“He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.”–Chinese Proverb
Something that bothers me, in our highly polarized society, is that ideas are no longer evaluated on merit. If the person pitching something has the same letter in parentheses behind their name as we do, it is automatically accepted as a good idea; if the person has a different letter, it is immediately dismissed as a bad idea. We don’t ask questions. We don’t fact check the things that we hear, or confirm the sources. This applies not only to people of other political beliefs, but anyone who is different from us. We become so assured of our own superiority, get so wrapped up in our own prejudices, that we can no longer see the forest for the trees. Question everything.
Reading that proverb, I’m reminded of trainers or more experienced people at work who look on all questions as annoyances, or treat the questioner as if they should know the answer already. It results in people not asking questions, because if they guess the answer, there’s a chance they’ll get it right and won’t be treated like a moron. The other possibility is that they’ll discretely ask some other co-worker a question, and it might be someone who’s doesn’t know the answer, but is willing to guess. When I’m in the situation of imparting my limited wisdom to others, I try to keep an atmosphere where people feel comfortable asking questions. There’s no shame in it (not even five minutes of feeling like a fool), especially considering the bigger problems it can cause and rework that sometimes needs to be done if a person guesses wrong because they were afraid to ask.
I’ve been there, Rob, as both a corporate trainer and a corporate manager. The trainees don’t ask questions, so they guess; when handling clients and customers, they continue to guess. When clients and customers ask questions, they don’t know the answers and either continue to guess or act annoyed at the clients and customers. They do such a good job of guessing, and of projecting such confidence that they know what they’re talking about, that they get promoted and end up as the new trainers and managers. It’s how to circumvent the Peter Principle and move ahead of your level of incompetence. The problem is, at some point someone, usually clients, realizes that the emperor has no clothes and it all comes crashing down.
Pingback: How to Cultivate Tolerance | Berin Kinsman