Ethics, responsibility and personal approach
A 4MAT Trainer has a great responsibility in relation to teaching, coaching and sharing informations where personal/sensitive information is part of the dialogue framework. It is a big task and balancing act to disseminate the form and content of the 4MAT method in a clear and defined way, while at the same time being able to handle a varied and open approach to all learning styles and brain hemisphere preferences.
Basic guidelines for the personal approach and the responsibility that rests on you as 4MAT Trainer is described below. General and practical rules and principles for ethics regarding the use of 4MAT profiles can be found by following this link.
Confidence and desire
for insights
4MAT is a development tool -
and development
works best when
it is based on
participant's openness and a personal desire to participate actively, explore and contribute with
their own insights and wonder. As a 4MAT
Trainer, one of your most noble tasks is that
of creating and maintaining this space of trust and desire to participate within your group of
students.
This space is best created and
maintained by
keeping an open
and appreciative
approach. An approach that creates a basis
for dialogue and a mediation which is
nuanced and appreciative towards all possible
combinations of 4MAT types, learning
styles and brain
hemisphere preferences, so each and every person feels accepted in full for
the unique person he or she is.
Remember you are an expert on 4MAT - the person is the expert on him/her
self
Humility is the key word for a 4MAT Trainer who
deals with personal test results and other sensitive personal
informations. During
teaching/facilitating it
is of critical importance that you
interact in a respectful
manner when sharing your expert knowledge. Share
it on a
conceptual and
theoretical level, and be constantly aware
of taking a
humble role in relation to assessing the actual person as such. Let the person
be an expert on him/her
self.
This humility can be displayed by creating hypotheses, asking questions and/or otherwise open for dialogue that brings the individual's own assessment into light, rather than you as a 4MAT Trainer conclude anything, based on the few sources of personal information insights which has become available to you as a 4MAT Trainer for the person.
4MAT is a method - not the final truth!
4MAT is a tool, a method and a common frame of reference that allows people to generate insights and bring communication, dissemination and understanding of other people to a higher level - for
anyone who wants to get involved. But
it is not the
final answer to everything. Human beings are fortunately more complicated creatures than what the
4MAT frame can systematize. A 4MAT Trainer knows, recognizes and honors that
humans ARE NOT their type, learning style or hemisphere preference.
4MAT - get the best out of the tool
Nobody likes to
be "put in a box" - and certainly not by
others! As a 4MAT Trainer it is of critical importance that you do not categorize, stereo type and tell people what they are! Instead
suggest assumptions based on your understanding of the tool/theory, and allow the individual him/her self to make
specific assessment and responses regarding them
selves. This way, everyone
gets the best out of
4MAT.
