John Verlinden jokes easily with the students in his public relations class at Mount St. Vincent University. "I couldn't sleep last night," he says, "because I'm really looking forward to spending my whole weekend reading your papers."
Mr. Verlinden isn't looking forward to marking 45 first-year essays on a sunny fall weekend. But although he loves his "real" job, as director of communications at the largest seniors' service complex east of Montreal, his time in class is a high point of his week.
The students "keep me fresh," he says. "You can get a little jaded after a while. The fact that I have to go into a classroom and teach what I do forces me to think about what I do and how I do it."
Another part-time teacher responds from his Bay Street office to an interview request. Bank of Montreal's chief economist leaves a voice-mail message: He'd be happy to talk about "why anyone in their right mind, with a full-time job, would teach part-time."
Tim O'Neill is a high-profile member of Canada's financial elite, partly because he loves to teach, whether it's for television audiences who regularly see him explain economics, "a group of Grade 6ers or mid-career high-ambition, high-octane folks" such as his students in the executive MBA program at Saint Mary's University. Four times a year, Mr. O'Neill flies to his home town, Halifax, for an eight-hour weekend session with the EMBA students who, like him, work full-time. A long day? "Nope. The hard part isn't getting me started; it's getting me to stop."
Although writers on capital-L Leadership encourage managers and executives to create "teachable environments" and to "teach and learn from subordinates" inside the workplace, Mr. Verlinden and Mr. O'Neill are among those who teach inside their professions but outside their full-time jobs.
Medical and law schools traditionally have used teachers within their professional communities, but other professionally oriented faculties, from architecture and business to journalism and public relations, look for outsiders as adjunct professors, guest lecturers, sessional instructors and tutors.
When insiders put their real-world practice into classroom theory, the benefits for a school and its students are fairly obvious: insight into the day-to-day workings of the industry, real-life case studies, connections to the community that could lead to jobs for students and the chance of partnerships, internships and other kinds of corporate support for the school.
It's a bit harder to fathom why a business person or professional would take time from a 60-hour-plus week to teach for what is universally acknowledged to be peanuts. Part-time salaries are a bone of contention for faculty and public service unions: They are often lower, on a per-course basis, than full-timers make; other, non-union positions pay honorariums or sometimes nothing at all.
There are solid business reasons for professionals to teach.
For starters, teaching a course can be a valuable networking tool. A connection with a college or university extends both community and business contacts; it also can be a résumé-builder ("Oh, I see you teach at Queen's!"), as well as improving a business's community profile, and it even is a chance to spot talent in the classroom before it hits the open market.
But most teachers say the biggest payoff is in their own professional development -- and their explanations can border on the evangelical.
Regardless of the direct benefit to their companies and careers, they agree with the leadership writers: Those who do, and teach, do better.
Teaching helps to establish professional credibility, says Paul Kidston, Atlantic head of sales for Rogers Wireless Communications Inc. and owner of a private sales-training company that works with Saint Mary's.
It also serves as a personal checklist -- such as the time two of his employees signed up for his sales class. As he went through material on management by objectives, quarterly reviews and sales targets, "all the time I was thinking, 'My God, I hope I'm doing all this, all the time!' "
Scratch many a manager or corporate executive and you'll find a teacher underneath.
Twenty years ago, Carl Lovas was in charge of Canadian management courses at Xerox Corp.'s corporate university in Washington. He calls his time there some of the "most rewarding of my business career." Today he's chairman of executive search firm Ray & Berndtson in Toronto. As a high-end headhunter, Mr. Lovas sees clear messages in a résumé that includes teaching.
"If, having performed well in a challenging senior role . . . an individual has also found time to teach a course in finance at a recognized and respected university, it tells you a lot about that person. That person is a pretty high-energy, well-organized, capable individual with a lot of bandwidth. It also tells you they have a real passion for their area of expertise."
Most of the teachers Mr. Lovas knows don't need to beef up their résumés. He says they do it to "give back," and cites Richard Peddie, president and chief executive officer of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Raptors).
Since September, Mr. Peddie has spent two days a week gratis at his alma mater, the University of Windsor's Odette School of Business. He is Odette's executive-in-residence, teaching a first-year business course.
"He certainly doesn't need more exposure," Mr. Lovas says. "He views it as a chance to contribute something to the institution and the community he grew up in."
Ask Kevin Schwenker if teaching is as lucrative as his regular work in management consulting, and his sudden laugh echoes in a nearly empty restaurant. "No," he says, and the laugh booms again.
He is only a couple of minutes late for a lunch interview -- if you consider 3 p.m. lunch. He apologizes for the delay, but he has an urgent logistical problem. He's in the middle of a cross-Canada series of coaching sessions for the certified management consultant exams coming up in November. He scheduled this stop in Halifax partly to let him teach his Thursday night class in the MBA course at Saint Mary's.
Mr. Schwenker says he started teaching and became active in the Canadian Association of Management Consultants, which grants the CMC designation, because he felt too many people were setting themselves up as management consultants without sufficient qualifications.
"They were messing in my back yard," he says.
Mr. Lovas says many professionals enjoy the give and take of a classroom. "If you're an athlete, you like to be in a physically demanding environment. If you're intellectually active . . . in a classroom, there's nowhere to hide. You can't have a bad day, can't be tired, can't be off your game. You've got a roomful of bright, energetic, involved people expecting you to add value to their day."
For teachers who aren't their own bosses, getting time away from the office may take some juggling and persuading.
Mr. Kidston uses holiday time for teaching workshops.
Mr. Verlinden goes to work early and leaves late.
When he took his job with Northwoodcare Inc., Mr. Verlinden thought he might have to give up teaching, but the company is "110 per cent behind me" and considers his teaching a plus: In fact, his boss is now teaching, too.
"I take Northwood into the classroom. I use it in examples. We've had students do projects for us; we've had co-op students working in the office."
And you never know when that next colleague or client will show up. In a Dartmouth industrial park, Mr. Kidston is teaching and networking while his audience nibbles on sandwiches at InNOVAcorp, the Nova Scotia government's business incubator mall. His listeners are mostly InNOVAcorp clients: small-business people who may want one of his sales training courses when their new ventures are up and running.
Mr. Kidston agrees with other part-timers that academics and professionals complement each other, but he's blunt: "I had a lot of professors over the years who had no outside experience, and used to refer to when they were sales reps at IKEA. . . . It's pretty hard to say, 'This is what you can do,' if you've never done it. Especially in something like sales."
When his lunch-time seminar ends, some of the audience come up to ask questions and chat. Two business owners stay longer than the others, and exchange cards with Mr. Kidston. They'll be in touch, they say. Tips to would-be teachers
Network: Tell friends and colleagues who teach that you're interested in trying it. Most deans and directors will ask them for advice on prospects. There's nothing like positive word of mouth.
Research: Check the papers. See which schools are involved in the community, John Verlinden says, then drop them a C.V. and a note saying you're interested in teaching.
Create experience: Volunteer as a guest speaker or for panels. Sign up for a mentorship program. Teach a general interest night course in your area.
Remember: Teaching isn't for everyone. If you don't like and aren't good at explaining things in ways people understand, it may not be for you. Tim O'Neill says if his students don't know more at the end of his class than they did at the beginning, "that's a disaster . . . for me."
Be prepared to put your own time into teaching. Especially when you're starting, expect to spend an hour on prep for every hour in class, and more for marking assignments and giving worthwhile feedback.