Sarah stared at her computer screen, her coffee growing cold beside her keyboard. The spreadsheet before her was a technicolor nightmare of mismatched data, courtesy of her newest team member, Jake. For the third time this month, the client billing report looked more like a modern art piece than a financial document.
“Not again,” she muttered, massaging her temples.
The last time this happened, their biggest client had called asking why they’d been billed for “unicorn maintenance” instead of “uniform maintenance.”
Jake had apparently gotten creative with the autocorrect function. As Operations Manager at Commonwealth Paper Solutions (where they ironically did everything but paper solutions these days), Sarah had seen her fair share of workplace blunders.
But Jake was something special – enthusiastic, bright, and possessed of an almost supernatural ability to find new and innovative ways to make mistakes.
Jake wasn’t just any employee. He was the kind of person who brought homemade cookies to the office, remembered everyone’s birthdays, and somehow managed to crash the company’s accounting software while trying to send a GIF of a dancing cat to the IT department.
His heart was in the right place, but his execution needed… work.
Sarah had three options:
- The “Just Don’t Do That” approach (her inner voice was screaming for this one!)
- The “Let Me Show You Step-by-Step” method (which hadn’t worked the last four times)
- Try something new
She remembered her recent management training seminar (the one where the presenter had used interpretive dance to explain Six Sigma – but that’s a story for another day).
She vaguely remembered something about the difference between telling, training, and teaching. She turned around, facing her bookshelf and reached out for her workshop journal to review her notes. It was right next to her Manager Of The Year trophy, a national award she won as a result of completing the goal setting program recommended to her by her new boss and mentor, Aleisha.
“Jake,” Sarah called out, trying to keep her voice as neutral as possible. “Could you come here for a moment?” Jake appeared at her door, looking like a puppy who knew he’d chewed something expensive. “Is this about the unicorn thing? Because I can explain – “”Actually,” Sarah interrupted, “I’d like to try something different. Grab your notebook and that fancy pen you’re always showing off.”
Instead of telling Jake what he’d done wrong or showing him the correct procedure for the hundredth time, Sarah tried a new approach. she had mindmapped in her workshop journal.
“Jake, what do you think is the most important thing about our billing system?” Jake blinked, clearly expecting a lecture. “Uh… that we get paid?” Sarah smiled. “Good start. What else?”
Over the next fifteen minutes, through careful questioning and guided discovery, Jake began to understand not just the how but the why of their billing procedures. He identified potential pitfalls by himself and suggested some process improvements that Sarah hadn’t considered.
“You know,” Jake said thoughtfully, “if we had a dropdown menu instead of free-text fields, we probably wouldn’t have any more unicorn incidents.”
Fast forward two weeks.
Sarah sat in her office, reviewing the latest billing reports. Not a single mythical creature in sight. Jake had not only mastered the billing system but created a cheat sheet for other team members. Of course, he did accidentally set the office printer to speak Spanish for a day, but hey – progress is progress!
The Lesson Learned
Sarah’s experience taught her something crucial about managing people: Sometimes the best way to handle mistakes isn’t to tell people what to do, train them in procedures, or teach them theories – it’s knowing when to use each approach.
Understanding the difference between telling, training, and teaching can transform how you handle workplace challenges.
Key Characteristics of Each Approach
Directive Management (Telling)
- Immediate task completion focus
- Clear, specific instructions
- Limited employee input
- Quick implementation
- Best for: Emergencies, new employees, or critical procedures requiring exact compliance
Training (Socratic/Self-Autonomous)
- Encourages critical thinking through questioning
- Promotes active participation and self-discovery
- Develops problem-solving skills
- Focuses on practical application
- Best for: Skill development, process improvement, and building confidence
Teaching Mode
- Provides theoretical foundation
- Explores broader concepts and principles
- Encourages deep understanding
- Connects ideas across different contexts
- Best for: Complex concepts, leadership development, and strategic thinking
Effectiveness Considerations
- Learning Retention
- Directive approach: Lower retention rates due to passive reception
- Training approach: Higher retention through active engagement and self-discovery
- Teaching approach: Deep understanding but requires more time investment
- Employee Development
- Directive approach: Limited development of critical thinking skills
- Training approach: Develops problem-solving and decision-making capabilities
- Teaching approach: Builds comprehensive understanding and theoretical knowledge
- Time Efficiency
- Directive approach: Most time-efficient for immediate tasks
- Training approach: Moderate time investment with long-term benefits
- Teaching approach: Highest time investment but creates deeper understanding
Implementation Recommendations
- Choose the appropriate approach based on:
- Task urgency
- Employee experience level
- Complexity of the subject matter
- Available time and resources
- Learning objectives
- Consider blending approaches:
- Start with teaching for fundamental concepts
- Use training for skill development
- Reserve directive management for time-sensitive or critical tasks
- Monitor and adjust:
- Gather feedback on effectiveness
- Measure learning outcomes
- Adapt approaches based on employee response and results
This framework provides a clear distinction between the three approaches while offering practical examples that can be applied in various workplace scenarios. The key is to understand that each approach has its place and value, depending on the specific situation and desired outcomes.
