A college dean mentioned to me that he and his colleagues have been frustrated by the increasingly specific demands placed on them by students. It seems that simply providing a one or two page syllabus no longer suffices. Those in their classes ask endless questions about length, format, content, organization and so on.
“We suspect there’s a strategy behind all this,” he said. “The more details are defined up front, the more they can argue that a particular item that was not defined on the syllabus, cannot be required in the paper or project. . .”
“We’re living in a very contractual environment,” he said. “My job is to evaluate their arguments and writing style. But that becomes increasingly difficult to do if they’re argue that I wasn’t specific enough in identifying what I am looking for.” This not the first time I have heard a lament like this. Connect with educators and you’ll hear a host of similar observations.
Here’s the problem. Life is not like the somewhat sterile environment of a college classroom. Life is messy. In a lot of cases, people don’t tell you what they want – you have to guess. If you guess wrong, you make some corrections and try again. If you ask too many questions up front, you run the risk of irritating the customer, colleague, boss, friend or whomever.
In a world where we seem to create a rule, policy or regulation for everything, it’s easy to understand why students – or anyone –would conclude that every action should be specifically defined. Think zero tolerance policies for instance.
Yet judgment plays a critical role in everything we do, especially those things with gravity and real consequences. So how do you wean people from the desire to rely on overly specific regulations and options offered by others and think for themselves instead? Here are three ideas:
First, define and foster reason. When someone comes to you with a “regulation-type” question, ask, “What would a reasonable person do?” Then wait until they provide an answer. Don’t hint. Don’t cajole. Let them think. Let them stew. They, and maybe you, will be surprised that they can answer the question independently.
Second, explain upfront that your reasoning for not providing more detail is to get them to think for themselves. Some will probably protest and tell you that it’s not fair. Don’t yield. They should get over themselves.
Third, complement those who take the risk and reason for themselves. For some, this will be quite the growth experience. Why not encourage their actions, even if it didn’t go as planned?
In a world increasingly filled with cowardly rules and policies, fostering reason within your workplace is the only way to ensure healthy and productive thinking.