I was struck recently by a Youtube video I was watching where a Jerusalem based University professor, Sydney Engelberg, who has gained Internet fame, fielded interview requests from all over the world, and has earned devotion from parents of infants everywhere, all because of a simple gesture: Holding a student’s fussy baby while continuing to teach class.

Without reading a whole lot of sexual political rhetoric into this, let’s think about why that simple gesture has such meaning. And let’s do this in simple terms.

The first thing that strikes me is that Professor Engelberg appears to have no preconceived or traditional notions of what it means to be teaching a class. His approach is go with the flow and is not based around his role nor his power in his position. However, he has a clear vision about how to teach, despite unexpected challenges to the traditional approach.

The second thing was the process of participating in his classroom. There appears to be a co-operative relationship between him and his students, especially with the mother of the baby.

The third element, which is a direct consequence of his co-operative attitude with the group he is teaching, is that there is clearly a sense of trust between him and the baby’s mother.

The fourth element was that the power of his communication, was not just in what he said, but he what he did. He wasn’t blowing his trumpet or making a big thing about what he was doing, he just did it.

All of this comes down to making the learning environment better by having great relationships with your students, and being a great communicator, both in word and in action.

Now, I spend a lot of time with adolescent and adult students, and one thing that I can attest to, is that most people who do well, more often than not, do so because they have a teacher who knows how to put these basic principles of creating strong relationships into place. Their focus is not only the academic performance of the person. They focus on the student as a whole and his/her needs in the context of the learning environment.
Unfortunately, too many times we see teachers, especially men, work on the principle that they are an information delivery system and that the priority is the student’s academic output. What they forget, is that they will have no influence, academic or otherwise, if they do not first have a relationship with that student.

So, the take out of today’s blog is:

4 principles:
1 Be authentic, that includes being humble,
2 Establish co-operation,
3 Build trust,
4 And have integrity in how and what you communicate.

Interestingly, these are the primary leadership principles in ALL walks of life.

Btw another Making Good Men Great Mentoring Group will be run towards the end of April. For more information please call Rebecca on 02 9999 0429 or email rebecca@goodmengreat.com.