The energy of having a fresh start at school each year has always given me joy. This year I began my year with a self-inventory and asked what I could improve, and I swiftly and I swiftly landed on the topic of passwords. How many of us recycle passwords with different variants but similar cores? I know that I do. How many of us lack multi-factor authentication? As I ran down an essential list, it dawned on me: if, as a technical expert, my passwords are not all that they could and should be, then what would that mean for the passwords from the less technical students or teachers in my sphere of influence?
Given that the majority of learners and learning activities are online, I became intensely curious about how students and staff could probably use help with the same things. Leading doesn't necessarily mean having a title or a role but being able to leverage your time with your constituents, colleagues, consumers, and/or users (call them what you will).
In your tech spaces, you might be considered the tech guru, and your knowledge can actually interfere with your ability to help others. Some people will find it hard to relate to you as they feel their tech level is not on par with a technician's standards. But let's be realistic: how many people in IT could go out and successfully teach a class with basic or limited training? Adversely, we take this approach with the end user as though they should know how to do something so fundamental to us that we tend to forget that we were once a novice.
The first way to help in this journey is by being empathic to the technical level. It's commonly believed that leaders, especially in technological industries, should be able to get by on their wits alone. Reasonable and supported evidence is required. Those abilities are necessary, but genuine empathy in leadership is crucial. Leadership based on compassion involves showing concern for your team and your users. It's also a good fit for the field, which relies heavily on trust, open dialogue, and teamwork. Understand that some end users only use their computers to work and pay bills. The reality of a user knowing how to use a command prompt or terminal command could be as foreign as a polar bear in the jungle. Meeting users at their level will help disarm people's fear of asking what they think is a stupid question. One of my mentors said, "We want you to break or have issues with your machine because that means you're using your device." As a technician, I used to cringe hearing that statement, but when he explained it, it gave me a better understanding of a user mindset. If you only use your machine for a word processor, are you using your device to its full potential? Tech leaders should remove the fear of breaking the device from a user's thought process. This fear would only limit how they explored with the equipment. Yes, it limits traffic to the IT dept, but is it helping your community grow to be better digital citizens and digital learners?
In closing, being empathic to your users can help you bridge gaps and strive to put end users in a different mindset. This mindset then can allow them to explore in various ways. The next time you meet, your conversation might be something different. Educating users on managing their passwords, where they are stored, and how they would get their data if their laptops caught fire. These are basic tech questions, but to an end user, most have never sat down to figure it out. You will always have different types of people when using tech. Let's try not to paint everyone with the same broad brush.