The Power of Seeing: Leading & Teaching Effectively Across Generations
September 13, 2023
Speaker
- David Gordon, MD, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Associate Professor & Associate Program Director, Department of Emergency Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine
Objectives
Upon completion of this activity, participants will be able to:
- Review the values, attitudes, and communication styles ascribed to different generations.
- Describe the current needs and expectations of our learners.
- Discuss how the concepts of social identity and “seeing” can be used to foster belonging and wellness in our learning communities.
*The Medical Society of Virginia is a member of the Southern States CME Collaborative, an ACCME Recognized Accreditor.
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Southern States CME Collaborative (SSCC) through the joint providership of Carilion Clinic's CME Program and Carilion Clinic Office of Continuing Professional Development. Carilion Clinic's CME Program is accredited by the SSCC to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Carilion Clinic's CME Program designates this enduring material activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.
Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Morning everybody lovely to see you so bright and early great great great today to talk about uh teaching across the generations which we're all doing right I mean that's just the nature of of Education these days so we've got um Everybody through throughout the Continuum from you and me through uh continuing professional development development and it's sometimes they're all in the same room at the same time so it's a little challenging so today we have uh my friend and colleague from um Duke here to uh talk to us and share some of his wisdom that he's learned across the years um with us today so Dr Gordon is an associate Dean for student affairs and associate professor of emergency medicine at the Duke University School of Medicine he completed his medical degree at Harvard Medical School and after completing his residency training in emergency medicine at University of Cincinnati at 2005 and 2005. he joined the faculty at Duke University where he's been ever since and he's continued to practice as a clinician educator he previously served as the undergraduate educator director for emergency medicine for over 15 years before becoming an advisory Dean for the school of medicine in July 2022. he continues to serve as associate program director for emergency medicine enabling him to work closely with both medical students and residents and I would say also faculty because of his faculty development sessions to enhance the learning for the students in Residence and others so Dr Gordon's main academic interests include the teaching and assessment of clinical reasoning understanding reducing cognitive errors in the remediation of struggling learners his work as an advisory Dean includes creating positive and inclusive learning environments which serves as the basis of today's presentation so uh feel free to this is a smaller group this morning uh feel free to unmute yourself and ask questions throughout or type some questions in the chat um Dr Gordon is amenable to that or saving questions to the end whatever whatever you find works best for you but um yesterday was a wonderful discussion and we hope today will be as well so take it away Dr Gordon thanks Sherry appreciate you all being here um I'm more of a night owl than a morning person so the fact that you are on this screen at 7am is is much appreciated um and just also want to thank Sherry Ria and Deborah and Heather um and Sarah for being a wonderful host and uh for making sure I have not got lost on campus and have kept me really well fed and rested so thank you I really enjoying my my stay here um before I start sharing my slides I um just wanted to give a little bit of more background behind this talk so most of the time what I've been speaking about historically has actually been clinical reasoning and what it is and how we assess it and how we can teach it um but about a year ago I was uh approached by Dr McNeil at Duke who oversees our teaching Academy which is kind of similar in its mission to for faculty development and she asked me to give a talk on uh teaching multi-generational teams and uh at first I thought she didn't like me anymore and was giving me giving me uh maybe I was the last one she asked but what I thought more about my work with students in Residence and as Sherry said faculty uh through my different roles I could see why um how a lot of this stuff does relate to the work I do and what I'm sharing with you today is is strategies and solutions that I found very helpful in kind of working across Learners of different Generations um I also want to just mention that while the focus of the talk today is about multi-generational teams uh in a broader sense it's about working with diverse teams so whether it's Generations race gender sexual orientation there are many different lines of diversity our teams can have but I think the principles that come out here as far as we Bridge those gaps and create unity and inclusive inclusivity um detect I think the the principle is the same so I will with that go ahead and start screening sharing my screen and just bear with me here for one second as I get my display set up and then we'll start in Okay so okay and um Sherry or Heather I'm not I don't I'm not going to have view of the chat window so uh feel free if there's something that comes to the chat window just to interrupt me and we we can pause otherwise I will definitely leave time at the end of the slides uh for uh so thank you all right I do not have any conflicts of interest which is usually the case when your primary role outside clinical medicine is education but I did want to share that I I have some confessions and I um just some personal Hobbies of mine is my my new coven hobby uh was backyard neapolitan