Category: Unit 3

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Response to dawnES – Rank, Think, Write

Response to Norm Benge – Rank, Think, Write

Wow! Thank you for your great critique of my post. You asked: “… what mechanism [would the] employer use to teach and  mentor employees to think for themselves while also upholding business standards?” For instance, my business is in manufacturing so we are always developing new products and modifying our machinery. On a regular basis, I task a large group of employees, from leadership to machine operators to figure out a way to improve a process, while maintaining our high standard of quality and service. I have learned to point out to new additions to the “thinking team” that each person should identify past attempts, failures, order of operations, etc. Then, we all meet and evaluate and rank the ideas based on cost, projected improvement, etc. We try several ideas, and often the best ideas are not from management!

You mentioned that in your education environment, it takes some time for some (or all?) or them to work out and fully understand their goal and settle on a process for completion. I think many people require structure and direction. Others, however, thrive on contributing their critical thinking in their workplace. You’ve given me something to think about it terms of whether it is desirable, possible or even feasible to shift the process of critical thinking to every employee. It might result in lower productivity for some and even prevent them from being their true selves. Thank you for giving me something to think about!

 

 

 

 

 

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Response to B.’s Learning Activity 2

Learning Activity 2 – Rank, Talk, Write

What I particularly liked about your summary is Cooper’s contention that creative criticality helps “produce lifelong learners who are capable of creating new ideas that have been evaluated through critical thinking.” I like this idea because the process of creative criticality is important in and of itself, but the fact that it could be lifelong, infinitely multiplies its effectiveness. I find it encouraging that not only does creative criticality give the learner the ability to both create new solutions but it helps them critically analyze solutions before implementation. Implementation, to me, is the key because largely speaking, solutions that are not implemented I don’t think are as valuable.

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Response to Daniel’s Rank, Talk, Write

Unit 3 – Rank, Talk, Write

In response to your question, “Is this all learned or can some of these traits come naturally as a church leader?”, I believe all Christians have been given one or more permanent spiritual gifts. The pastor with the spiritual gift of administration/leadership may have a different career trajectory than a pastor with the spiritual gift of helps or mercy.

Your analysis of this article was interesting, and I agree that practice makes you more effective in your vocation. In addition, the point about “incremental fluctuations” I have found to be true in my own life. For example, I’ve come to realize that many people have been changed in good or bad ways because of life experiences.

 

 

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Unit 3 – Rank, Talk, Write

As a business owner, I am always looking for ways to improve my workplace. Gino and Staats’ article, Developing Employees Who Think for Themselves is particularly relevant to my leadership area (2015). The article focuses on three things employers can do to help their employees use critical thinking in their position: Process, Identity and Time.

1. Process

To help employees use critical thinking, Gino & Staats say there needs to be a “shift in ownership of the process from the manager to the worker” (2015). They further state that many “managers punish their subordinates for failing to follow instructions” but then “complain that employees don’t think for themselves” (2015). To achieve a change in process, managers need to focus on the outcome not the process.

2. Identity

Identity is enabling employees to “… bring their true and best selves to work” (Gino & Staats, 2015). Gino and Staats argue that, “People … lose their sense of identity at work [because they] learn how to behave in clearly defined ways” (2015). By giving employees “the ability to reshape [their] actual work,” they are able to use critical thinking in their position (Gino & Staats, 2015).

3. Time

The aspect of time is “allow[ing] individuals to consider how best to complete the work that needs to be done within the constraints of the company and their own lives” (Gino & Staats, 2015). By giving employees time flexibility, a manager gives them the opportunity to think about their tasks a different times.

The focus of this article is the transferral of critical thinking from managers to employees. The authors argue that for the past hundred years, management’s main role was to identify the best processes and then have workers follow the processes precisely (Gino & Staats, 2015). In today’s world, though, the only way for companies to thrive is to get employees to think and not just follow procedure. The authors then state that many organizations merely stress building critical thinking and developing “process-improvement skills” rather than redesigning the actual jobs of their employees (Gino & Staats, 2015). Essentially, jobs need to be redesigned so they give employees ownership over how they perform their job, how they act within their job and how they manage their time while completing their tasks.

Gino, F. & Staats, B. (2015, June). Developing Employees Who Think for Themselves. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/06/developing-employees-who-think-for-themselves