The benefits of learning to disobey

 




In researching intelligent disobedience, the greatest parallels are drawn to guide dogs. Chaleff, in readings and lectures, discusses how a guide dog must not only refuse to act unsafely on behalf of their owner, but go as far as counterpull them in a better direction. While obedience is a very important piece for working dogs, their utilization of intelligent disobedience can save lives. In recent years, specifically pertaining to culture in America, it is my opinion that people are becoming more and more active in their followership roles. Individuals are questioning leaders at work, society and politics more and more. This can be beneficial as a catalyst for change. For instance, there has been a shift in expectations for work-life balance and holding institutions accountable against their mission statements and improvements to the environment in the workplace. Questioning traditional methods and mitigating expectations, when done through intelligent disobedience, can create a better space for growth in both leadership and followership. 

According to an article by Intelligent, 32% of experienced educators say that generation Z is a more difficult generation to work with than generations before, though 45% felt that they were the same as generations prior. It could be speculated that this could be based on how some professionals put an increased importance on obedience over fostering an environment for independent thinking. This is not to say that only one side lives in the right and the other is the only one that needs to make change. That is the key point of intelligent disobedience versus being disobedient without cause: to understand why and be able to provide reasoning as to why you are or should disobey what is being expected of you. This type of transparency and open communication can allow those in leadership to grow and encourage change in trainings, expectations, etc. On the opposite side, being challenged in this way can offer leadership an opportunity to explain the reasoning behind decisions. This, again, can allow for conversations towards change, bettering both followers and leaders within a system. Like with the guide dogs, intelligent disobedience is a beneficial skill to learn and understand, both from a leader and follower perspective.

The benefit of learning intelligent disobedience, even if it is to understand its value rather than utilizing it yourself, can be astronomical for an organization. It is also can benefit people as individuals, and therefore, should be a skill taught at earlier stages of development than when someone joins the workforce. There has been increased literature on the importance of followers, not just leaders, in the world and also how individuals do not have to be sorted into one or the other. In fact, different facets of our life involves us changing roles from leader to follower depending on the audience. That being said, the “now what” piece is to consider teaching disobedience like you do with guide dogs. Rather than coining disobeying as a negative, show how it can be used appropriately and encourage questioning expectations, even if expectations will not falter when questioned.

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