pizza making which I'm really enjoying uh still learning a lot so if any of you out there have any tips or do this as well we should catch up for sure and then um I have a problem with dark chocolate and not being able to say no so I think thank my friends last night for making sure I had some dark chocolate for dinner last night it was much appreciated um what I want to cover today I want to review the values attitudes and communication styles that are assigned to different Generations so this is the idea that we'll dive into that when you were born might influence your personality uh what that looks like and also what the limitations of that construct may be I want to talk about um the different needs and expectations of our Learners that might be informed by the generation that they belong to I'm going to share what I've heard from my Learners at Duke and we're going to also take some time to share what you may feel about your learners here locally at carillion and then lastly I'm going to dive into this concept of seeing and perhaps present it in a way that you haven't heard before but in a way that I think can be very meaningful in thinking about when you're working with a diverse group um how can our the way we see people help bring our make our tighter community and make it feel more inclusive for everyone so let's start with the question of generations what's what's what's the big deal I mean naturally of course as as we we get older our interests may change our our Hobbies may change um we may have different expectations but you know is it is it so big that we can't all get along or so big that something like a good smartphone couldn't bring us all together so what what what's the issue what's the problem that that we're trying to tackle uh and discussion about multi-generational teams so what what we're talking about is is generational Theory and the idea that based on shared world events shared changes in technology uh pers realities and perceptions of current and future opportunity in the world and then cultural Heroes and and icons group of people based on just some the time that they're born are going to have shared events and based on that shared collective experience they may end up with a shared personality and by that meaning they may develop similar attitudes values the way they relate to work what they want to the value they they expect to gain from work and and how they communicate so the reason why this became where this started kind of particularly gaining traction uh was when there was changes in the way the workforce was structured so historically the workplace was very divided or very kind of structured such that you had upper management middle management and say lower management is one example but your age and how long you've been alive kind of corresponded were where you saw it were you sat in this corporate structure so if you were older you supervise those that were younger and they took your words for it there was no kind of back and forth discussion negotiation it was it was a very top-down system uh where seniority incorporation correlated with siony of age workplace changed though um groups from different Generations started interfacing differently they might be more horizontal or very possible that someone who was younger had more corporate seniority than someone that was chronologically older and what was observed or felt to occur is that because of the different generations and the different personalities there is new conflict that hadn't existed before so understanding um what those Generations were and how they may vary became of more interest in sociology and then the business world to try to optimize workplace culture workplace efficiency so you're probably familiar with this nothing new here but just an example that roughly a generation seems to occur every 20 years um and um carries certain characteristics and flavors that with it we um we're going to kind of talk a little bit about Boomers and gen xers and gen wires also known as Millennials although we're also now getting into the Gen Z which have sometimes been called digital natives as well and kind of understand how these groups are described and what the implications are when they're part of our team so this is a slide not to memorize but just to illustrate how different Generations may have experienced uh major world events the different cultures and heroes that can be Associated so I'll start with the Baby Boomers as an example experienced Vietnam and the Civil Rights Movement they're Heroes at the time could be MLK and JFK versus the Gen xers who came after the Vietnam War ended there was a sense that America had lost its first war there were a lot of difficult events while like Watergate and Chernobyl and AIDS to the point where they didn't even have Heroes so apparently I don't have any like real heroes uh based on my my birth year and the things that I experienced uh in in my lifetime so far um versus the Millennials who we started to enter into the war on terror domestic terrorism but at the same time now started people connecting with one another through social media and so also had parents that were more Hands-On sometimes more friends than parents uh and so they became Heroes themselves let's um take a closer look starting with Baby Boomers at baby boomers gen xers and millennials So based on their the generational experience how might that influence the values that they bring to the workforce yeah the assets oh sorry what they value um in from their employer and and their workplace the assets and liabilities they bring and then lastly I'll talk about motivation and the terms of if you wanted to um motivate a baby boomer so to speak in the workforce what would you say to them how could you light a fire under their belly to get them more engaged so what a baby boomer values is they want a loyal employer and someone that respects them um and what they'll give is a strong work ethic and they're eager to Mentor um and so if you're looking somewhere