“I need to run, I am training a new employee today,” said Nancy. “You may not want to do that,” came the reply from a networking contact. “Perhaps it is she who should be training you.”

At first brush, this exchange might sound like an insult. The response seems to question who should be the teacher and who should be the student. It implies that the new employee, regardless of who they are, must be smarter in some area than the veteran manager. Training is supposed to provide information, and who needs that more than the inexperienced recruit?

If we step back from the knee-jerk reaction and try to analyze the comment more logically, we can of course note that no one has a monopoly on knowledge. Whether young or old, expert or novice, technical or creative, we all have something to learn from each other. The organization may want to train a new employee to ensure that they have the necessary skills to complete every day tasks or attempt to imbue the fresh hire with corporate goals, philosophies or overall culture. These objectives make sense for the organization.

It is important to keep in mind that a new employee is not an empty mind waiting to be filled with data. Workers are human beings, and they arrive on their first day with a lifetime of experience and perspective in the biggest, most important place in existence: the world outside your office. New employees are a tremendous resource for new ideas. In fact, the systems and concepts they bring may just fit better into a current process when it comes to improving office procedures. After all, their thoughts on how an organization appears to customers and the public is not yet tainted by insider knowledge. New faces bring innovation, so perhaps its not too far-fetched to think that they could be training you.

Naturally, companies do need education and orientation programs. However, operating under a strict assumption that knowledge can only flow in one direction will only stifle the organization and prevent positive, holistic change. The above exchange was an actual conversation at a recent networking event between Slaughter Development principal Robby Slaughter and the manager we called “Nancy”, but we cannot reach out to every organization to provide methodological suggestions. We need you to contact us. Reach out today to learn more.

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