An obvious solution to overwhelmed and overburdened risk, compliance, and sustainability practitioners is to get help! Some might suggest ethics, risk, or whatever else we call them “ambassadors” or “champions.” Others hope the first line of defence do more. We talk here of risk owners. But how?
Training people can be exhausting. Train-the-trainer sessions might carry unrealistic expectations on both sides. After a few hours together, you (the ambassador person) will know most of what I know (accumulated usually over decades).
What about employing the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman’s Technique or a variation?
As the graph indicates, the best way to learn is to teach. Rather than embark on a jugs-to-mugs quest where we pour knowledge into the heads of others (and it drains right out), make them prepare. In practical terms, this might go:
👉 Ask them to write down a one or two-pager on a given topic (e.g., anti-corruption), explaining it to a 10-year-old.
👉 When they submit the tomes, don’t read them. Craft a polite email praising the progress and directing them to source materials to understand anti-corruption (internal or external) better. Then, suggest they identify gaps in their first edit.
👉 When the revised versions arrive, don’t read them. Instead, reply, praising the additional effort and asking them how they might simplify and better organise the message (with that 10-year-old in mind). Inform them you’ll be coming together shortly, and they will get to present their work to the broader ambassador group.
👉 Organise a session where each person gets 5 minutes (max) to explain the topic to a colleague avatar (maybe a new joiner). Seeing how others fare and trying to teach will create more learning than any conventional train-the-trainer session.
The Feynman Technique is an excellent window into how we think and communicate. The group benefits and learning can spur much-needed innovation.
Sound too ambitious? Try with a sample of one person; start small.
The case for quiet time
I read recently that “In one study, scientists put individuals in a room with nothing but a button that would deliver them a painful electric shock. Given the choice of either sitting quietly or electrocuting themselves, 67% of the men and 25% of the women chose the latter.”
In today’s hustle culture and busy, busy, busy world, what price quiet? When we’re in nature, we try to “capture it,” while with people, we think, “What next?”
Are you an electrocuter or moment savourer?