On being an inspirational teacher

Having the privilege to teach clinical communication to doctors, I spend a lot of time thinking and reflecting on what makes a good teacher.

In meetings with my group, we spend a lot of time polishing our powerpoints and presentation skills. I get how important it is. Good content delivered by a good presenter will get the information across so that knowledge will be gained and understanding will emerge. But knowledge is not the end result, must I remind myself. For knowledge to have an impact in real life, it must bring about a change in behavior.  Participants can get to the point where they perfectly understand our content. This is a good metric to aim for initially. 

At the end of the learning process, what we want to see is how they use our tools in real life when we are not there to watch. This is the real impact of our work.  I can teach someone the perfect diet to lose weight but what is my impact if they go home and, 6 months later, they didn’t lose a pound?  

What I am getting at is the idea that, after delivering the content in a well-designed format with good presenting skills, the relevant question that remains is:

“How do we inspire people to use what we teach, to let themselves be changed by our content, and to improve their work and lives?” 

To be a source of inspiration, we must do more than polish our powerpoints and presentation skills, we must polish ourselves. We must become good human beings, able to create and generate trust, recognition, and admiration in our students.

Impactful teaching requires honesty, vulnerability, compassion, and passion for what we do.

Thank you.