Embracing you inner confusion

A teacher commented on my e-mail signature quote last week:

The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings. Wendell Berry

The mention brought to mind an excellent article that appeared in the January 2005 Kappan magazine that I reread on the flight to Denver this weekend. "Embracing Confusion: What Leaders Do When They Don't Know What to Do" by Barry C. Jentz and Jerome T. Murphy.

 The article recommends strategies for leaders who encounter situations which simply catch them off guard, had the "rug pulled out" from under their feet. The authors write that we do NOT want a leader in such situations who:

• instinctively blames circumstances or other people when things go wrong;
• says he is open to input but regards any feedback as criticism and doesn't listen to others;
• hates uncertainty and opts for action even when totally confused; or
• takes a polarized view of leadership in which anything less than take-charge decision making shows abject weakness.

Jentz and Murphy go on to suggest using the 5 step RIA model in "confusing" situations:

1. Embrace your confusion.
2. Assert your need to make sense.
3. Structure the interaction.
4. Listen reflectively and learn.
5. Openly process your effort to make sense.

Most of us who work in technology and education experience confusion on nearly a daily basis. Well, at least I do. In fact I seemed to grow more confused about life in general as years go by.

Yet new challenges, problems, and even confusion certainly keep one's life and job from getting boring.  Thinking about some positive reactions to puzzling situations is healthy for both ourselves and for those with whom we work.

What do you do when you just don't know what to do? 

Comments

[Susan Sedro]

Doug, Talk about blog roulette...I only had time to read a few tonight and I choose yours, never guessing you had just the info I needed to read. I've not been liking how I'm handling the stress in my new job, not liking how I've handled being less that sure of what to do as a coordinator. I can see far too much of myself in that first list. Glad to read the second list and see a better way to respond. Thanks.