to develop more younger employees or new employees I should say um tap into your baby boomer because that's that's the one of the values that they seek in employment but be a little cautious because you might find in baby boomers are defensive to feedback and judgmental if you need to motivate them verbiage such as reminding them that they're really important to your success that they're needed um uh we'll go over well and so that that's that's your baby boomer model there now I'm a gen xer so I'm going to speak in the first person um apparently uh what I need I need someone I can trust uh but I also in that trust want them to respect my autonomy so that I kind of have some discretion and control about how I do my projects and and how I get things done at the same time balance is important to me um I don't want it to be all about work and I need to have a little fun so I give you um being an employer My independence and ability to function independently and I can be adaptive as well as creative but just know that why I res need trust I need um someone I can trust my trust may be a little slow to give and so sometimes I might be a little skeptical a little distressful I'm also not very good at politics in in the office um but I'll tell you what motivates me is um you know if you tell me what needs to be done but give me the freedom to do it how I however I want I'll appreciate that and by the way I don't like lots of meetings um but if we have to have them let's at least make sure they're fun so that's that's me uh as a gen xer if you're a millennial uh what you want is someone who understands you and can empathize with you as a person that's the kind of boss so to speak you want uh you enjoy work but it's got to be meaningful and not work for the sake of work and also you really want to train develop new skills and evolve as a person you will bring to your employer Tech savviness a sense of optimism um and you're very very collaborative you like to work with people um but um you also need supervision and you really like feedback um because you really want to develop those skills and know how you're doing um and and kind of meeting the expectations of the job and if you if a millennial need a little motivation then someone just needs to say or remind you that you make a difference here and that boy isn't this great you get to work on a team and collaborate working with bright and creative people just like you you'll come across different um associations and ways of defining the generations but this was one that I thought was interesting to to ponder about how as we've moved from a baby boomer now uh into gen Caesar's um the expectations of needs an employer has gone from loyal to someone to trust someone that understands to someone now values and can operate in a diverse Workforce and and and and brings diversity uh to the table going from someone that from their employer needed respect versus a time difference flexibility now um the workforce really the the newer generation to gen zeers need stability uh they need they need something a workplace and a job that they feel that they they can rely on so you might have different reactions to what I just shared you may resonate with it you may say like I'm not uh I'm not buying it seems very stereotypical and either reaction is is I think totally fine I'm going to share with you a little bit in the end about how I see uh this this kind of theory uh and categorization but I do want to start by acknowledging um this article that I learned through Sherry who's I think originally posted by um your Dean which I think is a really good cautionary tale um to generational categories um one being that this the science is not a hard science I mean this isn't just totally made up it's based on observation and and surveys so there is some um some methodology behind it but it's also very it's it's it's a it's kind of a looser science so to speak um and then probably the biggest thing is always be cautious in any situation of not trying to say you fully understand or if someone's totally figured out because you've assigned into a group so um that is just going to lead to uh stereotyping oversimplification misunderstanding so just because someone belongs to a gen Z or Millennial or Gen X or uh generalization uh General um category uh don't assume that they have as an individual represent all the generational features that have been associated with that group so we have to be very cautious about that and then some other things about some of the bias that may be inherent in the categories uh that these constructions tend to focus on differences rather than similarities and the idea that that people certainly change over time as as they have all personally as they experience new events so here's um my take home for me and how I kind of view the utility of of generational Theory and I'm going to illustrate through a story um and I'm going to basically describe a behavior that I observed and I know Maria and Cherry are on the call and so we have to talk about competency-based education it's all about observed Behavior so I'm going to describe it a behavior and then illustrate how I generational Theory helped me or at least the concepts behind it tell me interpretive Behavior so um you're at a restaurant and there is a man who has just finished a nice meal nice Italian meal with his family um he gets the check he signs the check uh but before leaving he takes that pen puts it in his pocket and then walks out with it why does he do that that's the behavior you observed there could be different reasons one interpretation is that purely like the pen that restaurant uses nice pens and um he saw um he wanted to hold on to that he's a pen collector another interpretation um could be that um he really had a wonderful meal he wanted a little momento of of being together with his family so he took it as a little historical token to remind him in the future about wow what a great deal this was well let me tell you what the taking that