Be a Master Teacher
By Thomas Davis, CRNA, MAE, Lt. Col, Ret
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Central to developing a preferred working culture is hiring the right people and then instilling them with your goals and values. Having a Master Teacher on your team to impart skills and establish expectations will ensure that your new hire becomes a valued member in your workplace.
I provide anesthesia in an outpatient center in which workers are happy and their competence is highly regarded. At the heart of our success as a team is the talent of our benevolent authoritarian and Master Teacher, Lali.
As an authoritarian teacher, she takes confident control and demands that each learner acquire detailed knowledge of the job. As a benevolent mentor, she bases her approach on goodwill, kindness and a genuine desire to help others. In our organization, Lali is the person who successfully combines benevolence with strict attention to detail and offers an orientation wherein each new person is taught to follow policy and procedure without deviation; and she does so in a gentle, supportive manner that affirms the self-esteem of the learner.
During the orientation process, Lali exemplifies the basic characteristics appropriate for a Master Teacher in the outpatient setting. She connects and relates to each new hire as a first priority; she is an excellent communicator; she has a thorough understanding of the expectations of the job and the goals of the organization; and, she makes the successful orientation of each new person an expectation and a reality. New people are not released to independent duty until they receive Lali’s stamp of approval.
Select a Master Teacher who…
…knows the job. It is essential for your master teacher to know the specific components of the job as well as being current on all policies and procedures that must be followed. The person you select as your master teacher must be able to set the standard for new hires to follow in their interactions with one another. Utilizing a qualified master teacher has the additional benefit of affirming both the teacher’s knowledge and her ability to connect to her peers.
… knows the team’s and organization’s values. During the orientation process, the master teacher isn’t just showing the new person how to accomplish the tasks related to the job; she or he is establishing a code of conduct for team interaction within the preferred workplace by role modeling the behavior. When orienting a new person, the MT gets one chance to do it right the first time. At the completion of orientation, the newly trained person must know how to do the job as well as how to interact.
… is a benevolent authoritarian. Successfully integrating a new member into your group involves their ability to do the job to exact specs and do it in such a way that it supports the mission, vision and values of the organization. To be in a workplace of choice, the person being orientated must perceive that he or she is competent, capable and valued. Using the benevolent authoritarian approach ticks off two big boxes. It creates a learning partnership in which the mentor gives the learner the security of knowing that failure is not an option, and it teaches work skills in an exact manner that affirms the new person as an important member of the team.
Having a benevolent authoritarian mentor on your team will pay huge dividends long into the future. Not only will your new team members become quickly fully functional, each will have formed lasting relationships and have a secure support system in place. To develop a preferred working culture and strengthen your entire organization, cultivate a benevolent authoritarian Master Teacher.
Thomas Davis is a noted leader, educator, speaker and clinical anesthetist.
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