A few years ago, I wrote about taking criticism and how that impacts the work we do as shelter professionals. I wanted to highlight how difficult it can be and how unexpected it may feel to receive some critiques after sharing your work with someone. Being able to give and receive criticism is based on trust and we often find ourselves opening up to lots of different people over the years who are seeking help and guidance on their journey into training, behavior, and sheltering. One of the questions I hear often from newer shelter behavior professionals is, “When can I teach someone else?” We are all excited about animal behavior and passionate about helping animals but there is an experience level that must be achieved before it’s ethical to try teaching others complicated concepts like dog behavior or low stress handling. At best, we might be regurgitating things someone else said. We’ve played telephone with the information and are now teaching something that could be harmful or dangerous. I look back on some of the class presentations I made 10 years ago and cringe, wishing I’d asked for feedback or that someone had told me I wasn’t ready. When I finally started receiving critique from other professionals, it was difficult at first, and now it’s a different experience. It’s easier with practice to seek out feedback from others as well as providing quality feedback when asked.
One of the reasons I believe critiques are so difficult is because not all experience equates to advancement in skill. Learning is not some fixed ratio of hours to outcome. We feel like we have a handle on our day to day tasks, and feel confident, but we don’t realize that a few years of experience in this industry is a literal drop in the bucket, and that’s best-case-scenario. If those few years are spent learning under someone who doesn’t have the best skills or knowledge, instead of dropping into the bucket, those experiences may be sloshing water out of your bucket. More experience practicing bad habits only works to solidify poor skills. Reps are reps.
So how do we make sure, as beginners, that we are getting a quality education and then putting into practice methods and skills that are truly based on that learning? On the other side, how do we, as experienced members of the field, offer help and guidance to newer members of our teams? Our desire to share should not outweigh the importance of the quality of the information being shared and, of course, the ethics of what is being shared. Sharing should be more than simply telling someone how to do something; actual teaching scaffolds information for each learner to provide a deeper understanding of what, why and when you might do something. Part of this as an instructor is giving credit to concepts, strategies, protocols, methods, and products; this should be part of every class, coaching session or chat in the breakroom. This not only fulfills the ethical requirement to credit sources but it also demonstrates this for whomever you are coaching, normalizing this in day to day interactions.
There may be times when you realize that all of your information came from the same source such as one mentor, one speaker, one book, one course. While we certainly all have our favorites, this may be a sign you’re not ready to be an instructor and you might actually be at risk of plagiarism. Yikes, that’s hard to think about. It may seem harsh when you feel like you’ve put so much time and energy into learning and growing and improving. However, working beyond your scope is actually doing more harm than good. Celebrating your own progress and the feeling of accomplishment should not be confused with having mastered anything. Mastery of a subject means that you are able to be creative within the framework of understanding that takes many years to develop. When knowledge is shared, it is a privilege, not a right, and it doesn’t mean that you own it just because you can repeat it.
We have to also acknowledge that if you are beginning to identify with some of this, it’s a hard realization. Getting told you’re not ready, you’re not that experienced or you just don’t get it, while possibly true, is very unpleasant. Personally, I got smacked hard on the ground when I took a flying leap off the Dunning Kruger curve but I highly recommend it! We take harder hits at work all the time, whether it’s being forced to work with or around dangerous dogs, struggles with budgets, limitations based on your county policies, and natural disasters. If we can handle all that, we can handle some criticism. At work, ego belongs in a box on the shelf and that process is harder for some but it’s what keeps us safe both mentally and physically while working with animals.
So how do we reconcile this unpleasant realization? We keep working, keep learning, keep sharing to receive feedback. Bring to the focus of conversations with students and clients to where the information you’re spewing came from and encourage them to investigate for themselves. Hold yourself accountable for your own learning mindset and acknowledge when the stress of work and life are making learning too difficult.
A recent example of this in the past 30 days is my experience with the LA fires and aftermath (myself and a few other SPA volunteers are in the LA area). I am reminded how seriously impactful stress is on all of the mental skills we use to do our difficult jobs. Watching people and animals suffer is hard already and when a natural disaster strikes, the adrenaline wears off all too soon and you’re left depleted to continue climbing the mountain of lost homes, burned animals, unsafe drinking water and air quality. Watching how the stress impacts simple things like my own memory and information organization is profound. Disasters remind us how good normal was and will be again. To my aggressive dog clients I would say, “This is a management moment, not a training moment.” We give our animals the grace of lowered expectations for behavior during very high stress times and we need to do this for ourselves as well.
So to the beginners, go ahead and loosen your hold on the side of the Dunning Kruger cliff. Maybe your footing is slipping a bit already. We will see you at the bottom where we constantly double check our facts and qualify each sentence so as not to misconstrue information. We acknowledge out loud when we’ve made a mistake so we can lead by example. Most of all, we try to be cozy with our gaps in knowledge, continually realistically assess where we are, and ask for honest and direct feedback. Join us here, the water is fine.
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