pen was really about that man uh is my grandfather he's 97 unfortunately still doing well um but that was I just remember that story because it very much captures his personality but to understand that I needed to understand him not only as an individual but also the greater context of how he grew up and the historical events he experienced so he was lived through the the Great Depression uh when he had finished high school his father basically told him that he was now in charge of making it on his own so he had to hustle and bustle he became a businessman um but in that environment where resources were scarce every dollar every penny counted so in that meal and I still see this today um he will haggle over an extra dollar or a couple dollars uh because that that's that's how he grew up and at that meal it has so happened that he felt there was an overcharge uh for an item but the waiter restaurant wouldn't budge so to reclaimed that dollar for dollars he took that pen um so that in the end it was a zero-sum game but to understand my grandfather uh really was about in in part understanding degeneration or generational historical forces that he experienced and how that played a role in shaping who he was now you'll see on the slide I don't think that necessarily determined what he was I think it was an influence so I see these just this understanding that our personalities can be influenced by the events by the technology that are available to us I think does offer some value if we're truly trying to understand an individual while also recognizing there's so much more that goes into that one's in unique individual genetic makeup and personality the family they grew up with where they grew up with in the state country and Country um but I think they all they all inform and can help us understand those that are in our in our sphere okay so it was wisely observed that every generation imagine itself to be more intelligent than one before and wiser than the one that comes after that who said that why is George Orwell so uh it's been all well observed that uh Generations uh there are things to Generations that they that they do exist but we also have to word of caution the less you judge those before and after you so as you've been judged the goal here uh is to kind of understand one another not not to judge one another all right I want to take this what we've talked about so far and apply it to our Learners and in this case uh specifically um medical students so I um did some some very rigorous scientific research um back home about a year ago uh that research came in the form of a a lunch conversation so I mentioned that just so you take this uh understanding um what the limitations of it but at the same time I saw definite patterns and and uh responses the students were giving me um and so I'm gonna whenever I see patterns I'm like well that I usually put at least a little weight into that but here were the the questions that I asked my students and I'm going to go ahead and um this is where I'd like to get you guys involved as well so if um if you're if you have a smartphone you can use the QR code or if you go to slido.com you can enter this meeting ID um the meeting code there you don't have to use that space it was just there for ease of read but four two eight one nine six one all right so here are the questions and I'd like you to share if you could what you think your students would respond locally if you ask them hey what do you want your teachers or Educators you know about the way you in generational terms um like to communicate and teach or what are some things that you think your teachers absolutely need to to avoid so let's see it see one person was able to great we have some people joining so I'll give it a moment here see what you can uh see what we come up with just in case people wreaking or looking at their screens I'm just going to start reading them I like feedback good and bad share knowledge not dictate it avoid condensation embarrassment uh focus on benefit talk to me not down to me yes I would like leaders know that seeing the human first is important destructive feedback Let's see different style of learning not just lecture but more conversational yeah don't waste my time if it's something I can find on video oh boy was that ever present at my home [Laughter] um let's see yeah Educators should not try to be cool hip yeah and you slang just to fit I could see that being a fail keep me engaged constructively I like that constructive not condescending great okay I'm going to share what my um uh students uh uh shared and will match I see two more people typing yeah I I like boy I just have to share a little personal don't waste my time with something fun video uh that gets back to a conversation at home with uh children about how seeing the Grand Canyon is different than seeing it on video so I definitely had some uh a generation generational uh divide there and yeah what if we are cool and hip well I say go for it um but maybe get some feedback yourself to verify whether that's an accurate uh perception so but uh yeah we can all be cool too all right [Music] um okay so very similar to some of the things that were mentioned didactics to be interactive you could use the world conversational uh they want to be engaged uh talk with that so yeah that you that read loud and clear from from you as well um clear communication and objectives um these are my first year students and I would say in particular where I found any guidance understandable is they have a lot of resources available to them so when I was in medical school it was like here is a textbook there was really no other major resources I needed to go or worry that you know that I was missing it was the textbook that we all had but now there's all these third-party resources Learning Materials blogs YouTubes it's a bit overwhelming so they need understandably with the the amount of knowledge and the amount of resources clear guidance and like okay here's what you really need