It Takes a Village: Workplace Lessons From Children
May is Teacher Appreciation Month. Without doubt the men and women who devote their lives to educating our children deserve infinite gratitude. Valuable lessons, though, are often taught by family members, neighbors, friends, coaches and church members, among others. We are all members of the proverbial village it takes to raise a child, and we need to recognize the opportunities we have to impart precious knowledge to the next generation. At the same time, we need to appreciate the intrinsic ability children have to be our teachers. Through the eyes of a child, valuable lessons can be learned, including those which make us better leaders at work. It is critical to long-term success, at home and at work, that values be shared, not just across generations, but also spillover from work to home and vice versa.
The job of the adult is to help the child grow and develop and learn how to function in life; the adult who can also recognize the child as a teacher can learn some life skills that might improve their own life experience.
Prioritizing, communicating and managing conflict, necessary principles in the workplace, should not clock out at 5, just as lessons often learned at home (empathy and risk taking, for example) cannot only work the night shift. “Our children are probably our best and most honest judges; they provide the most direct, trusting performance evaluation we’ll ever get,” Jelena Zikic writes on the positive spillover between parenting and managing employees.
Other high-value positive spillovers to appreciate include:
Accountability – “Embrace the Red.” Adults and children alike tend to hold others accountable to promises made and quickly make known others’ mistakes, yet are often slow to admit their own. Children, however are excellent teachers in resilience, bouncing back quickly from a time-out or scolding. They are also open to constructive criticism. As adults, we must model accounting for our choices, and learning from our mistakes. Zikic asserts that in order for positive spillovers to occur, self-reflecting is crucial. “If we don’t question our existing ways of doing things,’ she writes, ‘we can’t learn, and we can’t improve.”
Adaptability – “Children challenge us to accept that stability is not normal and that developing the readiness to deal with uncertainty and accept new daily challenges. The same sets of skills are an asset in today’s workforce,” according to Zikic. As companies, leaders and employees, we must model adaptability. Life isn’t static and neither can we be if we wish to evolve.
Time Management – A crucial skill of adulthood is managing the time you’re given. Along with prioritizing tasks, adults are expected to meet deadlines and manage a workload at the office. The same is true of the hours spent outside of the office. Paying bills on time, fitting people into your schedule and taking time for self-care are just three examples.
One of the biggest hurdles facing the village is work-life balance. Harvard Business Review writer Sabina Nawaz suggests one way to effectively share your values with children without adding to an already heavy load is to “explore values through discussing real-life dilemmas.” This includes age-appropriate discussions with children about issues faced at the office as well as discussions surrounding children’s concerns in their own lives.
Work Matters – As Vikram Seth believed, “I think if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. And worth thinking about it as well.” For children, chores have the ability to teach that individual contributions matter to the whole, effectively also teaching teamwork and cooperation necessary for the adult working world.
Money Matters – Just as chores are the starting point for teaching work matters, allowances and having to spend their own money for desired purchases are frequently the starting points for balancing finances. While adults teach children the economic value of a dollar many times it is children who provide lessons on generosity. It is frequently also through the eyes of a child we are taught a dollar is not worth giving up our values or our greatest treasure, them.
As the school year winds down and school teachers get a much deserved (albeit short) break, there are many changes which occur within homes and companies. Summer vacations may require shifting of personnel and/or the hiring of temporary workers. Summer interns come aboard, volunteers come (and go) and geographic relocations are at their peak. This is, therefore, a prime time to speed up the learning curve.
In every village, there are important lessons to be learned. And one of the most important lessons we can learn from children is that every single day is a fresh start and that every waking (and even non-waking) moment can be an opportunity to learn something new.
SaveSave
SaveSave
We’ve been spotlighting and sharing helpful recruiting and placement resources for both our client companies and our employment candidates for years. Please use our search tool to find a topic relevant to your employment needs, or choose from our list of topics below.
Recent Posts
Categories
- Applying for a Job
- Career Change
- Community
- Creative
- Dallas Employment Trends
- Dallas Job Candidates
- Employers
- Financial Tips
- Finding Opportunities
- Fun For Working Moms
- General
- Hot Jobs
- Hot Jobs & Companies
- Hybrid Work
- Insights
- Interviewing
- Progressive Thinking About Non-traditional Hiring
- Re-entering the Workforce
- Recruiter Relationships
- Remote Work
- Reputation Management
- Resume Rules
- Staying Sharp Till You are Ready
- Time Management
- Tools to Know
- Uncategorized
- What We Love About Dallas
- Work-Life Balance
- Work-Life Balance Tools
- World
Tags
Archives
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- October 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- January 2022
- October 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- March 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- November 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- May 2016
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
Categories
- Applying for a Job
- Career Change
- Community
- Creative
- Dallas Employment Trends
- Dallas Job Candidates
- Employers
- Financial Tips
- Finding Opportunities
- Fun For Working Moms
- General
- Hot Jobs
- Hot Jobs & Companies
- Hybrid Work
- Insights
- Interviewing
- Progressive Thinking About Non-traditional Hiring
- Re-entering the Workforce
- Recruiter Relationships
- Remote Work
- Reputation Management
- Resume Rules
- Staying Sharp Till You are Ready
- Time Management
- Tools to Know
- Uncategorized
- What We Love About Dallas
- Work-Life Balance
- Work-Life Balance Tools
- World
Recent Comments