Episode 34: What Leaders can Learn from Teachers

In this episode of Rethink: The Podcast, Nicki Hambleton explores what leaders can learn from teachers. Drawing on her own experiences in the classroom, including a tough period working with disengaged students, Nicki reflects on the parallels between classrooms and boardrooms and why disengagement looks different, but feels the same, in both.

Nicki highlights five powerful teaching strategies that can transform the way meetings, workshops and presentations are run: starting with a hook, building in active participation, scaffolding big tasks into manageable steps, creating feedback loops and using visual anchors to engage teams in collective thinking.

Backed by cognitive science and illustrated with real-world examples from her facilitation work, Nicki demonstrates how visible, creative approaches can shift teams from passive listening to active contribution. Whether you’re an educator, a leader, or simply someone tired of “death by meeting,” this episode offers practical tools to bring clarity, curiosity and collaboration into every conversation.

Relevant Resources to this episode:

Brown, P. C., Roediger, H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning — on retrieval, feedback, and why active learning works.

John Hattie (2009). Visible Learning — research evidence on what truly impacts engagement and outcomes.

We all need a rethink once in a while, so why not start today?