How confident are your people at making very bad decisions?

These are not my words (shame, they're good ones). They are the words of a client of ours who was reflecting on the discussion we'd just been having about the "unconscious incompetent" quotient of her organisation.

She went on..."Hmm. I've never considered that before and now that I do it makes so much sense. We keep seeing the same issues, same errors regardless of how much we invest in learning and development. I guess we're asking the wrong questions!".

"We need to know that our people are asking the right questions of themselves and their colleagues before making a decision, not just making sure they get a good-looking pass mark at the end of a test!".

"Of course, people being really confident in their work is great, but only if they're right and are making appropriate decisions".

I agreed.

"...And if they're leading others!? - Crickey. Show me that I again, I need to re-think my whole approach to this programme and probably the whole way we approach L&D".

One small epiphany. The confident application of best judgement is a good deal more important than the ability to recall the content of the course. And, it's inordinately more important to identify the likely confident application of poor judgement.

The challenge is, unless you're checking that, you won't see it...until it's too late.

Happy to explain more.

Owen Ashby - Director Strategy, Marketing and Alliances.

[email protected] 07944 604353