AtQ - What does correction look like for you?

Exploring Powerful Questions

In this week’s Talking Note I explored the idea of correction and protection. The inspiration came from a particular teaching of Psalm 23, and in particular the line that references a shepherds rod and staff. These were two tools that shepherds used for protecting and guiding their sheep. Underneath the exploration was the idea of having been taught wrong.

Being taught wrongly is almost an unavoidable reality. I stress almost because I believe it possible to not be taught wrongly. I just have not experienced it. There are many things that I have been taught rightly in, and some things wrong got in the mix. Once we open our eyes to the things that have found their way into our lives that we’d rather not have we will encounter the process of correction.

At that moment, this week’s question may be useful.

What does correction look like for you?

There are at least two angles to approach this question – from the position of someone being corrected, and from the position of the someone doing the correcting. I’ll address each below.

From the position of someone being corrected we might describe the feelings associated with being corrected. We might describe things that worked and didn’t work in particular instances. We might prefer an experience where the correction was short, direct, and easily applied. We might prefer a correction that was more of a journey, leading, and something that we had to eventually find the answer to. Corrections come in many forms, and some ways sit better with some personalities than others.

In the mix are assumptions we hold from having been corrected over time. Exploring these assumptions are key to understand how we anticipate what will happen if we are wrong about something. What might the correction look like?

From the position of someone doing the correcting we might describe the tools we use to try to impart a correction. We might explain how we use leading questions, punitive methods, or some other tool. We might explore the reactions we are hoping to get, or have gotten, when using our tools. We might even explore the ways we’ve been corrected and how that has shaped the way we impart correction. Corrections come in may forms, and some may sit better with some personalities than others.

Here, one key is the interplay between our own experience with correction and what we would then do when in the position of being the corrector. While we may be responding to our own personal preferences in the way we impart correction, that way may or may not be the best method for the person we are correcting. What might correction look like then?

On either side of the interaction of correction, we find ourselves with opportunities for discovery, evaluation, and change. None of that would be possible unless we keep asking the questions.