The price and gains of having a trainee

You never take a fast nor efficient walk with a toddler.

It’s slow.

It meanders.

It’s punctuated with questions.

But, anything you do with a newbie takes longer.

Anyone who has had a trainee knows this intimately.

As you sit with someone with less experience, everything takes longer.

As you plan with someone just learning the ropes, everything must be more deliberate.

As you walk someone new through the steps of a task, you must take time to explain what you’re doing and why.

Everything takes more time. 

It’s the cost of training someone.

It’s the cost of someone learning.

But, it’s also contains a reward.

For, as you teach, you learn.

You refine your routines.

You intentionally think about what you do.

You develop patience.

You remember what it was like to be a newbie.

Hopefully, you also catch the advantages, of a learner.

You catch enthusiasm.

You catch discovery.

You catch progress.

As you watch.

As you give feedback.

As you witness advances in proficiency.

For, teaching someone is a partnership of cost and benefit.

Ideally, the price of slowness is far outweighed by the benefit of mentorship.