Matthew Richter posts daily comments in LinkedIn—well, almost daily. You can follow him and join the conversation by going to http://linkedin.com/in/matthew-richter-0738b84.
For the benefit of our readers, we decide to compile and reprint some of his provocative pieces from the past. Let us know what you think.
Advice to Learners
Yesterday I gave my 14-year old daughter advice on how to be a better learner in her classes. I found my tips completely the opposite of what I would say to trainers and teachers.
It’s ok to be bored. You aren’t there for entertainment. Focus and try and draw applicable take-aways from the lesson.
You are responsible for your learning--not your teacher. Stop blaming the teacher if you don’t learn something. Blame yourself. If you don’t understand, ask. If you are unclear, ask. If you struggle, get help.
Just because you can do it in class, doesn’t mean you can do it out of class. So, practice, study, and validate you get it.
Lectures give you content you can use later... take notes, highlight, and listen. Discuss later with your peers.
School isn’t always, or supposed to be, fun. So, get over it and focus. The teacher is the only person in that moment who can facilitate your learning... so, the teacher to do so. Make it easy for them.
Not all classes seem relevant. Figure out somehow or someway the program is relevant to you and embrace that.
In summary, own your learning. Be accountable for your learning. You are in charge.
On Linguistics
I am leaving France today. Here are my thoughts on practical linguistics. My first mistake, as an American English speaker is the tendency to do direct translation. This, of course, gets me into trouble quite often. For example, in the US, we say, “I am hot.” Or, “You are hot.” In French, a direct translation of these simple statements can cause quite a stir, especially if directed to the wrong person. In French, one would say, “I have heat.” Or, “You have heat.” “J’ai chaud.” ou, “Tu as chaud.” If, instead, I say, “Tu es chaud,” especially, to a woman, I have called her sexy in an inappropriate way. Mistakes like this happen all the time as cultures mesh languages. What’s the point? As trainers, managers, coaches using our own language, we forget the difficulty people have speaking a second language. They respond slower, because they are trying to avoid the “I am hot” direct translation problem. Or, they speak slower, because they are trying desperately to avoid sounding stupid. They know the words and not always the meaning. It is essential for us, in a multicultural world, to remember not everyone speaks, writes, or thinks in the same language as we do. In France, I am lucky to work and be friends with patient people. So, patience is the word of the day.
Favorites
I get asked all the time what my favorite activities are. Typically, I say, “whichever activity best fits the objective and the group.”
A perfect answer. But, not an authentic one. Of course, I have my favorite games. I recently had a conversation with Thiagi about some of our favorites. The cool thing is we had some crossovers. But more fun was that we had quite a few different ones, as well. One game I completely forgot about is called Change Management, where the change is not change, but the coins in one’s pocket. The purpose of the game is to explore the value of individual contributions on the team. My point is that we do have our favorite games and we often forget how great others may be in our toolkit as we continue to amass so many. Have a conversation with a friend and review what you each like to play. I promise you will modify your lists immediately.