Some sense of risk is unavoidable with the case method. More than two thousand years ago, Socrates was making Greek students uncomfortable with pointed questions and relentless logic. Risk isn’t purely negative, however. It’s a motivator to do the hard work the case method requires.
However, don’t exaggerate the risk. That leads straight to fear, and fear makes you a poor listener and robs you of the confi dence to speak.
Part of that fear involves the desire to avoid poor- quality comments. In fact, silence is more damaging than comments that misfi re. As Mau- reen Walker, a former administrator at Harvard Business School, notes,
“Silence is saying something.” 2
Put Limits on Your Preparation
Careful preparation is the foundation for eff ective class participation, but you shouldn’t overdo it. The last part of that statement may seem odd. In an academic setting, is it possible to study too much? As far as case analysis is concerned, the answer is emphatically yes.
Don’t fall into the trap of believing that the more hours you put into a case, the better prepared you will be. You can always justify long hours studying a case by telling yourself that knowledge is proportionate to time.
Maureen Walker disputes that justifi cation. She says those long hours will just make you sleepy, not more knowledgeable. Rastislav “Rasto” Kulich, an MBA graduate, feels that balancing preparation and rest is one of the most important contributors to good classroom participation.
Setting a limit on case preparation has several benefi ts: it puts a healthy pressure on you to use the time well; it contributes to keeping your life in balance and staying fresh; and it encourages you to pay attention to how you analyze a case. Much of this book is dedicated to informing your
decisions about studying cases. One of the decisions is a time limit. If you have two or more cases to prepare, two and a half hours per case is a good place to start; aim to gradually reduce that to two hours per case. Even for one case, two hours seems to be the point of diminishing returns.
Speak Up Early
The most valuable advice about case discussion is this: participate as early as possible, ideally in the fi rst class. Speaking up early not only reduces the nervousness of being in the spotlight, but also assists you in setting realistic expectations for yourself. An MBA student gave this advice:
Be brave! It is very hard in the fi rst class to spell out the brilliant solution of a case or even make a comment with a high level of quality. It is highly likely that in the very beginning, your comments will just be OK or worse.
But this is only another barrier that you have to overcome to enhance the quality of your comments. Never stop talking in class because in the last class you said something you perceived to be silly.
The student is saying that class participation itself is a learning pro- cess. No one is born to be an eff ective case discussion participant. Thus, another reason for becoming involved early is that to learn how to be a good participant, you must participate.
Remember: You’re Not on the Stage Long
How long does a student speak in a case discussion class? Speaking for a total of one minute is an unusually long time unless the class is very small.
In other words, your exposure is brief (although it may seem like an eter- nity to you). Your comment is one among many. Despite your concerns, your true risk is small.
Learn to Listen
When asked to give advice about case discussion, MBA students repeat- edly mention the role of listening. You spend far more time listening than speaking in a case discussion. One student said about this underrated skill:
Always listen carefully to the other students’ comments and the professor’s questions. It’s not only important to get the essence of diff erent perspectives, but also to help you follow the fl ow of the case discussion.
A business school graduate described how he listened in case classes:
It is a great exercise to listen to comments in class and decide whether you agree or not with what people are saying. If you have a good argument to sup- port your agreement or disagreement, it is time to raise your hand and talk!
Listening is participation, as long as it isn’t the only thing you do. It’s a complex skill because you’re not passively taking in information and storing it. The information stimulates you to think about what is being said and triggers your own thinking and sometimes motivates you to say something. A quality comment isn’t possible if you haven’t been listening with care. A good comment fi ts the context of the ongoing conversation at the moment it is made. A few moments later, the comment will be redundant.
The average adult can pay full attention to something for about thirty seconds. It isn’t humanly possible to listen with complete concentration for sixty or eighty minutes. Inevitably, something in the room is going to distract or you will drift into thoughts having nothing to do with the class. Listening to a discussion really means constantly reengaging with the speaking going on around you. Anxiety, by the way, is an internal distraction that compromises listening: anxious students fi nd it hard to do it because there is too much going on in their heads.
What all of this points to is that you have to learn how to listen to a case discussion. Learning to listen well will prove to be one of the most valuable skills you will come away with.
Recognize the Social Factor
Classmates who get to know each other outside the classroom can change the atmosphere inside it. A group of strangers competing for grades can become a group of acquaintances and friends who recognize that they’re competing but also understand they’re collaborating for the benefi t of everyone who takes part. Students surrounded by classmates who clearly respect them will probably be at least a little more willing to take risks in discussions. The listeners are probably going to be more empathetic toward the speaker, more willing to help out if they can when a classmate stumbles while trying to make a point and more understanding when the classmate’s contribution doesn’t help the discussion. The often subtle but damaging infl uence of stereotypes about gender, personal appearance, and many other characteristics can be defeated when people get to know each other. A classroom friend can encourage a reticent student to speak up or to take bigger risks with his comments.
Remember How to Laugh
Universities and professional schools can be very serious places. Students new to them, though excited to be there, can also be anxious about how they will perform. Here is some wise advice from a graduate of a case method program:
The ability to lighten up is very important. Many students, especially internationals, are very intense and tense and take themselves too seriously.
That makes them stiff in delivery and rigid in responding to audience reac- tion or comments. Humor, especially the self- deprecating kind, is very much appreciated and often needed. Students’ ability to spice up the discussion or laugh at themselves will help them improve audience attention and increase acceptance of their comments.
Should You Take Notes?
Students who have listened to countless lectures develop note- taking habits. They become skilled at making a written record of what a pro- fessor has said, possibly adding thoughts of their own or questions. They naturally bring these habits to a case classroom. But taking notes, espe- cially detailed ones, puts you a step behind the discussion. You’re still writing down what the last speaker said while the discussion shifts to someone else.
A solution to this problem is to take spare notes in class and set aside a few minutes after class to write down the two or three major take- aways. Because case discussions are dynamic and unpredictable, those few moments after class are often a better vantage point for learning than moment to moment in the class.
Be Patient with Yourself
Set an objective of contributing a comment in the fi rst class of every case course. Go into the fi rst class to listen to what people are saying, not to wait your turn. When you listen actively, responses come to mind organically— if you let them. When they do, don’t evaluate whether they are good enough. Just raise your hand.
Along with the willingness to take the plunge, you need patience.
Don’t regard your comments as a vehicle to prove your brilliance. As you learn the art of case discussion, take a long- term view. You’ll have many opportunities to speak so the risk of one comment is low.
A Harvard MBA urges you not to be “afraid to make the obvious com- ments or ask a stupid question.” He continues:
Discussion is all about confi dence. If you are a shy person and don’t speak up front in the semester, it will become harder and harder to speak. You will start pressuring yourself to come up with great comments and won’t speak until you have one. Things just get worse. Ask the stupid question, make the obvious comment . . . The stupid question is usually everyone’s ques- tion. Once you start talking, you will feel comfortable, and your mind will become clearer, and you will come up with better and better comments.
NOTE S
1. All student quotes from email responses to the author, 2006.
2. Maureen Walker, “International Orientation, Class of 2006,” slide presentation to entering MBA students, Harvard Business School, July 2004.