The Benefits of Risks

I saw a webinar link on Dyslexia and forwarded same to some teachers, who also shared with colleagues.

I then received this feedback from one of the teachers, sharing a colleagues reservation, which was, “if they are truly experts, why would they want us to send our questions ahead, they want to read up to answer our questions”.

For want of space and time, I will address just one aspect of the so many GREAT reasons the organisers could have asked for pre questions, all of which are in the best interest of the participants.

That one aspect, would be the one that unsettled her so badly.

Among lawyers, there is a common saying that: God forbid that a lawyer should know all the law – this saying is an adjunct of a similar saying that: a good lawyer knows some of the law but a great lawyer knows where to find the law.

Nowadays, everyone wants more for less – this has been the case since the Global Recession of 2007-2008, it will get worse with this pandemic.

When presentations are prepared, it is expected that aside the specific advertised topics, participants may require a more rounded presentation covering other points that are incidental to the specific topics under consideration. It could be to cater for this growing need to provide more content for less and affords the speaker opportunity to research these needs and provide solutions.

I remember many years ago, I was in a discussion with someone who said she will never sit in a consulting room with a medical doctor who tries to consult reading materials during consultation. My response:

“I would rather sit in a room with a doctor who knows the extent of his knowledge and is humble enough to consult his books for more knowledge. This way, he is more likely to give the best prescription”.

In a 2014 Forbes article titled: You can’t know everything, leading management consultant, Michael Theriault observed that:

“Regardless of your background or experience, it’s simply not possible to know everything there is about your business, or even your specialty.”

And two thousand years ago, Paul penned the words:

“we know in part”

In my experience, research fills the gap in our knowledge and this gap filling exercise improves service delivery all the time.

As an education management consultant, I’m very happy to say I do not know when indeed I do not. If you are happy to give me more time, I will research the problem and give you the solutions you need.