Building Facilitating Skills Within Your Organization: See One, Do One, Teach One

Building Facilitating Skills Within Your Organization: "See One, Do One, Teach One"

Top surgeons have an amazingly simple but very powerful method for learning new procedures: "See one, do one, teach one." When a surgeon wants to learn a new procedure, he or she scrubs in with an experienced surgeon and observes the procedure firsthand. Then, the learner does the next surgery with the experienced surgeon overseeing it. Finally, the newly trained surgeon teaches the procedure to another surgeon.

This learning process is highly effective. However, many business organizations fail to employ some of its important elements. For example, a company might send someone to a seminar to learn a new skill, but the person returns without ever seeing a real application. Sometimes the person might jump into applying what was learned without the benefit of an experienced person to oversee and guide the learning process. Other learners may balk at trying because they lack confidence, abort as soon as they feel frustrated, or fumble through when unanticipated difficulties arise. Tough issues require a better level of care.

The ten-step process can provide the necessary level of care. For example, a 50-person department in a 300-employee organization used it to develop excellent "surgeons." They began as I facilitated the process to help them tackle the implementation of the computerized maintenance system that employees had resisted learning and applying for years. It was the biggest, most important issue they faced. The ten-step process enabled them to build understanding, choose an effective implementation strategy, and gain grass-roots commitment and follow-through. (See "Computer System Can't Get off the Ground" in Step #1.)

Soon, people throughout the department wanted to apply the process to their critical projects. Greg, the manager involved with implementing computerized maintenance, carried over his experience with the process to a new multi-million-dollar water development project that had been stalled among warring factions for years. I informally coached him along the way. After that experience, Greg received requests from other departments to teach them the process and serve as an in-house guide for applying it. Greg saw one, did one, and taught many others.