Had a chat with a new apprentice about measuring twice.

You realize they listen more when you show, not just tell.

4 comments

4 Comments

vera19516d ago

Ugh, I have to be the one to say it... but all this hands-on stuff sounds nice until you're on a tight deadline. Sometimes you just need people to listen and do it right the first time. Not everyone has an hour to spend under a lift watching bolts turn. That's what manuals and clear instructions are for. If someone can't learn by being told, maybe they're in the wrong line of work.

amy_west1mo ago

Read about a carpenter who always said his tape measure was his best teaching tool. He'd literally get down on the floor with a student to show the line, not just point at it (something about how our brains are wired to watch hands do things). That "show, don't just tell" thing really is how skills get passed down. Makes the lesson stick way better than any lecture ever could.

mary_nelson711mo ago

Getting down on the floor with a tape measure seems like a lot. My old boss would have just yelled the numbers from across the room. That carpenter has more patience than I ever did for teaching. Letting someone feel the resistance on a bolt is smart, though. Makes the whole lesson real instead of just words.

ruby8751mo ago

My buddy Carlos at the auto shop had a trainee who kept messing up wheel alignments. He finally took the kid under the lift, put his hands on the adjustment bolts, and moved them slow so the trainee could see exactly how much turn changed the reading. They spent an hour just on that, with Carlos letting him feel the resistance and watch the dials move together. After that, the kid got it right every time. It's like the brain needs to see the hands doing the work to make the connection stick.