Why Managers And Leaders Don’t Train Anymore
Boomers remember their early careers when their managers helped TRAIN them. Those were the days when reciprocity reigned supreme. Employees appreciated the investment made IN THEM and it was a win-win scenario.
The reality today is that managers and leaders by default DON’T TRAIN anymore because the ROI is negative as this diagram shows.
Employee A can THINK beyond superficial “THOUGHTING” and mindless TICKING and TASKING and is “profitably productive” from the first week, providing the necessary long-term leverage for his manager’s original (3 hour) investment. He will continue to get TRAINING whereas that is not the case for Employee B.
Employee B indulges in THOUGHTING, TICKING and TASKING and quickly falls into the “too hard basket” for his manager since he’s not independent and requires constant follow up and monitoring. The math just doesn’t add up. His professional career development comes to a quick dead end.
If you want to be TRAINED, you have to provide a POSITIVE Return On that Investment (ROI).
It’s just math.
Here’s the thing Employee A understands: He acquires valuable skills that build a “talent stack”. That is what employers PAY FOR. He will get raises and promotions and maybe even headhunted! Whereas Employee B will either be let go or eventually leave, hoping someone else will train him… #GoodLuckWithThat
This is being written in early 2026 and it’s already blatantly obvious that employees and freelancers who TICK, TASK and THOUGHT are already being replaced by AI who can do that faster, better, cheaper. The diagram and hero image above were both created by AI with one prompt that took me less than 60 seconds to write and NO DESIGNER was required.
All is not lost IF employees and freelancers THINK…
AI still struggles with that, for now…
Want to “THINK” more? The #1 tip is to PUT YOURSELF in your manager’s or client’s “shoes” and ROLE PLAY what he or she would do in this situation. If you lack foundational skills (e.g. Excel), acquire them as quickly as you can… You can’t fake your way through it. That’s what Employee B does and it backfires every time.
Employee A realises that with a great TALENT STACK, he’s the one who shares the POSITIVE ROI with his manager, employee or client if he’s a contractor/freelancer. It’s win-win.
Freelancer “A” understands that his clients will provide him with more work/projects if he can be more autonomous and independent. That provides valuable leverage and overcomes the #1 obstacle all freelancers face: Clients who don’t have time to BRIEF AND MONITOR delegated tasks and projects. The less monitoring and management of projects are required, the more work can be delegated, which is the win-win outcome Exponential Mindset Thinking is based on.
More of more = A bigger pie for everyone. It’s NOT a zero-sum game.
Admittedly, the hard part for personal and professional growth is the ability, willingness and courage to get OUT of the Complacency Zone where inertia to remain “in the status quo modality” is the most powerful.
Stepping up to the Comfort Zone is relatively easy because once OUT of the mediocrity zone of complacency, positive feedback should be forthcoming and encouraging.
It takes dedication, commitment, disciple and courage to back yourself and crossover into the Discomfort Zone where Exponential Performance and Results reside. The rewards are substantial because ascension to “better than average results” is not easy. A lot of people make “false declarations” that they can do it, but rarely follow up and follow through because it’s “uncomfortable”and often too confronting for their limiting belief, internal demons and negative addictions (bad habits).
Everyone determines which zone they operate in by their actions and behaviours. Management is about observing those actions and assigning tasks and responsibilities accordingly.
Sadly, with the advent of AI, people who languish in the Complacency and and Comfort Zones are already being obsoleted because AI is very good at “mediocrity”, costs a fraction of the price and requires increasingly less supervision and management.
#Ouch
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