If you wait until you’re an expert to teach, you’ll never start. The truth is, the most impactful teaching often comes from people still in the trenches figuring things out, making mistakes, and refining their process in real time.
It’s called The Protégé Effect, and it’s one of the most powerful tools you can use as a leader. Research shows people who teach what they’re learning score up to 30% higher on tests than those who only study. Why? Because teaching isn’t just about giving information, it’s about transforming your own understanding.
Why Teaching While Learning Works
When you decide to teach something you’ve just learned, several things happen:
- You clarify your thinking. Explaining a concept forces you to strip it down to the essentials.
- You identify gaps. Midway through explaining, you might realize, “I don’t fully understand this part” and that discovery guides your next learning step.
- You strengthen memory pathways. Organizing and speaking about an idea in your own words reinforces the neural connections that store it.
- You make the lesson relevant. You instinctively connect it to real-world examples your audience will understand which makes it stick for you, too.
Why Leaders Should Go First
As a leader, your willingness to teach before you’re “ready” models two powerful messages:
- Learning is ongoing. You’re never “done” developing.
- It’s safe to share in-progress ideas. Your team will be more willing to speak up, experiment, and contribute.
When your team sees you sharing insights you just picked up (even imperfectly) they see a leader who is open, approachable, and growth-oriented.
You Don’t Have to Lead a Workshop
Teaching doesn’t have to be formal, time-consuming, or intimidating. In fact, micro-teaching is often more effective because it’s bite-sized, repeatable, and easy to fit into your daily rhythm.
Three ways to start today:
- Post publicly: Write a 100-word “What I Learned Today” update on LinkedIn.
- Share informally: Over lunch, explain one tip from a book or podcast to a colleague.
- Teach in meetings: Dedicate 60 seconds at the start of a team meeting to share one key takeaway from a training, article, or conversation.
Each of these takes mere minutes, not hours, but compounds into long-term authority and influence.
A Personal Example
Early in my leadership career, I felt I had to “wait” until I fully mastered a topic before I could teach it. Then I tried something different. I’d read a short section from a book like The Servant, highlight one insight, and share it with my team that same week.
Over time, two things happened:
- I remembered and applied more of what I read.
- My team started coming to meetings ready to share their own takeaways creating a culture of shared learning.
The Mindset Shift
Teaching isn’t about proving you know it all.
It’s about growing while helping others grow.
When you share your learning journey (warts and all) you make learning less intimidating for others. You invite curiosity, not comparison and you prove that leadership is about guiding the path, not guarding the podium.
Your Turn
💬 What’s one thing you learned this week that you could teach in two minutes or less? Share it in the comments…let’s build a thread of quick, powerful lessons.
📚 If you want the free eBook with the 1% Scorecard and the 4-Quadrant Growth Loop framework, you can grab them here: 1% Solution for Deliberate Daily Development
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