There’s a show on TV called
“Educating Essex”. Through 65 rigged
cameras placed around a secondary school we follow the daily trials &
tribulations of both children and staff.
Sounds like another trashy reality show but in fact it shows brilliantly
the dynamics present in school. As TV
always does, it probably focuses on the extremes but even 20 years after
leaving school I can recognise it’s familiarity instantly.
This post isn’t about the TV show
but about a fundamental belief expressed by the schools Deputy Head. It was in the context of poor behaviour and
how we view punishment of children. My
interpretation of his comments are :
Children are meant to make mistakes and it should be
expected. However, we must never punish
them as though they were adults otherwise we may as well make them adults at
the age of 11.
Most of us can look at children
or young teenagers and see their immaturities and lack of experience. It’s not a deficiency, it’s to be
expected. Many adults & elders see
it as their responsibility to help guide and support the development of
children and young people.
So what happens in the workplace?
Employment contracts &
company policy don’t generally accommodate any lack of maturity or
experience. The focus is often on competency
or consequence, not the learning journey there or even beyond. Any failure has a tendency to be viewed as a
deficiency.
Can you imagine your children
attending a school that operated in this vein?
For new managers or supervisors there
is possibly a first line management course on offer. It’s a start but we all know the figures on
traditional classroom training... Even
then the focus can be on “tick-box” competency.
Where I see development really
take off is where a more experienced manager provides the support and guiding
hand akin to a great teacher.
They guide the “student” on their
journey. They even see it as their
responsibility to help support their development. Where mistakes are made, it’s recognised in
the context of their maturity and experience.
Learning from the experience is the focus rather than punishment for
failure.
Call it a mentor, a teacher, a
guide or even a critical friend. The
name doesn’t matter. What matters is
that we create awareness in a way that supports development and encourages
change.
Perhaps this requires a rethink
of both the employment contract and the psychological contracts in place at
work...
What do you think? Would love to hear your views &
experiences.
Related Posts
I can highly recommend reading
these related posts from @DougShaw1 on success, failure and the environment we
can create:
