By Ron Hiraki
Named after the classical Greek philosopher Socrates, the Socratic Method can play an important role in developing the analytical skills of firefighters and fire officers. The Socratic Method uses inquiry and debate to develop higher-order thinking skills known as critical-thinking skills. You can informally learn more about the Socratic Method from a number of Web sites. Here, we will simply discuss the value and considerations of
1. Inquiry: Responding to a question with a question.2. Debate: Presenting an opposite viewpoint, allowing the other person to respond, and modifying and/or defending the original viewpoint.
The goal is to allow and capture additional thoughts, analyze, strengthen the original thought, and create buy-in.
Value
1. Used properly, the Socratic Method develops critical-thinking skills.
2. In addition, many times people end up answering their own original questions. This creates a sense of confidence, buy-in, and pride.
3. When a group of members in a fire department use the Socratic Method, in time the members develop critical-thinking skills. The culture of thinking, brainstorming, debating, thinking through issues, and solving problems grows. This is valuable at all levels in a fire department. Firefighters, fire officers, and even fire chiefs who previously relied on the captain, battalion chief, human resources manager, or attorney to tell them “the answer” grow in their respective positions.
Uses or Attempted Uses
- I would use the Socratic Method to train probationary firefighters in some areas. I know this technique was not popular with some probationary firefighters because I would not give them the answer directly or hand it to them on a silver platter. Years later, one of those firefighters, who was promoted to lieutenant, stated that he was better equipped to think through issues and make decisions because of being trained using the Socratic method.
- One officer worked in an administrative division with a colleague who was of equal rank but had much less experience. The colleague would frequently present situations and ask the officer, “What do you think I should do?” Wanting to be collaborative and provide training, the officer used the Socratic Method to answer the colleague’s questions. The officer encouraged the colleague to think through and find his own solutions. After a couple of years, the officer realized that the colleague was not trying to learn from these interactions and continued to avoid independent decision making. Therefore, the officer curtailed his use of the Socratic Method.
- In a fire department that did not have a culture of a “learning organization” in which people are continually increasing their knowledge, things rolled along until they encountered a really big problem. Then people asked questions, not to learn, but just to get past the problem. One deputy chief used the Socratic Method to answer actual and “what-if” questions from a new battalion chief. The battalion chief asked the deputy chief, “Why can’t you give me a straight answer? Why do you make me play 20 questions with you?”
- I was helping a new battalion chief practice incident command system (ICS) procedures for a multiple-casualty incident (MCI) using a “tabletop” scene involving numerous automobiles. The battalion chief drew his ICS organization chart on a dry erase board. He reached a point where he had deployed all of his advanced life support (ALS) resources and wanted to call for more. I asked the battalion chief a series of questions to cause him to think:
· Do you really need them?· Why?· Now that triage has been completed, what are your ALS members doing?· Look at the dry erase board. Is anyone available?
The battalion chief realized that the ALS members assigned to triage could be redeployed to treatment. By waiting and helping the battalion chief to think about the situation, he had his own epiphany. It was quite rewarding to see the battalion chief make this discovery on his own.
Implementation
The user of the Socratic Method should not do so in an aggressive or threatening manner. The Socratic Method is meant to challenge the recipient. For this reason, recipients who are not accustomed to this method may misinterpret it as threatening. A few years ago, I met and spoke with a battalion chief who had more than 15 years in the fire service. As I used some elements of the Socratic Method to answer his question, he replied, “Thank you. This is the first time that anyone has challenged me like that.”
The questioning and debate in the Socratic Method can be very simple. You have probably used this method with a family member, partner, or friend when you were planning to make a noteworthy purchase. If you announce plans to buy a new television, your family member, partner, or friend may have responded with the following questions and debatable points:
- How come? What’s wrong with your current television?
- You might wait until we pay down the balance on our credit card.
- How big? Will it fit in your current entertainment center?
- If you wait a few months, you can have more choices and better prices on one of those 3-D televisions.
- It should be Internet ready with Netflix already installed.
The point is that you probably have used the Socratic Method in a simple form on a regular basis at home. The user of the Socratic Method proposes questions and debatable points to challenge and causes the recipient to think about the pros and cons of various elements to make a more informed decision.
Considerations
1. Obviously, there is a proper time and place to use the Socratic Method. When there is a shortage of time or when the questioning and the debate may cause “a scene,” consider another method.
2. Consider telling (or asking) people that you would like to use the Socratic Method to answer the question or problem presented.
3. Using the Socratic Method takes some time. Consider the amount of time that you have for the training or the problem-solving at hand. Consider the cost (in time) versus the benefit (in training or thinking).
4. Don’t use the Socratic Method to mask a lack of knowledge. Your credibility depends on your being able to produce results. People have to recognize that you have the answer or can help them find it.
Example: New firefighters in the academy would ask the instructor a question. The instructor would answer the question with a question. In this situation, this did not help the new firefighters deduce the answers, and they remained perplexed. The instructor replied, “Get the book!” After a couple of weeks of this, the new firefighters believed that the instructor did not know the answers and could not help them, so they stopped asking the instructor questions.
5. If it’s not working, give them the answer.
The Socratic Method can be used to train and develop fire service colleagues and subordinates. Think of it as a tool in your “toolbox” that might be useful to help people and the organization grow. Recognize that developing their skills is not a priority for some people. In this case, the use of Socratic Method would be detrimental to them and you.
The Socratic Method is a process of question and debate that can help develop critical-thinking skills in firefighters and, ultimately, the fire department-at-large. This method is invaluable in creating a learning organization, whether individually, in a small group, or throughout the fire department. Coaches, leaders, and mentors must step up and challenge colleagues and subordinates to think through issues so they can arrive at heir own solutions and develop critical-thinking skills. Colleagues and subordinates must step up and accept the learning or benefits that come from participating in the Socratic Method.
Ron Hiraki began his career as a firefighter in the Seattle (WA) Fire Department, working in a variety of operational and administrative positions leading to his final assignment as Assistant Chief of Employee Development. Completing his career as an assistant chief for a small combination fire department, Hiraki has nearly 30 years of fire service experience in urban and suburban settings. He holds a Master of Science in human resources development and is a consultant to a number of public safety agencies for their selection and performance evaluation programs.
