Recently Dan Levy, Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School, launched his book Teaching Effectively with Zoom. The first thing that crossed my mind was what a great Lecturer he was(and still is). What he probably wasn’t aware of, is that the biggest lessons I took from him were not about Quantitative Methods – the subject he taught – but about how he did it. His approach to teaching should be everyone’s approach to our jobs and to our lives. I want to share three lessons from Dan’s teaching and how they have influenced me in policy implementation.
Care about what you do, it’s contagious
As a student, I valued those professors who were not only passionate about their subject, but also about sharing their knowledge. Dan epitomized this passion and commitment to his students. His book is a clear reflection of that, and as he writes‘his favourite cartoon of all time’ summarizes it well (see below). Later, as his Course Assistant, I saw how he would plan his lessons thoroughly, deliver them with passion and awareness, and reflect afterwards on what went well and how to make them evenbetter. I remember thinking that no matter what I did, I wanted to care about what I did, perform it to the best of my ability, and prepare myself every day to be better at it.
When I was a Cabinet Minister in my country, I always had that in the back of my mind. I had the opportunity to travel around my country, talk to people, and see the power that committed public servants had to transform lives. Those were the everyday heroes.Those that were not always in the news, but who were not just ‘doing their job’ but doing everything in their power to teach their students, to take care of their patients, or to make sure houses were built on time for families that were living in a shelter after an earthquake. As development practitioners, public servants or policy makers, I think that is the most transformative thing we can do. To really care about what we are doing; to be fully aware of the responsibility we have with the citizens that are counting on a functioning government; and to prepare, to the best of our ability, to do what is right for the benefit of all.
Plan, learn and adapt
As a student, I wasn’t aware of all the effort there went on ‘behind the scenes’ in a class. As his Course Assistant, Dan gave me the second valuable lesson that I carry with me to this day. I was surprised how meticulously he planned every class – and I didn’t even see all the process. Before every class, he took time to go over that day’s lecture: the objective of the class, key concepts, class handouts with an estimated time for each section and class materials. What got my attention was the fact that, as part of his preparation, he would go through his notes of the same class from previous years as a reminder of the things that went well and those that required improvement. After each class he would have his own ‘reflection time’ where we would go over the class that he just gave, compare it to the plan, and make notes of the things that worked and those that needed to change. Dan was not only a great teacher, but a fantastic learner. He taught me that sometimes things take time to get to the level of quality that we want, but it is worth the journey.
Implementing public policy is not the same as being in a classroom. There isn’t always the time to plan with the same level of detail. Nevertheless, I did find the conscious reflection time at the end of each class, in my case a policy or a project, was a very powerful exercise. To stop, even for short periods of time, to go back to the objective, review the plan and assess the implementation, and to learn from it was so valuable. Often, as Minister and now as a consultant, I find myself doing that. Taking time to reflect about the things that went well, those that need to improve, and why that was the case. It has made me more mindful about changes I need to make, and conscious about actively exploring opportunities for improvement. For big projects I do it more systematically and write things down. On occasions I have done it with my team, as a group exercise.
Listen to a broader audience
One of Dan’s strengths in his teaching is his capacity to listen to many people, absorb different ideas, and then distil that down to a few core points that he thought were useful. He constantly asked for feedback from his students both formally, with in-class polls or exercises, and informally, during quick chats after class or in office hours. He would also ask his CAs, his Teaching Fellow, and his Technology and Learning Assistant. He would talk with other Faculty members, our Program Coordinator, among others. In all of his interactions, he was seeking ways to be more effective at his teaching.
Public policy, for its own nature, requires the involvement of different stakeholders at different times. Sometimes certain interactions are more transactional or to fulfil a mandatory requirement. In that sense, Academia and Politics are completely different. However, one of my takeaways from Dan was his willingness to learn from others. I found it not only rewarding but extremely useful. Every time I started in a Ministerial position, I took the time to meet with all the teams and team members, not just the managerial level. It gave me the opportunity to know them, but also to open a channel of communication to learn from them. I remember clearly one day when I met with my team for Public Investment. They had so many great actionable recommendations, with huge potential to improve the project assessment methodology. When I asked them why they hadn’t said anything before, they said no one has ever asked them what they thought. I was stunned. I believe that choosing your team is one of the most important decisions one makes, and that if an environment enables the contribution of all team members, it can be transformative. Creating those spaces with relevant stakeholders, inside and outside our organisations, is also key for more effective policy design and implementation.
Development practitioners, public servants and policy makers are not necessarily teachers but we all should be active learners. In our environment, from the people around us and – more importantly – from our own work. The passion for what we do and the potential to transform lives should be our motivation. Continuous learning can be a tool to achieve that purpose.
Photo credit: Craig F. Walker on The Boston Globe
