January 12, 2010Poison Phrase: Teacheable Moment
The term:
- teachable moment
…made the list of words to lose in 2010. I had just used it in a book proposal. Even as I wrote it, I had a sense of it not being quite right. The article about words to lose called it condescending. Why? Because it’s parental. It implies authoritarian superiority. SpeakStrong blog commenter Sharon suggested the term:
- Educational moment
That term implies learning goes both ways. Our vocabulary needs to change as we lose our authoritarian model of management communication.
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“Teachable moment” would not have been a poison phrase in my book. Knowing that it was poison for someone else brings me awareness. “Teachable moment” to me means a moment when student is open to what teacher has to share. And, remember that student is not always younger than teacher.
Comment by Iris Shull — January 14, 2010 @ 2:31 pm
Yes – your last sentence says it all for me. Obviously I liked the phrase or I wouldn’t have used it, but as you say, we all hear with different ears.
Comment by merylrunion — January 14, 2010 @ 5:12 pm
I think both are pretty condescending. They both suggest that you have more knowledge than the person you are speaking to and that you are now going to bestow that knowledge upon them. If it is to co-workers, it should be a team work moment. If it is a boss and a worker, an instructional moment.
Comment by Matt — January 14, 2010 @ 6:24 pm
I use the term : Learning Opportunity
“Opportunity” sounds positive and my team doesn’t feel threatened or belittled when approached.
Comment by Robin — January 19, 2010 @ 5:54 pm
I think I would use the phrase “teachable moment” in telling a friend about a teachable moment I had with one of my sons. But I don’t think I’d use that phrase with my son.
I agree that it would be condescending to say to someone, “Okay, here’s a teachable moment. Listen up.”
Comment by Iris Shull — February 4, 2010 @ 3:41 pm
All these responses reinforce for me how we all perceive things based on our own nature/nurture roots. All of the options offered sounded vaguely offensive and contrived to me. My tactic would likely sound something like this: “Oh, I am so glad you mentioned that because it reminded me of something on (this topic) that’s been on my mind recently.” We don’t always have to condense everything down to a popular catch phrase or business-speak of the day. (I’m still recoiling over “Work smarter, not harder” which in my job was code for “You’re not getting new equipment or many supplies this budget year.”; and “Walk the talk” or whatever it was. I understood what they all meant in their best framework, but along the way people stop having real conversations and start having slogan “hurls”.)
Comment by Kathleen — February 9, 2010 @ 7:25 am
Which is why being in the Power Phrase business is quite the challenge for an authenticity junkie like me! I just revised my Perfect Phrases for Managers and Supervisors book. It has a sub title of “hundreds of ready-to-use phrases. When I refer to that in the introduction, I say ready-to-use AND ready-to-adapt phrases. Yesterday’s PowerPhrase becomes today’s Poison Phrase when we hide behind them instead of use them to reveal ourselves.
I think catch-phrases expand us when they express new ideas that are bigger than how we were thinking. We grow into them. But then we outgrow them. So if we keep using them, they hold us back.
Comment by merylrunion — February 9, 2010 @ 8:39 am