We Learn: Taylor Swift & Me
Hot take: Over the last few years, I developed a growing resentment towards Taylor Swift. I even found myself spending and increasing amount of time stewing over just how similar we were (in age, cities we lived in, and our love of pop music) and asking, “Who does she think she is, walking around this planet just singing, playing and writing music all day?”
I slowly realized that hiding underneath this resentful anger and envy was something extra scary – a desire to write my own music.
Who did I think I was, wanting to write music?
As I took zero songwriting action, my Swiftie resentment only grew. Finally, I told my secret songwriting wish to a trusted friend, expecting her to quickly confirm its foolishness. Instead, she celebrated (what?!) and with her support, I took my first steps toward learning something new.
Why am I sharing this? Because At P.A.C.E., one of our core values is “We Learn.” We are embodying this core value as a team by learning to be better adult trainers and facilitators.
Here’s how we’re approaching the learning process:
- Collect data: We’ve had an increase in the amount of times partners have asked us to present and facilitate learning of new information. Our internal team surveys supported this. Essentially, the volume was turning up.
- Set a goal: This is where we put our stake in the ground and clearly state the change we want to see and by when. For me, this is where I told friends that it was my goal to compose music. At P.A.C.E., we wrote out that our team’s professional development goal for the year was to become excellent adult facilitators to better support our partners in building capacity, infrastructure and campaigns.
- Make a learning plan: We looked for the right teachers, coaches, or guide that fits our learning style and capacity. For me, I knew that I wouldn’t just sit down and write my own music, so I joined a weekly songwriting class. At P.A.C.E., we interviewed folks to see who would be a good fit for our team. We ultimately chose to work with Injy Sullivan with Pearl Potential and Fatimah Barker, because they are masters at adult learning, have a deep understanding of the work that we do at P.A.C.E. and could support us for both in-person and Zoom settings. A great fit!
- Do the learning: Learning to learn can be a challenge, because it requires us keep our goal in mind each and every day – and balance that with the knowledge that we’re not there yet. For me, it’s hard to look at Taylor Swift and not beat myself up that I’m not selling billions of albums across the world. But I just keep showing up to my classes. At P.A.C.E., we’re working with Pearl Potential and with each other to grapple with how we’ve delivered content in the past and how it aligns with how adults learn best. Implementing these concepts has been rewarding but not always intuitive or easy. That’s ok!
- Celebrate progress: No matter how we do it, celebrating progress in a meaningful way is critical. For me, a simple, “Great job, songwriter Sara” text from a friend helps me to keep going. At P.A.C.E., we give each other shout outs for the specific progress (big or small) they’re making towards improving our adult facilitation.
- Mastery: Once new learnings become second nature, we know we’ve achieved a level of mastery. Here, it’s important to keep working that muscle and practicing these new skills – so that you are ready to add more skills to your toolbox.
-Sara Bobak
