Learning by doing is an important tool. An even better way to learn is by judging. If possible, put yourself in a position to critique the work of others. You need to have some idea of how to do the thing you are judging, but you do not need to be an expert (particularly if you will be doing the judging as a member of a team, with set criteria in place.) Just jump in and think of it as an active learning experience. The expertise will come with the experience.
- Writing: Offer to edit other people’s work, be it press releases, newsletters, donation requests, web content, or whatever your particular area may be. It is particularly helpful to edit work you are unfamiliar with, so you can read it with the cold eye of an outsider. Have a grammar and style book at your side, and learn those rules you never bothered with. Don’t just concentrate on the bad; take note on what works well and why. Apply what you’ve learned to your own writing, and keep on editing!
- Grant writing: See if you can become a grant reader, one of the people who judges the quality of proposals. You will gain valuable insight into the importance of clarity, and the learn meaning of sometimes confusing terms like “objective” and “goals” and “evaluation”. You will get a clearer sense of what constitutes too much detail and what is too vague. You will get a greater sense of what outsiders find exciting or important – in other words, what they think is fundable.
- Applying for jobs: See if you can sit in on a hiring session. Nothing helps give you an idea of what you should and shouldn’t include in your resume and cover letter than reading other people’s attempts. Learning how interviewers think will also help you prepare to be interviewed.
- Performance: Help out with casting or auditions (and directing, if appropriate). Nuances that you never fully appreciated before will leap out at you. You will be able to transform these learning lessons into better auditions and performances for yourself. You might also get a sense of what a director is trying to tell you, and be able to respond better.
Taking things to the next level, you can become an instructor or teacher. Obviously, you should be comfortable with the topic you are presenting, but no need to be an expert. It is said that to teach, you should know three times the amount of information you give out…. and, in the process of preparing for and giving your class, you really learn what you will be teaching.
