<p>Do you think you can teach common sense? Or basic problem solving skills?</p>
<p>An employee came to me and she was completely frustrated that several of her coworkers seem to lack the ability to figure out the simplest things. And they seem to want procedure manuals for things I’d never believe you’d need something in writing. Like if the fax machine is out of paper, open up a pack of paper and put it in the machine. If your mouse stops working, check the batteries before getting a new one. They are good workers, but there are people out there who want to be told exactly what to do in every circumstance. If someone gives you something everyday at 11, and you don’t get it one day, don’t email me in a panic, walk over to their desk and ask them. </p>
<p>I have a policy, don’t go to a manager with a problem if you don’t also have a solution. And when people ask me checking questions or things they absolutely know, I will just reply, what do you think you should do or tell me how you think it can be resolved?</p>
<p>We’re not talking solving the world hunger problem. </p>
<p>Is there a way to teach common sense? By the way, when I let the manager know I just printed off hundreds of pages of faxes for her department, she said, yeah, so and so told me it was out of paper a few weeks ago.</p>
<p>It’s called laziness. People are just to lazy to think.</p>
<p>But you did hit on something. We have a guy who is in a parallel position to my colleagues and me. He has been doing the job longer than all of us, but we always have to hold his hand using the tools of our trade. And generally, it is because he is too lazy to think about what he needs to do. And then to top it off, he pulls passive aggressive nonsense when we have a meeting with our director saying he didn’t have something to do his job.</p>
<p>One of my children, who is definitely not lazy, has no common sense. I first noticed it when she was a toddler. If she has to break down a process she often over thinks the steps or has no idea how to begin. I think the hesitation to do new things also stems from a fear of making a mistake.</p>
<p>She has a high IQ and is intuitively brilliant about some things. If she has to think through something before she begins she often falters. This is a child who taught herself to read at age three but couldn’t do phonics in second grade.</p>
<p>We have had her tested and she does not have a processing disorder but does have ADHD. She will get things done but often does them in a Rube Goldberg way. I have often agonized about her lack of common sense but I haven’t found an effective way to teach it. We never know what’s going to throw her off course so it’s all trial and error.</p>
<p>I think your problem may not be a lack of common sense, but a lack of empowerment. Do you think they need a manual at home to replace the toilet paper roll when they’ve used the last square? In the workplace, they may be afraid of sticking their necks out and making a mistake or stepping on toes. Leadership needs to reward taking chances and problem solving and mistakes need to be seen as learning opportunities. What gets rewarded, gets repeated.</p>
<p>The company’s attitude toward acting independently is a big issue.</p>
<p>At a company I worked for a few years ago, we were not allowed to do anything to our computers (not even replace a battery in a wireless mouse) and we were strongly discouraged from bringing questions to colleagues rather than to our supervisors. (We were also discouraged from eating lunch with colleagues; our supervisors didn’t want us talking to each other without a supervisor present.) I waited a YEAR to be trained on how to use the office telephone system, even though one of my immediate colleagues could easily have shown me what all the buttons do. But I couldn’t ask the colleague without fear of getting him/her in trouble. And I was in a constant battle with management because I wanted to close the window blinds in my office (my eyesight is not the best, and the glare on my computer screen bothered me), and that was contrary to policy (because it looked funny from the outside of the building). Every time a manager would see those blinds closed, I would be told to open them, and no one would listen to my “excuses.”</p>
<p>I now work for a company where nobody gives me any grief about my window blinds, and we are actually encouraged to talk to colleagues on our own level (though not to managers other than our own). But sadly, I still don’t get to eat with my colleagues because we only get a half-hour for lunch in this company, and everyone eats at their desks because there isn’t enough time for anything else. :(</p>
<p>It was a small government contractor, like many others.</p>
<p>They tried to run a tight ship. Also, they had some supervisors who had far less education than the people they supervised (who were professionals of various sorts), which contributed to some weird feelings. There were also good business reasons for some of their policies that disempowered employees. Everything needed to be charged to the appropriate project for the appropriate client. So if I went to the supply closet and got batteries for a wireless mouse, those batteries might not be charged to the appropriate project. I understand that.</p>
<p>I will never understand why they were so unsympathetic about the window blinds. I agonized for months about whether or not to ask for an interior office with no windows to solve the problem, even though my job category entitled me to a more prestigious exterior office. But the issue resolved itself when I left the company.</p>
<p>Perhaps I should also mention that you needed to go through two levels of written approval (with the second level being a vice president!) to get time off for something like a dental appointment. I would feel bad if the dentist’s office called on the day of the appointment and asked me to switch to a different time. I always had to say no because it wasn’t possible to go through the approval process that quickly.</p>
<p>Things don’t occur to me that occur to other people.( but then also the reverse is true . )
For instance, H & I were waiting for the bus.