to know and here are the resources we're recommending you can use others but they do need a little more guidance than perhaps at least when I was in Middle School I did um this comes up a lot if you've been um I'm not sure if you have a policy over laptops and lectures but our students want us to want to make it clear that just because they have a laptop open doesn't mean they're um emailing or shopping although sometimes they really are um I've seen their screen but there's also can be good use as well where they've heard something that that piqued their curiosity or they needed to verify so they're they're searching um and actually promoting their learning not not being distracted or avoiding attention so did this that is how technology grew up in the world and so they just kind of want to make sure that it's it's not held against them negatively because it does have some good use um even even from the lecture um this was attention they felt and I don't know if this is a local fact or it's more generalizable um but they just wanted to make sure that they're in curiosity and their questioning didn't come across as a challenging Authority and for for gaining Clarity and I think sometimes it may have been received like they were being too pushy or challenging when it's just seeking more understanding um and they just wanted uh instructors to be uh very a little bit mindful um of how his response it's okay to say this is not a you know uh we'll take questions later but you don't want to come back saying that you know that's not that's not a meaningful question or it's not a necessary question just being clear that you know questions are welcome they may just have to be answered at a different time they mentioned that um they their generation doesn't necessarily take hierarchy at face value just because you have a title they like to understand why how you got there what your experience is not not just what the title that is at the end of your email but what's behind that and then similarly they they um like claired you have a title so um I'm gonna need this um these students I would say fall primarily under that Millennial kind of characterization so they grew up in the world where parents uh maybe main function felt more as friends maybe than than in the past so they may call adults by first names and similarly sometimes uh if they see a faculty sign their first name their email by their first name they may assume they want to be called by their first name and um actually as I shared with the last group had a student that was calling me by my first my first name to begin with which was fine I could tell it kind of mortified the other students who felt more more formal uh way of uh addressing their their advisory Dean and then he finally asked how I wanted to be addressed and I thought about it and I thought about it honestly and I kind of I said you know when I was a student I always felt most of appropriate calling my advisory equipment advisory Dean by doctor in the same way even as a faculty member I can't call I feel uncomfortable calling my my Dean by their first name right it's called Dean klotman so um as I said so my honest answer is this is how I feel more comfortable and they were great with it they just needed the clarity um so it's it's just being honest um about the situation and the expectations all right um with second years uh so uh um should clarify that at Duke based on our curriculum our second years are actually clerk are doing their clerkships so these are students that are in clinical rotations uh what came up on that uh lunch discussion was they don't they don't want the back of my day they don't want just because I I did it again do it the same way again it's it's justification it's not taking things that face value it's it's understanding the rationale and reasoning behind the situations um I thought this was very very insightful is um I mean it's great to to teach uh in front of of patients and engage in a teaching Circle but just make sure teaching isn't done in a pejorative way where um where someone is trying to make a student look wrong or trying to make themselves look more knowledgeable from the patient uh just in general that there's a little bit of a element of public humiliation that comes with that um and students that understandably be um uh something that someone would be sensitive to um similar to what the first year said um uh just be mindful of how you respond to their questions um they don't want the you don't need to know or it's not necessary it could be like a great question again let's let's answer this double time or it's okay to say I I don't know but um there's a difference between saying you know time and place versus not necessary or you shouldn't be asking questions that's going to make kind of um make kind of uh take a hit on on their comfort with being curious and and seeking clarification things they want to see they love that sense of partnership um I think I saw that come out in in one of the responses um and they love it it's very powerful when uh there's uh their supervisor faculty or resident says I don't know that either that's a great question what's look that up that is very freeing uh the permission not not to know um so group questions group learning they like that sense of partnership um they also mentioned that um they found it very helpful when it was made clear to them that I am asking um you not because you need to know everything but because you're here to learn and what we're engaging here right now is is a is a learning space I'm not I'm not assessing you I'm not watching you right now I just want to give you this space to learn so let's let's ask some questions uh and and see what we know and what we don't know and just kind of acknowledging that I recognize you're always always evaluated I'm not evaluating right now I I just want to I want to teach um but um kind of uh signposting that and making it very clear this is a teaching space not an assessing space um is appreciated um other things as as I saw I think we know that they do benefit or appreciate clear objectives uh again being that it would be easy to have multiple out there but knowing where they should focus retention and then this last thing about um um which I was interesting to see because I had actually just read about it was the collective language and the idea of being using we rather than you uh the specific example was uh lasted after rounds there was a lot to do and uh the attendings um it was very stood out a lot to the to the student that uh the the attending as well was gonna kind of get into the nitty-gritty the dirty work uh and call and help make appointments and and coordinate and kind of using this language all right team we're going to do this together and that use of we made the student feel part of the team and uh the attending was was doing even even in their scene more senior role uh was going to do the same things that everyone else on the team was was doing and uh that that was very collegial and collaborative now um I do want because I I really I use we a lot um especially in in uh with my students in the emergency department um but I also think it's important to understand where we may have a counterproductive or negative effect and I've learned this as well uh and and some of my misuse so the power of we is is um the way I thought and think about is like when you're calling someone a team to action and as a leader you're recognizing Your Role trying to bring people together and like let's let's we can do this um here's how we're going to do things together kind of collective action rather than individuals but we can be harmful if we're using it in a way that um basically assumes you know how someone else is feeling um because even though we've experienced the same thing we may not all be feeling the same way this comes up a lot uh unfortunately uh when there are acts of violence or discrimination that may affect an identity group um and that identity group um whether it be based on race sexual orientation um other other kind of grouping um we want we our hope is to Ally and so support and to kind of create a sense that we are together we're all affected by this but you can't claim that the way you feel is the way they feel so um when it comes to that and this gets into crisis management which is complex and talk of in of itself that's where the use of I uh will probably be able to receive that you can speak to how you are affected how you are feeling still recognizing them that um you know that this this was a very very sad event but not trying to claim that you know what they're feeling just because that's how you're feeling all right so my um kind of summary takeaway from that very scientific launch uh was that at least my Learners they like having that space to learn um and they like like it being uh sign posted made framed that this is about learning not assessment uh that gives them freedom to be curiosity and comfort clear expectations in the classroom and clean spaces and they are collegial and they want to partner they want that that sense of Team teamwork in unity a cross-check to what I learned for what's in some of um that this was uh one of the books that I used uh to learn more more about generational Theory and I see Echoes parallels uh with each other um Millennials want um to be told by how they're doing the feedback they want to feel connected they want to understand um you know their connection with technology and they encourage us to encourage others to uh join that use of Technology they want someone who believes in them and also someone they can believe in as well okay I'm going to Pivot now um into another concept and this um this is one of my favorite quotes it applies just to communication broadly that communication isn't just about the ideas and information it's about how you make people feel and I think this is the essence of creating teams that feel uh unified and inclusive and interesting when I was thinking a little bit more about communication because communication is so Paramount to what we do it's not just about transmitting information but the underpinnings of communication is that is the idea of making things common worth sharing uh like a shared experience and uh I want to go for it four into more into this so how can we make our communication um not just about helping people gain new knowledge but helping people feel in a certain way and certainly with teams it's about feeling um valued connected respected and seen so this is where I want to dive into this notion of seeing I first came across it when I was looking at some different schools this was actually high schools from my older son a long time ago very taken by um one of the admissions officers who was we were in a group meeting with all the other visiting students and parents and he said it's very nice to see you and we all replied it's good to be it's good to see you nice to see you it was like no no no that's that's not how you respond I'm going to teach you something um in my culture and background when someone says it's nice to see you you reply it's nice to be seen it's like oh well that that is different um and that really stuck with me and so in this context the the idea was that um to be seen as a gift someone is offering you a gift and when you say it's nice to be seen you're embracing that gift and starting to create that that relationship of being seen together um but it had being seen also means being um it you have to receive uh and so that really kind of stuck with me uh as I began to talk explore more of this topic I I wanted to revisit this and they came across this notion of seeing in a slight in a similar uh but slightly different way that really um fits into this idea of generational understanding and so saobona is a Zulu greeting it means I see you um in little translation but there's a lot more behind its meaning um I'm going to rather than try to explain it myself I have a short video clip where I'm gonna let Dr Bishop explain