Carl Rogers, in A Way of Being : one of the most satisfying feelings I know ... comes from my experiencing an individual in the same way that I appreciate a sunset. People are just as wonderful as sunsets if I can let them be. In fact, perhaps the reason we can truly appreciate a sunset is that we cannot control it. When I look at a sunset as I did the other evening, I don't find myself saying, "soften the orange a little on the right hand corner, and put a bit more purple along the base, and a little more pink in the cloud colour." I don't do that. I don't try to control a sunset. I watch it with awe as it unfolds.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
A way of Being
Carl Rogers, in A Way of Being : one of the most satisfying feelings I know ... comes from my experiencing an individual in the same way that I appreciate a sunset. People are just as wonderful as sunsets if I can let them be. In fact, perhaps the reason we can truly appreciate a sunset is that we cannot control it. When I look at a sunset as I did the other evening, I don't find myself saying, "soften the orange a little on the right hand corner, and put a bit more purple along the base, and a little more pink in the cloud colour." I don't do that. I don't try to control a sunset. I watch it with awe as it unfolds.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Out of our minds
Out of our minds
The apparently impersonal process of scientific inquiry involves a very personal commitment by the scientist in 4 ways:
(1) the choice of problems; (2)the methods of scientific inquiry;
(3)personal judgement; and (4)standards of objectivity.
Creative organisation :
-- gives people freedom to take risks
- - allows people to discover and develop their own natural intelligence
-- a place where there is no stupid questions and no right answers
-- a place that values irreverence
The task of teaching is not to teach subjects: it is to teach students.
In teaching for creativity, teachers aim to:
- promote experiment and inquiry and a willingness to make mistakes
- encourage generative thought, free from immediate criticism
- encourage the expression of personal ideas and feelings
- convey an understanding of phases in creative work and the need for time
- develop an awareness of the roles of intuition and aesthetic processes
- encourage students to play with ideas and conjecture about possibilities
- facilitate critical evaluation of ideas
The apparently impersonal process of scientific inquiry involves a very personal commitment by the scientist in 4 ways:
(1) the choice of problems; (2)the methods of scientific inquiry;
(3)personal judgement; and (4)standards of objectivity.
Creative organisation :
-- gives people freedom to take risks
- - allows people to discover and develop their own natural intelligence
-- a place where there is no stupid questions and no right answers
-- a place that values irreverence
The task of teaching is not to teach subjects: it is to teach students.
In teaching for creativity, teachers aim to:
- promote experiment and inquiry and a willingness to make mistakes
- encourage generative thought, free from immediate criticism
- encourage the expression of personal ideas and feelings
- convey an understanding of phases in creative work and the need for time
- develop an awareness of the roles of intuition and aesthetic processes
- encourage students to play with ideas and conjecture about possibilities
- facilitate critical evaluation of ideas
Decisive by Chip Heath
Decisive by Chip Heath
4 villains
1. Narrow framing
2. Confirmation bias
3. Short-term emotion
4. Overconfidence
Usual procedure:
- you encounter a choice
- you analyse your options
- you make a choice
- then you live with it
- (you encounter a choice) narrow framing makes you miss options
#WIDEN YOUR OPTIONS#
- (you analyse your options) confirmation bias leads you to gather self-serving info
#REALITY-TEST YOUR ASSUMPTIONS#
- (you make a choice)
short-term emotion tempt you to make the wrong option
#ATTAIN DISTANCE BEFORE DECIDING#
- (you live with it)
you will often be overconfident about how the future will unfold
#PREPARED TO BE WRONG#
WRAP -- using the process forces you to switch from auto-spotlight mode (most accessible and recent info automatically become more important) to manual spotlight mode (looking and correctly frame information)
WIDENING OF OPTIONS
Widening of options
-- Distrust "whether or not" decisions
-- Think of opportunity cost
-- you won't think up additional alternatives if you aren't aware you're neglecting them
-- focusing is great for analysing alternatives but terrible for spotting them
-- Vanishing options test
Multi tracking -- considering more than one option SIMULTANEOUSLY
Multi tracking keeps egos in check and gives a better landscape view of the problem
Not too many options -> leading to decision paralysis
Prevention focus = avoiding negative outcome
Promotion focus =
Pursuing positive outcome
Adding promotion mindset to prevention mindset or vice versa will encourage a shift in "spotlight" and reveal more options.
Push for "this AND that" rather than "this OR that"
Find someone who has solved your problem:
- look outside (competitive analysis, benchmarking, best practices)
- look inside (for bright spots) and try multiply the bright spots
- ladder up via analogies
REALITY-TEST YOUR ASSUMPTIONS
Confirmation bias = hunting for info that confirms our initial assumptions
3 ways to fight against confirmation bias:
-- invite constructive disagreement by making it easier for people to disagree with us
-- ask "disconfirming" questions = questions that are more likely to surface contrary info
-- become the "opposition" = consider the opposite, make mistakes deliberately
ZOOM OUT
Trust the Average (base rates) --
We should trust outside view (=how things generally unfold in situations like ours) more than inside view (=our evaluation of our specific situation)
If you can't find base rates, ask experts to help you estimate base rates (NOT predicting your success rate)
ZOOM IN
A close-up can add texture that's missing from outside view
#Note that Zoom-in is NOT taking an "inside view"
OOCH
Ooching=running small experiments to test our theories
Why try to predict when we can ooch?
Ooching should be used as a way to speed up the collection of trustworthy info, not as a way to slow down a decision that deserves our full commitment.
