There’s a pattern I see frequently as a professional development trainer.

Early in our careers, we all expect to be taught. We ask questions and watch how other people handle situations. We listen carefully and understand there’s a lot we have to learn.

Then we gain experience. We become more confident. We’ve been through enough situations to recognize patterns. We’ve developed instincts about what works and what doesn’t. People begin coming to us for answers.

And that’s a good thing! Expertise is the result of experience, and it should absolutely give us confidence.

But it can also cause problems.

If we’re not careful, confidence can become certainty. Instead of thinking, “This is what my experience has taught me,” we begin thinking, “This is simply how it is.”

And once we reach that point, we’re no longer teachable.

Experience Is Valuable, but Incomplete

I’ve worked with professionals at ALL stages of their careers, and one thing I’ve noticed is that years of experience can (sometimes) create a closed mind.

Admittedly, I’ve been guilty of this myself over the years!

The longer you’ve been successful doing something a certain way, the easier it is to believe that your way is the right way. The ONLY way.

So, when someone suggests a different approach, you may find yourself dismissing it before you’ve really considered it. You think…

• “We tried that before.”
•  “That wouldn’t work here.”
• “They don’t understand the business the way I do.”

Maybe these things are true. But maybe they aren’t the whole truth.

Your experience gives you a perspective. It doesn’t give you every perspective.

Here’s the truth:

Someone Can Have Less Experience and Still Know Something You Don’t

This is where being teachable gets REALLY uncomfortable.

It’s relatively easy to learn from someone you consider an expert. It’s much harder to learn from someone with fewer years of experience than you.

Time teaches lessons that can’t be picked up from a book. But even when someone has less experience in terms of time, they may have different experience that is equally valuable.

They may have worked with technology you haven’t. They may have learned from another industry, another group of leaders, another organizational culture, or another type of client. They may be noticing something that you stopped noticing years ago because it became normal to you.

Less experience does not necessarily mean less valuable experience.

You don’t have to agree with every idea someone brings you. You do, however, need enough intellectual humility to consider the possibility that others can sometimes see things you can’t.

Being Teachable Is Not the Same as Being Easily Swayed

Being teachable doesn’t mean abandoning your judgment every time someone disagrees with you. It doesn’t mean treating every opinion as equally informed and it doesn’t mean ignoring what years of experience have taught you.

Being teachable simply means you can listen without immediately defending your own position and dismissing someone else’s.

It means asking, “What might I be missing?”

It often means separating the person delivering an idea from the quality of the idea itself.

And perhaps most importantly, it means allowing new information to change your position when warranted.

It’s harder than it sounds. I know from first-hand experience!

Many of us are perfectly willing to hear another perspective as long as we ultimately get to keep our original one. We listen and nod and say, “That’s interesting,” and then we continue exactly as before.

The real test is whether you’re able to allow new evidence or someone else’s insight to alter what you believe and how you behave.

Pay Attention to How Quickly You Defend Yourself

One way to assess your teachability is to notice what happens internally when someone challenges your thinking.

• Do you immediately start constructing your rebuttal?
• Do you attempt to explain why their suggestion won’t work before they’ve even finished explaining it?
• Do you cite your years of experience as proof that your position should carry more weight?
• Do you become irritated when someone junior questions your approach?

Again, the other person might not necessarily be right. But these reactions indicate that you’re not as open minded as you might think.

Or perhaps your identity has become too attached to being “the expert.” An interesting idea to be sure…

When you’re known as the expert, changing your mind can feel threatening. You may worry that saying, “I hadn’t considered that,” somehow diminishes your credibility.

I would argue that the opposite is true! Some of the most credible professionals I know are comfortable saying:

• “That’s a good point.”
• “I hadn’t considered that.”
• “I need to rethink that.”
• “I didn’t know that.”
• “Your approach may be better.”

These statements don’t negate your experience. Instead, they demonstrate confidence and maturity.

Your Reputation Benefits from Being Teachable

The simple fact is this: People notice whether or not you’re teachable. As a trainer, I can often sense it within the first few minutes of training.

Your colleagues learn whether they can bring you an opposing viewpoint without being shut down. Your manager sees how you respond to feedback. Your team notices whether you are interested in finding the best answer or protecting your own answer.

Over time, this shapes how people interact with you.

If people repeatedly feel like you dismiss ideas that challenge your thinking, eventually they stop bringing those ideas to you. And that can create a dangerous situation.

You may start to think, “Nobody disagrees with me!”

But that doesn’t necessarily mean everyone agrees. It may just mean they’ve decided that disagreement isn’t worth the effort.

For an experienced professional, that’s a risky place to be. The more senior you become (or want to become), the more you need people who are willing to tell you what you cannot see for yourself.

And for that to happen, you have to demonstrate that telling you is worthwhile.

Use Your Experience Without Becoming Trapped by It

To be clear: I’m not suggesting you should disregard the wisdom you’ve earned through experience. Your mistakes, successes, difficult conversations, failed projects, and years of observing people have taught you things. And that knowledge has real value.

Experience should make your thinking richer, not smaller.

As Albert Einstein said, “The more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know.”

I think one of the clearest signs of professional maturity is recognizing that no matter how much experience you have, there is always more to learn and people you can learn from.