Wow! Thank you for your great critique of my post. You asked: “… what mechanism [would the] employer use to teach and mentor employees to think for themselves while also upholding business standards?” For instance, my business is in manufacturing so we are always developing new products and modifying our machinery. On a regular basis, I task a large group of employees, from leadership to machine operators to figure out a way to improve a process, while maintaining our high standard of quality and service. I have learned to point out to new additions to the “thinking team” that each person should identify past attempts, failures, order of operations, etc. Then, we all meet and evaluate and rank the ideas based on cost, projected improvement, etc. We try several ideas, and often the best ideas are not from management!
You mentioned that in your education environment, it takes some time for some (or all?) or them to work out and fully understand their goal and settle on a process for completion. I think many people require structure and direction. Others, however, thrive on contributing their critical thinking in their workplace. You’ve given me something to think about it terms of whether it is desirable, possible or even feasible to shift the process of critical thinking to every employee. It might result in lower productivity for some and even prevent them from being their true selves. Thank you for giving me something to think about!
Norm, thanks for your response and description of what you do in your context. That is great you already have a system to support this and are finding is successful! I appreciate hearing your response and perspective from a different leadership environment.
In terms of my context, I have found that yes, some people/teams require more direction than others. It is a matter of determining which people are capable of working successfully independently, and others who need more support. Sometimes, I have to go in, take their ideas, compile them, and present back to them a process that will work for all. It can be a tedious process that can take quite some time. So, when deciding what to hand over to the employees, I have to weigh if it is a process that I deem valuable to their growth as employees, or if it is best for me to do the hard thinking up front and coach them through implementing my process.