uh what sawabona means so I'm going to start this and just expect like a three second delay before the video sorry before the audio kicks in salbano is one of the Primal words when people were still able to really see each other in fact the word says we see you so it's not a single eye person that my eyes are connected to a dimension of reality we call ancestral ancestors so my saying includes my ancestors my seeing also includes the divinities that are part of the celestial spheres of reality so salmon says we see you and the response is yes we see you too because it's a dialogue seeing is a dialogue establish you as a witness to some phenomenon that can also be a witness to your own presence but when two human beings meet in this gesture of salubona the acknowledgment is we see each other that becomes an agreement because we're obligated from that point to affirm the reality that seeing has empowered us to investigate our mutual potentials for life so it invites us to communicate why are we if we're seeing each other why are we um here at the same time what is this moment of time given us given us to be able to do so it's an invitation to participate in each other's life I mean I was very taken uh by this explanation this meaning and um um just the idea behind the greeting it goes a lot further than hey what's up right um I mean there's there's so much in there every time I watch it I feel like I'm I'm hearing something new um but really that that invitation just to and and help each other in mutual potential that really stuck with me because um you know as as teachers and Educators we also are still Learners ourselves and that's actually one of the joys I find in especially my relatively newer roles advisory Dean how much uh if I open that space to learn as well as I'm teaching um that really Fosters a a warm relationship um with my my students so I still have potential to grow into and I find that my Learners are really um instrumental in teaching me new things especially with vulnerability and openness which I think they're better at than at least I have been whether it's a generational thing or an individual thing um but that seeing is really about a relationship um and and on and recognizing that two people have entered a space at the same time and are connected um in that way so very very powerful greeting we've seen this in in pop culture as well it's a big thing in in Avatar um in the naive culture to be seen is to be accepted and so when the elders finally told Jake that even as an avatar they saw him that meant that we now see you as one of our own we now accept you um as one of our own so uh it was very much part of of that The Narrative of that film um my dog this is Abby she's a little white Havanese who is a voracious carnivore despite her small size but she has dogs in general just Masters at at seeing us and teaching us how to see them right so here she is looking at a steak here she is looking at me so in the end I'm seeing her seeing a steak um lots of seeing going on um but I think that's one of the reasons why people feel so connected uh to to dogs is just with those eyes uh they they see you and you know you're being you're you're being felt seen um and they're and they're wonderful companions um I wanted to share um an interview I had with a student who was applying to medical school I was very even from the beginning I was like this is a very mature professional young lady um and as I learned more about her she in her Gap year was put in a more at least middle management position supervising people who are at least twice if not three times her age um but I could tell she really succeeded at it and I mentioned that I just learning more about this concept of being seen and the way you're talking about work I feel like you've done that how did you what what would you say your secrets to success were and um here you can kind of see that she knew that it was important to make people feel valued uh part of that was giving people time to be listened and heard it's a really important space even if it doesn't necessarily change what you do if people have had time to to enter that space they feel seen acknowledging that their work is important has meaning and then um she was very intentional about if there was going to be a workplace change there was always an opportunity to share personal experience and perspective again may not change the outcome but it certainly changed the process um and I thought so these are really constant concrete things to to make people feel feel seen um I also wanted to share um the harm or hurt that can come when someone is not seen so uh you know the focus of this talk is about multi-generations uh not um not differences when the diversity is surrounds race or socioeconomic backgrounds um but I did want to share this because I think um if when trying to make a place more inclusive it's that seeing that not being seen that I I think is um plays a big part of the core this is Dr zarassa he was a student at Duke he's now just an incredible scientist um and um but he's not immune from the pain of not being seen and you can see there this was a perspective that he published and sell some years ago but he wrote that I've tried to live in a world that does not see color but only succeeded in living in a world that does not see me it provides examples of where he's not been being seen and and the pain that can be inflicted so um this this was a very kind of succinct very pointed piece of writing that I think further kind of helps illustrate the importance of being seen and so um here the idea that you know Learners want to know what that you care as much if not more importantly than what you're trying trying to teach them that comes from one of our former presidents Teddy and Teddy Roosevelt all right lastly and I'm going to just I um in the I I've been talking a little bit more to you all uh so I'm going to just run through this but I'll go ahead and just ask you to think about it coach uh that's one of your