach their partner how to do something (it could be anything, from a cartwheel to turning a spreadsheet into a graphic) – the idea being that we each have unique skills and experiences that could be shared. In this setting, it’s a relationship building exercise more than a true skill share; people don’t have any prior expectation that this will be asked of them, so it tends to highlight each person’s interests and skills for further exploration later.
Thriving workplace teams incorporate a much deeper culture of “Tiny Teach” on an ongoing basis. Similar to micro-mentoring, tiny teach takes little time or effort. It can be introduced into a team meeting as connection before content – ideally as something you’ll be doing in future meetings, rather than then-and-there; this gives people time to think of something specific they’d like to share that may be a) fun, b) helpful for others in the workplace, and/or c) helps others get to know them better. Each meeting someone can volunteer to share their Tiny Teach, or it can be scheduled, or if your team is willing, a name could be picked out of a hat each time. However your team handles it, you may find as so many others have that once this is introduced in team meetings, it spills over into the team culture outside of meetings too. Teams who use Tiny Teach in meetings share that the team is more open about sharing information and skills in one-on-one settings outside of team meetings too.
As many of us have experienced, work environments can be unnecessarily siloed, and people often feel the need to be protective of their knowledge and skills. This can lead to isolation, dissatisfaction, and toxicity in the workplace, resulting in lack of motivation, poor performance, and lower employee retention. While Tiny Teach is – by definition – small, introducing it can be a gentle and simple way to start impacting the culture and leading your team in a new direction.
This Week’s Tip:
- If you lead a team: Introduce the concept of Tiny Teach into your teams. Give your team a heads-up that this will be part of upcoming meetings, rather than putting people on the spot then-and-there. Their Tiny Teach could be anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, and should be simple enough that people leave with one or two straightforward takeaways they can implement. Let them know their Tiny Teach can be work-related, but it doesn’t have to be; this allows them to choose their level of comfort in what they share.
- If you do not lead a team: Incorporate the idea of Tiny Teach into your interactions with others at work. Ask others to share their best practices with you; it both gives you a chance to learn and gives them a chance to show off a little and feel good about themselves. Also be willing and prepared to share your own quick ideas or tips on how to do something that would help others learn and grow.
Try this out this week, and let us know how it goes! We’d love to hear from you.
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Building Bridges Leadership 