Pedantry has a bad name. When we are nitpicking, finicky, or fussy, especially about trifling matters, we may be very annoying to our colleagues (and others). And yet …

When we need attention to detail, precision, accuracy, or compliance with legal or best practice standards, a certain level of thoroughness is actually a prerequisite.

Focal Fluency and Flexibility

Some roles are particularly well-suited to people who can focus their attention on details. For other roles, which demand greater versatility, the capacity to adjust one’s focal range on the spectrum between micro and macro-views is more highly valued.

This is much like the toggle switch required of health practitioners in which they need to move fluently from the mode required for effective patient communication to clinical mode, in which the focus is on the complex factors involved in delivering safe, high-quality care. Alternatively, it can be likened to the selection of appropriate thought patterns according to the demands of the situation. It is therefore quite similar to the selection of one of de Bono’s six thinking hats.

Optometrists tell us that we can suffer from digital eye strain if we focus on screens for too long. We need to look into the middle and far distances at intervals to ensure that our eyes stay in good shape. Similarly, our strategic vision can deteriorate if we remain focussed on the detail (lost in the weeds) for too long, before looking out across our strategic horizons.

In the context of strategy execution, the selection of focal range can start in ‘big picture‘ territory before moving progressively towards a focus on the details, particularly as one seeks to operationalise the strategy. Project managers are shown on the chart above as aligned with a goal-oriented lens, but if they only ever remained in that space, they would be unlikely to be effective in their role. CEOs, Executives, and Project Managers need to be able to select from a range of perspectives depending on the stage of the work they are responsible for, and how long it’s been since they last looked up from the micro view.

Pedagogy and Pedantry

‘Pedagogy‘ is about the science of teaching, while ‘pedantry‘ refers to the over-rating of mere knowledge, especially in trivial matters. Both words have the same linguistic root. {It’s not the same root as ‘pedal’, ‘pedestrian’, and ‘peddle’, however, which have origins and meanings related to the foot (ped).}

My early career as a secondary teacher involved training to become a ‘pedagogue’, and then wielding my red pen, and other feedback mechanisms aimed at improving student learning. (Doubtless, I was ‘infected’ with pedantry at times, and I recognise that I am still in recovery – with my occasional lapses leading to uncomfortable moments.)

While acknowledging that pedantry is an undesirable state, paradoxically shifting the focus to ‘the helpful pedant‘ invites us to reclaim the ‘positive pedantry‘ qualities of thoroughness, attention to detail, precision, and caution. See header image above.

‘Good’ or ‘bad’ pedantry? A question of timing

Which of us hasn’t been frustrated with a colleague who is focussed on spelling errors in the minutes, and taking up valuable time at the start of the meeting. They are unhelpful when they delay their colleagues from dealing with the strategic priorities that ought to be addressed while everyone is fresh.

The chair has a role here in ensuring that priority agenda items are moved to the start of the deliberations, while procedural and detailed matters are dealt with later.

Many situations call for accuracy and an eye for detail. The software programmer who fails to pay close attention to syntax will be unable to compile and run functional code. The pilot who fails to pay attention to the information provided in the plane’s array of instruments and gauges may put passenger lives at risk. From a governance perspective, the accuracy and meaning of accounts and records is a matter that both directors and managers need to take seriously.

The fussy director can become a more ‘helpful pedant’ by alerting the secretary before the meeting of minor typos and grammatical errors. More significant issues, however, such as the completeness of the minutes, or whether they accurately conveyed the key points made during a crucial debate, may warrant raising at the meeting.

The kind of engagement a director has in reviewing the minutes may be considered parallel to some of the roles that can be played by editors. There are more editing modes than simply proofreading for spelling or grammatical errors. The chart below suggests some of these for your consideration.

Positive pedantry

Nonprofit leaders have obligations to exercise due care and diligence, to be thorough, and to demonstrate good judgment. Shifting our focus from the trivial to the significant is important, but so too is the ability to attend to details when the situation demands it.

See also:
Efficient ‘time governance’
‘Time is of the essence’: temporal factors in NFP productivity & efficiency
Thinking about ‘Thinking Hats’
“The (mind) map is not the territory”