When you are a teacher you are also an avid learner, teaching and learning are linked in a cycle in which information comes to you when you need it… We all are teachers for example your staff are your students and we can learn so much from our students so it is in your interest to listen to your staff and teach them how to apply what they already know… The second phase of the mastery seminars has begun and I have learnt so much whilst teaching them it is evident to me that learning is the easy part. Applying what we have learnt is another thing.
Back to basics…
Sometimes you search and look to learn more when really you know everything there is to know. Maybe it is just me but I feel that going back to basics is the most powerful way of learning. Sometimes feeling that if we learn more we do more! Have you ever done a course or read a book only to re visit it again to find something of value to apply or something you missed the first time? That’s why re educating your selves and your staff works wonders not only for motivation but for application of what you have learnt.
Learning
History continues to prove to us that it’s in the application of what you learn that moves you forward. For example on one of my seminars an owner gave me a comment when the seminar concluded she said “ Sue I knew everything I needed to know and this seminar re enforced that there was just one thing I was missing ” I felt a little concerned and worried that she had not learnt anything new so I asked her “ What do you feel you learnt and was the experience worth it?” she said “oh yes, this was a valuable lesson for me, I know what I am supposed to be doing but I haven’t been doing it, I missed part of the formula now I know what I have to do and in which sequence, now I can apply what I know that is the powerful learning that I got” . The lesson for me as a teacher is to have faith with what you teach, the lesson for her was application and understanding the bit of the sequence she had missed when she first learnt a formula.
The learning that you need because it is very often that you learn and do not apply the one thing that you need to do in order to move your business forward. Listening is the key, participation and application makes the whole learning experience worthwhile and that too goes both ways to the teacher and the student and vice versa…
I read a quote which I have never forgotten I think it speaks volumes about what you actually want to learn in other words pay attention to who is talking to you or you may miss the learning so listen to your staff and show your staff how to listen to their clients you might learn something new….
For those who want to know more...Sue Woodall is a salon business consultant who has worked in and with hundreds of salons over the last 20 years. She just launched a new salon manament business course with phorest.com, the UK and Ireland’s leading salon software company. You can check it out here - www.phorest.com/mastery
