Coaching Entrepreneurial Youth

My mom was a teacher. She once said, “My job is to inspire them to learn not to teach them anything.” I didn’t understand it for several decades, but now I do. She didn’t need to “teach” them how to do something, just to guide them to see what was possible for them.

I’ve been fortunate to have worked with youth for 30+ years, engaging with over 100,000 young entrepreneurs in over 60 countries. Over time, I’ve come to see that today’s high school and college students are not interested in a one-way, dictatorial form of education. They respond readily to a two-way, conversational style learning format.

I’ve learned a few tricks that educators can use to engage youth in the process of learning about entrepreneurship, and specifically about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and leadership.

Those “tricks” involve redefining the roles of educators in general. The role of coaching in the cycle of educating entrepreneurial youth has become vital.

ISM runs a program that coaches high school and college students in starting and structuring a STEM-related business that solves a world-wide problem. Over the years, we’ve noticed that some educators who attend with their students want to continue to use the teaching methods they were taught many years ago, which don’t resonate with today’s students.

Many times, the minute we distance the teachers from the students, and begin with our conversational-style education, the students excel.

The Approach is Simple: Coaching rather than Teaching

I’m not saying we should replace teaching or mentoring. I am saying we need to add coaching to the equation. So what is the difference?

From my perspective, a teacher articulates information utilizing a methodology set by a specific curriculum.

The coach inspires them to do the best they can do. Inspiration is vital in helping young people learn.

A few years ago, while mentoring MBA students at a local university, I ran into a young man who participated in our program while in high school. That day, he said that the ISM program allowed him to see the world in a different way, so he switched his educational track from medicine to business.

When you expose youth to new ideas and coach them through it rather than trying to teach the information, it inspires them to do more than they ever thought they could do.

We encourage educators of every ilk to think about a coaching approach within the classroom and beyond, inspiring today’s young people to want to learn and engage.

BEFORE YOU GO

We see our blogs as opportunities for dialogue. Please share your thoughts as comments.

1. How might a two-way conversational approach impact your classroom?

2. What can you do to add a coaching aspect to your educational approach?

3. What can you suggest to others regarding engaging today’s youth?