Several years ago, I asked an occupational therapist to do an ergonomic assessment of my home office setup. As she measured and adjusted, we chatted, and we discovered that we shared a deep commitment to teaching.
She had spent a lifetime acquiring expertise and hands-on experience, she said, and she felt it her duty to pass that on. She considered it her “responsibility” to share the knowledge she had gained, and that simply wasn’t a duty she could turn her back on.
I’ve felt a similar obligation to teach for as long as I can remember. As a child, my favourite game was to play school, with the family cat and my dolls lined up in rows in front of me and my chalkboard. In junior high, I acquired my first coaching client, a Grade Sixer who needed help reading. Since then, I’ve taught more than 2,000 university students and professors and have touched thousands more through curriculum I’ve developed.
My compulsion to teach has stuck with me like a burr through some harrowing experiences—courses that flopped, students that rebelled, fatigue and burnout. On many occasions, I’ve asked myself why I feel so drawn to a path that can be so rewarding one day and so frustrating the next. That conversation with the OT helped me find the answer: teaching isn’t the path I chose but rather the obligation that chose me.
It’s my personal responsibility to teach communication because I love language and I’ve had the privilege of studying language close up as a literary scholar. I’ve also had the opportunity to face a lot of communication challenges in my life: presenting to hostile audiences, dealing with narcissists, managing multiple stakeholders, rearing an autistic child, coaching writers in highly technical fields, responding to sexist comments, and persuading clients to embark on six-figure projects, to name just a few.
Along the way, I’ve learned just how valuable a role communication plays in our personal and professional lives. When we become better communicators, we access tremendous power. We can express our ideas fully, develop positive relationships, and rally others to make meaningful change.
Yet so many people assume these abilities belong to a rare stratum of the population—the Professional Communicators. Unfortunately, as our world becomes more and more professionalized, this false belief becomes more entrenched.
And that’s why I teach communication.
Communication isn’t a professional domain or a business function; it’s an essential human function that’s accessible to everyone. Through skillful teaching, everyone can learn to communicate in ways that foster communication, build trust, and produce positive outcomes.
What outcomes are you striving for? What are your communication challenges as you try to translate your innovative ideas into results?
Drop me a line and tell me a bit about your situation. I may be able to point you to some useful resources on the Clarity Connect blog or elsewhere.
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