Discussion replies
see file
Classmate one’s post
Read the interview with Dr. Csikszentmihalyi (Beard, 2015). What is the connection between strategic thinking and creativity?
In both his TedTalk and interview with Beard is demonstrating the link between creative problem solving, strategic thinking, and happiness. Beard’s (2015) interview takes us through the development of Csikszentmihalyi’s critical thinking process. Using Paul and Elder’s (2011) seven standards, Csikszentmihalyi outlines his objective, the questions he asked, how he dug into the information interviews further to learn more and draw correlations between data points. Csikszentmihalyi talked about play and creativity being a driver that improves experience and cites countless interviews where people across all hobbies, professions, and walks of life can articulate that what brings happiness or ecstasy are the tasks that allow them to distance themselves from daily life. I love that Csikszentmihalyi himself loses track of time and demonstrates how his work provides him this opportunity to engage in flow.
When I look for areas in my life where I lose myself, these are the areas where I unconsciously demonstrate my best strategy skills and creative problem solving. Right now I find that time in the garden. I don’t map out what needs to be done in advance, I just immerse myself in the environment and let instinct kick in. This will translate to watering, weeding, assessing bug damage, puling plants, planting new things, and harvesting. I move through the space losing track of time, but also getting tremendous amounts done. It brings me peace and allows for time away from work and school. This is where I demonstrate my creativity and also think most strategically. I think this is Csikszentmihalyi’s point – where you can fall into natural and instinctual patterns, you are thinking well and being your most creative.
References
:
Beard, K. (2015). Theoretically speaking: An interview with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on flow theory development and its usefulness in addressing contemporary challenges in education. Educational Psychology Review, 27(2), 353-364. doi:10.1007/s10648-014-9291-1
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2004). Flow, the secret to happiness. [Video file]. Retrieved from
Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2011). Critical Thinking: Competency Standards Essential for the
Cultivation of Intellectual Skills, Part 2. Journal of Developmental Education, 35(1), 36.
My response & Scholarly Reference (140 words):
Classmate two’s post
What barriers to strategic thinking discussed by Paul and Elder (2015) do you see in the workplace? What practical steps would you suggest to overcome these?
Paul & Elder describe that the human mind is prone onto falling in certain egocentric tendencies (2015), some of these tendencies can definitely be found in a workplace situation, for example, egocentric memory can be found everywhere, since the human mind is prone to forgetting certain information if they are either under stress, heavy workload or the information is relatively important to the person, this could be solved by adding a clear schedule/checklist (printed or digitalized), so that if the person who is having troubles forgetting things could get back on route.
Another example of an egocentric tendency that appears in a working place environment can be egocentric righteousness, this situation can happen if there is an abuse of power and therefore in result egocentric mistakes could be made, like not listening to new ideas, keeping a wring approach to a situation, firing a person because he spoke up about a problem, and a lot more other wrong situation that can happen with this tendency. Regarding the solution for this, it is hard to specify one, because power is something that shifts your thinking and sometimes these changes cannot be predicted, although a way to reduce this tendency can be implemented by monitoring all the levels of a business, from low to high, and also giving tests to manage the psychological effects of different power levels, reaching a narcissistic level, as cited by Galvin Freud said (2015):” Narcissisms is the psychological construct most associated with an orientation of self-love” (page. 7)
References
Elder, L., & Paul, R. (2015). Natural egocentric dispositions. Retrieved from https://www.criticalthinking.org/resources/articles/natural-egocentric.shtml
GALVIN, B. M., LANGE, D., & ASHFORTH, B. E. (2015). Narcissistic Organizational Identification: Seeing Oneself as Central to the Organization’s Identity. Academy of Management Review,
My response & Scholarly Reference (140 words):