Mayo’s Clinic: Helping Students Take Charge—the Three-Legged Conference
04 October 2013
The value of a three-legged conversation is that you can make some statements or ask questions that prompt students to think about the topic they are raising, and you do not have to completely answer the question in one meeting.
By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT
Last month, we discussed ways to begin a semester by making our students feel special; this month and for the rest of the fall, we will talk about ways to help them learn to take charge of their education and their lives. This month will focus on the strategy of the three legged conference.
Students Taking Charge of Themselves
One of the important goals of any teaching situation is promoting creative and critical thinking. However, we often apply it only to the subject matters that we formally teach and not very often to helping students become better industry professionals and better persons for several reasons: There is not enough time in class, these subjects are not part of the curriculum, and most of us never learned how to teach about professional and personal development.
When you stop to think about it, helping our students to build their decision-making skills is a great goal, and one that many of us in culinary and hospitality education have adopted, even if only on the edges of our teaching. After all, helping our students to become better professionals is an important part of our commitment to them and a unique aspect of culinary and hospitality education; other fields do not care so much about that aspect of their students’ lives. If you want to commit to this goal, there are several strategies; the easiest is using the three-legged conference to promote their thinking about themselves.
The Three Legged Conference
The three-legged conference is a form of short meeting with a student; the three legs refers to the situation where a student asks you a question, and you are on your way to somewhere else or have something else to do. Three-legged conference means the student has two legs planted for the conversation and you have only one—the other is starting to walk away or moving in another direction.
The value of a three legged conversation is that you can make some statements or ask questions that prompt students to think about the topic they are raising, and you do not have to completely answer the question in one meeting. In fact, it is better to trigger their thinking or invite them to consider something different than what they are asking rather than answering their question, especially when it is a matter of helping them think about personal or professional issues.
If a student wants to know if he or she should take a certain internship, coop or part-time job, it can be much easier to just tell the person, but you can help your student much more by asking which one the individual thinks is better for his or her long-term professional development or which one matches the personal goals and then invite the individual to think it over and get back to you. That is one way to use a three-legged conference that promotes their thinking. Simply providing the answer does not help a student learn to puzzle through the decision, and our students do not get any smarter about themselves if we do the thinking for them.
Of course, sometimes it is simpler and more effective to answer the question that the student has raised. If the person does not know where a certain piece of equipment is located in a kitchen, you can simply tell the student and move on. There is no need for a three-legged conference. On the other hand, if you have provided a complete tour of the kitchen and the person is asking what one might consider a foolish question, then answering with a question might help the student realize that he or she can figure out where the piece of equipment is. You might say, “Where do you think it is?” or “If you were organizing this kitchen, where would you store it?” or “Where does it make the most sense to keep it?” These options get your student to realize he or she can figure it out and help the student start to think like a professional.
Maintaining a three-legged conference is not easy; it can be irresistible to answer the question, since you have an answer and most students really want you to answer their questions. One way to help you decide whether to answer or keep them reflecting is to consider what helps the students grow the most as persons and professionals. Bringing that perspective to the situation will help you push your students to take charge of their own lives and their own decisions.
Summary
Thank you for reading this column about using a three-legged conference to help students take charge of their lives. Next month will be about peer coaching, another strategy to use. If you have suggestions for other topics or teaching practices you want to share, send them to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and I will include them in future “Mayo’s Clinics.”
Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT, was most recently a clinical professor at New York University. Principal of Mayo Consulting Services, he continues to teach around the globe, and is a frequent presenter at CAFÉ events nationwide. His latest book, Planning an Applied Research Project in Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports (Wiley, 2013), debuts this autumn. Mayo will keynote the American Personal & Private Chef Association’s 2013 Personal Chef Summit in Baltimore in October.