jonathan@researchcomputingteams.org
This resource first appeared in issue #50 on 13 Nov 2020 and has tags Becoming A Manager: Coaching, Becoming A Manager: Managing Individuals
We Learn Faster When We Aren’t Told What Choices to Make - Michele Solis, Scientific American
A key responsibility of ours as managers is to make sure our team members are growing in their skills and abilities. Solis’ article summarizes recent work with simple game-like settings where participants learn, for instance, which symbol in the game is worth more. The authors demonstrate that the participants learn faster when its their choices that drive the learning rather than when they’re guided through the choices which show them the same things.
It’s important to delegate new tasks to team members, and while they’re learning - climbing up the responsibility ladder, or gaining experience managing increasingly complex projects - it’s our responsibility to provide guidance to team members and not leave them adrift. But we do that best by providing guardrails, not by controlling the steering wheel.
