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At a Global Skills Week panel conversation last month in Washington D.C., Provost Dr. Santiago Schnell of Dartmouth College and Provost Dr. Fotis Sotiropoulos of Penn State University held forth on the challenges and opportunities facing institutions of higher education in this tempest-tossed moment (more on their conversation at this link). Speaking to the tension between the push to provide job skills and the traditional emphasis on intellectual growth, the panelists emphasized core competencies such as judgment, critical thinking, and flexibility that play key roles both for immediate workplace effectiveness as well as a lifetime of learning and success. Dr. Schnell noted the commodification of answers by the onslaught of AI tools, and the resulting jump in value of thoughtful deliberation: "In the era of AI, answers have become cheap. It's judgment that's expensive."
Judgment takes care, effort, and time. When people are encouraged to seek speed and ease, judgment may fall to the bottom of the priority list. Quickly and easily performing tasks such as finding a resource, for example, or creating a pivot table may offer benefit without a downside. But when it comes to learning and the brain, aiming for fast, no-friction thinking when judgment is called for may generate errors, miss important elements, and overall enact a heavier cost.
Coaching is a ready-made "garden of judgment." Coaches provide a fertile environment in which thinking can grow — a safe space, attentive listening, protected time, and questions that point out the seeds the student (the "gardener") is already carrying. Given this opportunity to notice the seeds, consider where and how to plant them, and come up with ways to nurture them, coachees can grow their judgment capacity as time goes by. Ultimately, this harvest of judgment can provide a seed crop for a lifetime of effective thinking and fruitful employment, even as the workplace continues to iterate.
Help your students grow their gardens of judgment with a LifeBound training.
Explore which course is right for you at www.lifebound.com.
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