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Should you pass on what you’ve learned?

Since the only formal training I have as planner is a few APG courses, it’s no wonder I’m a fan of learning by doing. But is this always a good thing?

I saw this big bloke the gymn the other day, trying to do sit ups completely the wrong way (and don’t get me started on the futility of sit-ups in the first place). The staff were busy doing nothing as usual, but I didn’t want to interfere.

Was I right to let him get on with it and learn the hard way? Would he have welcomed some quick tips to save a stiff neck and a sore back? Failing well is important, but is it always okay to sit back and not help?

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6 responses to “Should you pass on what you’ve learned?”

  1. lauren Avatar
    lauren

    hey NP – nice post. it’s nice to know that people still care about sharing for the sake of it. not for personal [weight] gain.
    some people have the innate ability to help and it actually be helpful. they’re courteous and you know they’re sincere. that’s when help is nice.
    then you get the smarmy army that help out of a sense of ‘i know something you don’t know’. that’s crap help.
    so maybe it’s not a matter of to help or not to help. but how to help.
    *sit-ups may come under the same label as why you drive convoluted routes: to feel like you’re moving.

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  2. Marcus Brown Avatar
    Marcus Brown

    the answer to this one is a very clear, very loud ‘maybe’. When I landed myself a job in the industry I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I was asked by Lintas to come in a do stuff, (I’m not joking, that’s what they asked me to do) and if it hadn’t have been for my then boss I would have gotten very lost, very quickly.
    Then when I set up my own agency I wanted to be the same as him. Pass on knowledge and help my staff grow. It only partially worked, and I noticed that it was the more senior people in my team that were (although I was at least five years younger than them) much more open to ‘help’. My yonger staff new it all.
    Now that I’m older I think before I help. And often I don’t bother. Which I think is fine. Morally it’s bankrupt but I really don’t care anymore. If I sense that someone will welcome ‘help’ I’ll help them.

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  3. Northern Planner Avatar
    Northern Planner

    Hi Lauren, sit ups and convoluted moving.. very good;-)
    Teachers I loved have given me the nudges and helping hands in all the right places – and they seemed to love seeing their students do well. I may be hiring at some point, I hope I can be like that.
    Marcus, I don’t bother with loads of people too for the same reason – painful experience funnily enough..

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  4. Marcus Brown Avatar
    Marcus Brown

    I’d help Sacrum though.

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  5. Stan Lee Avatar
    Stan Lee

    On the subject of learning by doing, I’m going to defer to Brian Eno.
    He said that whenever he gets a new piece of equipment he doesn’t read the instructions.
    By learning by doing he says you often get more interesting results, because you do things that maybe you weren’t supposed to.
    He even has a card in the Oblique Strategies deck for this very purpose. It reads something like:
    Honour your accidents as hidden intentions.

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  6. Charles Edward Frith Avatar
    Charles Edward Frith

    Perfectly OK to say ‘you might not appreciate this but…’
    You can lead a horse to water and so forth….

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