favorites and think about why and I picked out two that I've learned a lot from uh the coaching world is so much about building teams and culture and I've just been amazed at how one individual can come in and change a change an organization uh you know part of it is because they're great they understand the sport they understand the Techno aspects the part of it is they also incredibly they know how to build a strong culture and bring people together so um Dion Sanders I think an incredible story I know there may be people who aren't sports fans but briefly uh he is a Hall of Famer football player incredible athlete um multiple Super Bowls but played offense and defense and was also known as prime time because he's got a very flashy personality very genuine but uh definitely flashly in the public space he um has unusually made a successful transition from being a player to a coach started off at Jackson State in in the college World historically black college but put turn that program around um and put him on on the map now with some controversy he's now the head coach at University of Colorado but has already taken a team that only won one game the entire last season to winning their first two games including the runner-up to the championship game last year really incredible um Again part of us because he knows the game but I think probably most of it or an essential piece of it is how much he he loves the sport how much he loves his players and part of it this quote here is just kind of you know there are different ways of seeing people he's focused on seeing the best part nurturing um the the qualities that that he can sprinkle and Blossom and then you know these are words on the screen um that don't do full Justice to hearing him say these words because you can you feel the emotion behind it but he truly comes from a position of love he wants the kids to do well he has their back um and because they feel that support they elevate their their games so you know his his he holds his players to a high standard this is not about being fluffy and soft uh as in his own words he's told this team we're not here to win we're here to dominate that's that's that's powerful um but to get there he's there for them and and they are doing great things there and then of course I'm from duke so um without being disrespectful I have to bring Coach K uh in into the conversation um but uh things I've learned a lot from Coach K hearing him various talks uh for this for this conversation some things that stood out um questions that he has asked his team um to help build that relationship is inviting that space asking them what do you think how do you feel about that even if you may know the answer um again uh showing that you value the conversation the collaboration and then he drew the difference between delegating versus empowering delegating is just kind of telling people what they need to do empowering them is giving the belief the resources that they can get there so um here's what like what we've covered um just the idea that you know recognizing that categorizations always have limitations but that knowing what gender the idea of that generation forces May inform someone who they are can also inform our understanding uh the things that our learner values between expectations safe spaces to learn and partnership the power of seeing uh seeing and being seeing salabona the importance of communicating not just knowledge but feeling and emotion and then just ways to invite our Learners to the conversation so I have some so I have some references there so I'm going to stop there and come back to see see everyone okay great so uh thank you for the attention and um I hope this was insightful and provided some some new uh ways of seeing things uh and your learners who has some questions or some thoughts or comments for Dr Gordon um this is your time I do love um Dr Gordon I mentioned this last night but uh you know with Dion Sanders in his comments about uh you know embracing his players as family and I've had the pleasure of you know hearing um Coach K speak and numerous occasions as well and um he also Embraces that family mentality and I think what's behind there um a lot of times is what makes a great coach and what makes a good teacher and a great teacher and and a great parent is just sort of embracing and showing your learners your kids your um players that you care about them as people like your job is to make sure that they are successful as people and I think that's I try to convey that most times that I talk about teaching is just just engaging in that dialogue that relationship to where they recognize that you're not being hard on them um because you don't like them you're being intentionally mean you're challenging them in a way that makes them uh be successful um and hopefully it's a respectful Challenge and something that if they recognize how much you care about them then it's seen a little bit differently I think oh I totally agree with that um two things on what you just said Sherry one is you I think you'll find um that you know you feel more value and connected and enjoyment in your work as well like because that whatever love or however you want to call it you're giving that learner you'll be reciprocated and your cup will be a little bit more full too so um you're not just giving but you're receiving as well and I have definitely had that experience where once I had that Foundation of trust it gave me more leverage to actually improve my ability to be provide constructive criticism um because they know you're coming from a good place so once I have that I actually think I can be more effective and and helping that learner so uh and I've said this before and just to reiterate this is not about not having expectations not about setting you know expect striving for excellence it's just creating a foundation um to get there well thank you all so much for being here I hope you have a wonderful day have a great rest of the day everybody thanks for coming.