Developing judgement – making more mistakes
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One of the best ways in which we can impress others with our potential for larger responsibilities is by showing good judgement. This article focuses on one important way in which you can develop your judgement far faster than the average employee.
At the outset, the most important thing to realise when trying to develop your judgment skills is that you will learn the most by making mistakes. For example, think of how a senior medical consultant differs from a medical student. The consultant’s judgement has been developed by having made many, many decisions, and having seen the consequences. There’s nothing like the pain of making a mistake for changing your thinking. It allows you to gain a far more detailed and richer understanding of what’s going on and all the factors that go into selecting the right decision for the situation.
Taking the medical analogy a little further, while one of the most important things you can do is to make a lot of mistakes, you need to make them in a way that isn’t problematic for your career! How do you do this? The best profession for showing a low-risk strategy for developing judgement is medicine – for obvious reasons! If you consider any TV programme which features emergency medicine you’ll see that the consultants are constantly asking the junior doctors to make treatment decisions – what instant action they’d take, which tests they would carry out, which drugs could be prescribed. And if the decision is wrong the consultant is quick to snap back with “you prescribe xyz – and if she’s pregnant, she’s just lost the baby”.
In this environment the learner has to make a judgment and the skilled expert gives immediate feedback on the consequences – without an unfortunate outcome for the patient. And it’s this “safety net” approach that’s key to developing good judgement.
So how can you do that at work?
The key is how to use mentors and advisors to make mistakes safely. Take someone who wants to learn how to manage politics.
Typical approach
Mentee approaches mentor. “I’m having a problem with Department B – they aren’t delivering the information we need in a reliable and timely way. How could I manage this better?”
Notice that the mentee has not tried to use their judgement, and therefore has not made mistakes that they could learn from. They will only get a recommendation, without exploring why that action is better than others in this case.
Developing judgement approach
“I’ve come up with two strategies for getting them to deliver on time. Can I run both approaches past you, and get your feedback on the likely result?”
Here the mentee has thought through 2 different approaches, and received very rapid feedback from someone skilled on the likely result. Thinking about the mistakes they’ve avoided will develop their own judgment, and they can then benefit from hearing the expert’s view on how to handle it – which is likely to give an Aha! moment which will stick.
Test yourself…
How could you use this approach to develop your judgement in:
Ask yourself where you want to develop your judgement, and who you want to be your expert adviser. Make decisions, put your judgement to the test, and learn from your mistakes. Next week: Developing Your Judgement Via Creating A Questions Bank
At the outset, the most important thing to realise when trying to develop your judgment skills is that you will learn the most by making mistakes. For example, think of how a senior medical consultant differs from a medical student. The consultant’s judgement has been developed by having made many, many decisions, and having seen the consequences. There’s nothing like the pain of making a mistake for changing your thinking. It allows you to gain a far more detailed and richer understanding of what’s going on and all the factors that go into selecting the right decision for the situation.
Taking the medical analogy a little further, while one of the most important things you can do is to make a lot of mistakes, you need to make them in a way that isn’t problematic for your career! How do you do this? The best profession for showing a low-risk strategy for developing judgement is medicine – for obvious reasons! If you consider any TV programme which features emergency medicine you’ll see that the consultants are constantly asking the junior doctors to make treatment decisions – what instant action they’d take, which tests they would carry out, which drugs could be prescribed. And if the decision is wrong the consultant is quick to snap back with “you prescribe xyz – and if she’s pregnant, she’s just lost the baby”.
In this environment the learner has to make a judgment and the skilled expert gives immediate feedback on the consequences – without an unfortunate outcome for the patient. And it’s this “safety net” approach that’s key to developing good judgement.
So how can you do that at work?
The key is how to use mentors and advisors to make mistakes safely. Take someone who wants to learn how to manage politics.
Typical approach
Mentee approaches mentor. “I’m having a problem with Department B – they aren’t delivering the information we need in a reliable and timely way. How could I manage this better?”
Notice that the mentee has not tried to use their judgement, and therefore has not made mistakes that they could learn from. They will only get a recommendation, without exploring why that action is better than others in this case.
Developing judgement approach
“I’ve come up with two strategies for getting them to deliver on time. Can I run both approaches past you, and get your feedback on the likely result?”
Here the mentee has thought through 2 different approaches, and received very rapid feedback from someone skilled on the likely result. Thinking about the mistakes they’ve avoided will develop their own judgment, and they can then benefit from hearing the expert’s view on how to handle it – which is likely to give an Aha! moment which will stick.
Test yourself…
How could you use this approach to develop your judgement in:
- How to tackle poor timekeeping in someone who reports to you
- How to present business information graphically in a presentation
- How to challenge a course of action that you think is unwise?
Ask yourself where you want to develop your judgement, and who you want to be your expert adviser. Make decisions, put your judgement to the test, and learn from your mistakes. Next week: Developing Your Judgement Via Creating A Questions Bank