“Reasoning in public forces discipline of thought.
It’s like doing math on the chalkboard in front of the class. Every step must be clear and correct, or someone will point out the mistake. There’s no room for fuzzy thinking or skipped steps.
If your reasoning is correct, you have nothing to fear. If it’s wrong, you have everything to learn.”
Farnam Street Brain Food Newsletter
As a trainer it is not enough to simply give information and expect people to take it at face value. You need to be willing and able to “reason in public” and provide explanations, context, history, and relevance for the information you are presenting. Doing so will help you develop a deeper level of thinking and provide the opportunity for those in the class to ask questions and explore your thought process. This requires both a level of confidence in what you are teaching and a level of humility to be willing to allow others to question you and to admit when you are wrong. Both provide learning opportunities if you are open to them.
“Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.”
Bertrand Russell
As trainers, if we truly value curiosity, which we should, then training needs to be safe place for the participants to ask questions. Questions to clarify meaning, seek deeper understanding, seek sources of information or to open a conversation based on intelligent dissent. If people do not understand, or agree with what you are teaching, then it is better to get it out in the open and allow for a healthy dialogue or debate.
At times the dissent is caused by a lack of clear communication by me as the trainer. If that is the case, it allows the opportunity for me to clarify. Sometimes the dissent is a result of the fact that the other party’s experiences are different from mine. Other times the dissent is a result of the dissenter having different and perhaps more accurate, or more recent data or research. At times the dissent is caused by differing beliefs and the discussion ends with both parties acknowledging the position of the other and agreeing to disagree. All of these provide opportunities for everyone in the room to learn.
Regardless of the reason for the dissent it is better for everyone if we get it out in the open, rather than let the dissent simmer and give the appearance of passive agreement. The discussion following the dissent also allows the other party to explore and clarify his or her thinking and reasoning.
If you are the “dissenter” in someone else’s training, please be professional in the way you ask questions or express your dissent. If you are the presenter and someone in the room is aggressive or unprofessional in the way they ask questions or express their dissent, then take a deep breath in through the nose and let it out slowly through the lips and maintain your professionalism. As difficult as this can be, it is critical.
Reasoning in public and intelligent dissent require courage and humility on your part as a trainer and are an important part of creating a positive learning environment.
Take care.
Brian Willis
Winning Mind Training – Providing practical training to law enforcement professionals in the areas of instructor development, Performance Enhancement Imagery, leadership and mindset.
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