It was late, and I had to sit down ( just had knee replaced), so I sat on the curb.
When H told me the bus was coming, it took me a while to get up & both the bus driver & H were mad.( because I wasn’t fast enough getting back on the sidewalk)
I didn’t see what the trouble was because I see buses stop without pulling over to the curb all the time.
Common sense just seems to be exposure to that type of a problem & a solution.
Loading the dishwasher would seem to be within the capabilities for someone who works with blueprints but I often have to rearrange it a bit after H loads it.
( but since he also puts away- I’m not really complaining)
;)</p>
<p>Marian, it’s not nearly as bad why H works (also government related), but it once took him weeks to get a simple floor lamp. He went out and bought a cheap one from Ikea and you’d have thought he shot someone-the supply person raised holy hell. He can’t adjust the heat/AC, hang anything on his walls, or do a thing to his computer/mouse. But THEY will randomly change programs and his passwords without consulting with him-he;s lost important documents in the past as a result. </p>
<p>It wouldn’t surprise me if some of these “lazy” or “lacking common sense” employees in the OP have been in jobs like yours and H’s. </p>
<p>But it’s also true that some people DO lack common sense. My D is one of them. She’s bright, adventurous, a great employee, if her managers are right. But in the real world she’s gotten into trouble making decisions that just seem obviously wrong to most people.</p>
<p>I own the company so I know I’m praising and rewarding good thinking, problem solving skills and independence. It’s not everyone there, it’s just a couple of people that can figure out how to do some complex things, but then something right in front of their face stymies them. </p>
<p>Good thing I have a sense of humor. Some of it is funny to me, I know some of the more straight as arrow accounting type employees get aggravated by it. One woman came to me wanting to pull her hair out - which I’m glad she’ll come see me instead of going nuts to them, but I really can’t impart what to do for every scenario beyond, you are given the power to make sure you have what you need to do your job, be comfortable in your surroundings and be fully trained. I even specifically tell them who to go to with questions, etc. But sometimes man…I just shake my head and wonder sometimes. I’m just hoping eventually they’ll come across most scenarios or similar enough scenarios and will start connecting the dots.</p>
<p>My experience working at the state is very similar to Marian’s. It used to be better, but then our governor put in another middle manager who wants every single thing approved by him. It’s at the point where we didn’t know what we could do and couldn’t do- down to changing the paper in the printer. (I’m so glad I left)</p>
<p>I do think you can teach it- I’m just not sure how.</p>
<p>I saw a discovery channel program on how common sense is usually connected to universal truths.
When we don’t have loads of social interaction, we do not always learn what constitutes common sense and how to use what we do know. The more knowledge we have about things, the more our decisions are judged to be common sense.</p>
<p>I think common sense has to do with reasoning abilities and creativity. I think that problem solving is becoming a lost art due to the lack of autonomy that children experience nowadays. Kids don’t play anymore. Their lives are orchestrated for them. Schools are becoming more and more data driven and teach to the standardized tests. We care more whether the child gets the answer right than we care how they arrived at that answer.</p>
<p>This has been going on for a while now and the new generation of workers are showing the results.</p>
We see a lot of this in our college students. But I teach physics and “exactly what to do in every circumstance” isn’t really the way it works. Students who expect to get that will rip up the professors in their reviews.</p>
<p>We learn a lot from observing. As we become busier & less likely to cook our own meals, mend our own clothes or even change our own tire we lose opportunities to teach others from our experience.
To someone that is familiar with the act or behavior - its " common sense", but how many behaviors have we dropped that were common sense to our grandparents?</p>
<p>But I don’t think it’s about particular tasks or behaviors. I think it’s about the ability to evaluate a situation and generalize information to a new set of circumstances. That’s where I think we are failing at parenting and education. That isn’t happening anymore. Kids are not left to their own devices or allowed to fail at anything.</p>
<p>This is the generation that got the trophy for participating and now want accolades for showing up and doing their jobs. I once commented at some point you have to stop clapping for pooping on the potty.</p>
<p>Eptr, i think you are seeing a small segment of young adults that " haven’t been allowed to fail.
Perhaps the same segment that on another thread were heralded as kids with " so much common sense" that they moved back in with their parents after college,so they could save money & time, instead of having to scratch out an adult life with everyone else.</p>