What I Learned Teaching at IOM

See one. Do one. Teach one.

It’s a simple framework for mastering a skill, and I was reminded of the power of teaching as a means to learning earlier this summer. The US Chamber holds the Institute of Organizational Management each year as a learning opportunity for Chamber and Association executives. They bring subject matter experts to teach on topics such as governance, event planning, fundraising and advocacy.

I had the opportunity to teach two classes in advocacy and between the in-class experience and the participant feedback forms, I learned a few things myself about advocacy, dealing with weaknesses, and human nature.

Institute participants have diverse backgrounds. In one class, I had local chamber executives with a few years of experience and seasoned government affairs professionals with 20+ years of experience lobbying in Washington for national associations. When I told the class, “I hate whitepapers. No one reads them and they are a waste of time,” some of those experienced association professionals pushed back. Whitepapers create a source of truth, they said. They provide a reference and a reason to talk to decision makers. They turned me around, and we had a great discussion about what types of organizations should be creating whitepapers and how what how the information in them can be leveraged for the greatest impact.

I also learned a little about dealing with my weaknesses. My classes were evenly divided between leaders representing national associations and local chambers. While the two organization types share a lot in common, there were nuances that required me to adapt my chamber experience to associations. I knew this going in, and yet, standing in front of the class, I was struggling to connect as strongly with the association leaders. Comments in my student feedback forms mentioned it. How will I address this for next time?

1) It would be great to add experience working with associations (and if you are interested, let me know). 2) I need to talk to association professionals before teaching at IOM again to get their feedback on whether my attempts to connect chamber work with association work connect with them.

Finally, engagement matters. Looking again at the student feedback forms, two elements of my class were identified as improving the quality of the class. First, students loved interacting. In each class, students participated in a role play where they had the opportunity to engage in the activities that we had discussed. They reinforced that “doing” is a great way of learning. Second, they loved that I played music before class, during breaks, and after class. That feedback is a good reminder whenever engaging groups to find levity and fun. It’s also a great reminder that details matter.

Overall, I believe I delivered a great experience for my students, and I’m proud that on a 1-5 scale, they rated me 4.98 on the question “would you recommend that this instructor teach the class again.” But, even in our successes, we can learn and improve.