Thinking about our thinking, known as metacognition, is foundational to our effectiveness in work. In this post, we’ll briefly examine the most baffling, widespread, and intractable of metacognition problems: Dogma.
Formally, dogma is defined as:
“Any belief held unquestioningly and with undefended certainty. A principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true.”
We’ve probably encountered dogma informally when someone says, “We’ve always done it this way.”
Why is dogma so widespread? One reason is that we’re a cognitively lazy species that prefers quick mental shortcuts and heuristics to more time-consuming and taxing analytical thought. It’s much easier to follow a well-worn path than to blaze a new trail through the brush, making us inclined to keep doing things the way we’ve always done them.
A second reason is time pressure. In most environments, we’re under tremendous pressure to get as much done as quickly as possible. Under these circumstances, there simply isn’t time to stop, rethink something, experiment with a different approach, and see if it pays off.
How do we know if something is dogma? One hint is to observe what happens when a given practice is questioned. Do people react with hostility? Do they question our motives? Do they wonder if we’re a “team player” or not? If any of these occur, it’s a strong hint that the practice is no longer a practice but a dogmatic belief.
Reflecting on our daily work will quickly reveal evidence of abundant dogma. Here are some examples:
“We don’t have time to reconsider that practice. We’ve got to finish this, so just hurry up and do it. Later, we’ll consider your idea to improve it, but not now.”
“We can’t do Software Teaming here because we have too much to do. We need each person working on a different thing.”
It’s important to clarify that the problem with dogma isn’t a problem with its underlying beliefs. Instead, the problem lies in our unwillingness to tolerate questioning the beliefs. The beliefs might be highly effective and lead to practices that benefit us. But, we should always be willing—indeed we should welcome—the questioning of our beliefs. This willingness applies especially to our most strongly held beliefs, for those are where our most certain and hidden problems lie.
So, how do we deal with the problem of dogma? Unfortunately, there’s no easy solution. By definition, dogma is impervious to reason and questioning. But we can make some headway against it by carefully breaking down its underlying assumptions and gently bringing them into discussions. It’s also helpful to “leave room for doubt” in our thinking. The more we’re willing to question our thinking, the more opportunity we have to diminish the extent of dogma in our workplaces.