How to Help Someone

How to Help Someone:
A lot of people try to help whenever they can. That is good, but there is definitely a good and a bad way of helping. You should be trying to assist, not impress or overwhelm. A lot of teachers aren’t good at helping well with problems either so even professionals might get something out of the tips below.

There is Helping and helping

one is where you try guiding to a solution, the other is where you go overboard with your explanation or just give the answer. There is a fine line between the two so be careful and observant of the other when you are talking. Don’t talk about something that isn’t really part of the solution. Often people say “Ohh, there is this other way that is much faster …” and then go off on a tangent wasting a lot of time.
The other common technique is to give a step by step recipe to the solution. This usually involves particulars and helps with an individual problem, but when a similar question arises the answer you give won’t help and you get asked again.

Instead, Find Out where the Problem lies

and where something isn’t understood. If it is really basic, go back to definitions. Often questions relate to misunderstood information at the core of the question. Then guide through the procedure and speak only when you notice an error. If you get asked how to get around it talk about what the step is trying to do and why it needs to be done. Often the how is embedded in that explanation. At the end make sure that the answer isn’t just some numbers or symbols but rather that it carries a meaning and that the meaning is clear.
You should not be the primary speaker whilst helping. You aren’t teaching, that task is already done. Whenever I found an demonstration good it was usually after I came to the solution myself, not after someone talked to me and I was nodding and assuring that I kept up with what I was told. Questions like “does that make sense?” are usually answered with yes or not at all regardless of whether it did or not. Glassy eyes and an open mouth and a lot of nodding is usually accompanied with your speech failing to connect.
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