NEVER WORK ALONE

I want to share a secret with you. It’s the greatest principle I’ve ever learned in the area of developing others. Here it is: Never work alone. I know that sounds too simple, but it is truly the secret to developing others. Whenever you do anything that you want to pass along to others, take someone along with you.

This isn’t necessarily a natural practice for many of us. The most common learning model in the United States is when a leader asks questions or lectures while the follower listens and tries to comprehend the instructor’s ideas. But craftsmen use a different model for developing others. They take apprentices who work alongside them until they master their craft and are able to pass it along to others. Their model looks something like this:

I do it.
I do it—and you watch.
You do it—and I watch.
You do it.

In all the years I’ve been equipping and developing others, I’ve never found a better way to do it than this.

How can you follow the apprentice’s model in your own life?