A Delicate Balance

Control is like a delicate flower, a rose. On the one hand, it can survive because it has the thorns to dig in and enforce its standing. On the other hand, its beauty attracts and deludes the perceiver into believing that it is so delicate that it can be easily destroyed.

While it is important to have a milieu where people are encouraged to speak and be active participants, it is equally important to make them realize that there are limits to what can and should be said. While objective (and even subjective) statements contribute to the overall health and direction, saying too much or allowing it to be said in the wrong way (or even at the wrong time -- before the proper ground is laid for all to gain an appreciation of the fundamentals of the discussion) can be detrimental to overall participation and enrollment.

If you want to cut off learning or diminish your class size, allow one or two people to take over all of the class discussions. Likewise, allow that small pocket to run roughshod over everyone else or bark orders to you in your capacity as instructor or leader. It doesn't work.

However, there are techniques to take back control of your class when the various usurpers emerge so that everyone in the class continues to learn. Likewise, similar principles can be used when you have workers who try to take over and run things their way.

Having an Ear, Speaking with Conviction

Communication is also a dual proposition. It's all about listening. It's all about speaking in order to be heard.

Teaching is all about hearing what a student is saying and then guiding the student to making the logical conclusions so that they develop their problem-solving skills. It's important to hear and understand what they're saying. If a statement is ambiguous, there needs to be dialogue so that the ambiguities can be resolved. Then there needs to be a progression toward the goal.

Likewise, the leader in an organization needs to listen to the concerns and interpretations of the group members. If the members don't have the right interpretation of what's happening, they will move in the wrong direction and take the entire group with them to disaster. So an effective leader needs to be one who communicates what the goals, rules, and limits of the organization are. This will enable the members to operate within a particular context while striving for overall success -- and survival.

As to Leadership

And what do people do in regard to leaders? They follow their directions. More importantly, they follow the examples set by the leaders. If leaders are unruly or allow unruliness, there is an underlying statement to not only the group but all bystanders that chaos, brashness, disrespect for self and others is the norm. When a leader makes excuses for unruliness and refuses to diffuse or quash it, they are essentially saying they do not know how to lead or they refuse to lead or they are afraid to lead.

Leaders are not always such. They can also be members of a greater body or another group. To the extent they allow chaos in their own organization, they will take that chaos to other venues and infect them with the same disorganization and strife. The best thing to do, then, is either not allow the known problem to be admitted or else eject the problem at the first inkling of potential harm. How can this be justified with so much equal this and fair that romping about our landscape?

We'll talk about leadership qualities on another day.