Welcome to the May edition of Strategic Innovation newsletter, a free monthly newsletter on leadership, strategy and innovation. Delivered on the first Tuesday of each month.
Back issues are archived for free downloading at www.DanielLockConsulting.com.
You Can’t Legislate Good Judgment
It is sometimes discouraging to hear some people grumble about banning or monitoring internet access or e-mail. When asked why, they would quote a few incidents of abuse as justification for their actions.
Some people complain about internet decreasing productivity in organizations due to its uncontrolled use. Where is the evidence? Why should everyone be punished because of the actions of a few? What are the thought processes of those that legislate in this way?
It has been realised that this kind of attitude permeates all levels of business and society in general. Why can’t passengers be allowed to carry a child in his or her lap in the front seat of a taxi when school buses don’t have seat belts? Why should a business be obliged to submit sets of identical information to different government departments?
Iattended a recent forum meeting comprising people esteemed in the fieldof ethics and business that discussed how social customs and ethicsoften combined and influenced legislation and regulations.
You Can’t Legislate for Judgment
You will not improve organisational efficiency and effectiveness by banning internet use because of inappropriate use by a few people.
We have all had experience of a bad attitude: poor service at a checkout,or abysmal treatment in a restaurant; being put on hold by a call center for 20 minutes or the petty official that delights answering ‘no’. You can legislate for attitude no more than you can for judgment.
When you are hiring people you are looking for qualities that cannot be taught such as passion and enthusiasm for their work. You are also looking for judgment, but that is something that I believe can be taught.
Judgment is a Teachable Skill
Judgment is one of those skills that is useful in any calling – and it can be taught, and developed through proper training. The art of constructive thinking is not taught to most people, and many have poor judgment because of it. They cannot recognize a problem, evaluate it, assess the available information in an objective way and then come to a logical solution.
They can’tsay that more information is needed – that “this is not right” -without being seen as negative and obstructive. People have to be able to say these things if they are to make sound decisions.
It is important the we identify poor judgment, and apply a process of training to rectify that before a lack of judgment affects our freedoms by imposition of unsound legislation and restrictions in our business, political and personal lives (How sad it is when I observe many people that do not achieve and succeed just because they put too many restrictions on themselves).
In today’s financial situation there are groups that seek to pass regulation without trying to seek out the root causes of the problems we are facing. Through poor judgment laws are being introduced that fool the people into believing things to be better than they are,trusting the poorly thought-out laws and not seeking out the root causes.
We must trust our own judgment as to with whom we entrust our futures, our investments and our businesses. Judgment is a skill – a very important and rewarding one, and it can be taught.
Technique of the month: Define the Problem
Goodjudgment, first requires you accurately define the problem. Nexttimeyou have a meaty problem note the following before jumping toconclusions.
- Write out the problem in terms of its deviation from the desired performance.
- Then in one column add what, where, when, and extent (how big).
- In the next two columns write “IS” and “IS NOT".
- In each box write description of what the problem ‘is’ and ‘is not’for each dimension of the problem (i.e the what, where, when, &extent).
Now you will have a fully described problem, and it will surely make it much easier to solve.
‘Helping Leaders build great organisations”
(C) Daniel Lock.