ATTAIN DISTANCE BEFORE DECIDING
Overcome short-term emotion by attaining some distance
10/10/10 forces us to consider future emotions as much as present ones. It's irrelevant whether our future emotions are correct or not, the crux is to remove the over-focus on short-term emotions
Our decisions are often altered by 2 subtle short-term emotions:
(1) mere exposure=we like what's familiar
(2) loss aversion=losses are more painful than gains are pleasant
(1)+(2)= status quo bias
Take an observer's perspective 旁�者清
-- what would I tell my friend to do in this situation?
Honour your core priorities
-- identifying and enshrining your core priorities will allow easy resolution of present Nd future dilemmas
Knowing is not the same as doing. Need to carve out space to pursue our core priorities
PREPARE TO BE WRONG
The future is not a "point" forecast but a "range". No point predicting the point as the likelihood is you will miss the forecast. It is best to consider the range
Bookend the future
-- When we think about the extremes, we stretch our sense of what's possible, and the expanded range better reflects reality
Pre-mortem (lower bookend) and Pre-parade (higher bookend)
-- Prospective hindsight seems to spur more insights because it forces us to fill in the blanks between today and a certain future event
Use a safety factor to prepare for unforeseen future
Anticipating the range of future allows us to prepare, prevent, and cope with the outcome.
Tripwire -- needed to jolt us out of unconscious routines and make us aware that we have a choice to make
At some point, the virtue of being persistent turns into the vice of denying reality
Types of tripwires::
Deadlines give reminders
Partitions set boundaries
Tripwires remind us that we have a choice to make
Decision making Process
Decisions made by groups must've seen as fair
Allow for "bargaining" will not only improve the decision making process (more options, vanishing option, reality testing, .. ), but will also encourage buy-in and the decision will likely be seen as a fair outcome
Groups must trust that the process is just
Success emerges from the quality of the decisions we make and the quantity of luck we receive
4 villains
1. Narrow framing
2. Confirmation bias
3. Short-term emotion
4. Overconfidence
Usual procedure:
- you encounter a choice
- you analyse your options
- you make a choice
- then you live with it
- (you encounter a choice) narrow framing makes you miss options
#WIDEN YOUR OPTIONS#
- (you analyse your options) confirmation bias leads you to gather self-serving info
#REALITY-TEST YOUR ASSUMPTIONS#
- (you make a choice)
short-term emotion tempt you to make the wrong option
#ATTAIN DISTANCE BEFORE DECIDING#
- (you live with it)
you will often be overconfident about how the future will unfold
#PREPARED TO BE WRONG#
WRAP -- using the process forces you to switch from auto-spotlight mode (most accessible and recent info automatically become more important) to manual spotlight mode (looking and correctly frame information)
WIDENING OF OPTIONS
Widening of options
-- Distrust "whether or not" decisions
-- Think of opportunity cost
-- you won't think up additional alternatives if you aren't aware you're neglecting them
-- focusing is great for analysing alternatives but terrible for spotting them
-- Vanishing options test
Multi tracking -- considering more than one option SIMULTANEOUSLY
Multi tracking keeps egos in check and gives a better landscape view of the problem
Not too many options -> leading to decision paralysis
Prevention focus = avoiding negative outcome
Promotion focus =
Pursuing positive outcome
Adding promotion mindset to prevention mindset or vice versa will encourage a shift in "spotlight" and reveal more options.
Push for "this AND that" rather than "this OR that"
Find someone who has solved your problem:
- look outside (competitive analysis, benchmarking, best practices)
- look inside (for bright spots) and try multiply the bright spots
- ladder up via analogies
REALITY-TEST YOUR ASSUMPTIONS
Confirmation bias = hunting for info that confirms our initial assumptions
3 ways to fight against confirmation bias:
-- invite constructive disagreement by making it easier for people to disagree with us
-- ask "disconfirming" questions = questions that are more likely to surface contrary info
-- become the "opposition" = consider the opposite, make mistakes deliberately
ZOOM OUT
Trust the Average (base rates) --
We should trust outside view (=how things generally unfold in situations like ours) more than inside view (=our evaluation of our specific situation)
If you can't find base rates, ask experts to help you estimate base rates (NOT predicting your success rate)
ZOOM IN
A close-up can add texture that's missing from outside view
#Note that Zoom-in is NOT taking an "inside view"
OOCH
Ooching=running small experiments to test our theories
Why try to predict when we can ooch?
Ooching should be used as a way to speed up the collection of trustworthy info, not as a way to slow down a decision that deserves our full commitment.
ATTAIN DISTANCE BEFORE DECIDING
Overcome short-term emotion by attaining some distance
10/10/10 forces us to consider future emotions as much as present ones. It's irrelevant whether our future emotions are correct or not, the crux is to remove the over-focus on short-term emotions
Our decisions are often altered by 2 subtle short-term emotions:
(1) mere exposure=we like what's familiar
(2) loss aversion=losses are more painful than gains are pleasant
(1)+(2)= status quo bias
Take an observer's perspective 旁�者清
-- what would I tell my friend to do in this situation?
Honour your core priorities
-- identifying and enshrining your core priorities will allow easy resolution of present Nd future dilemmas
Knowing is not the same as doing. Need to carve out space to pursue our core priorities
PREPARE TO BE WRONG
The future is not a "point" forecast but a "range". No point predicting the point as the likelihood is you will miss the forecast. It is best to consider the range
Bookend the future
-- When we think about the extremes, we stretch our sense of what's possible, and the expanded range better reflects reality
Pre-mortem (lower bookend) and Pre-parade (higher bookend)
-- Prospective hindsight seems to spur more insights because it forces us to fill in the blanks between today and a certain future event
Use a safety factor to prepare for unforeseen future
Anticipating the range of future allows us to prepare, prevent, and cope with the outcome.
Tripwire -- needed to jolt us out of unconscious routines and make us aware that we have a choice to make
At some point, the virtue of being persistent turns into the vice of denying reality
Types of tripwires::
Deadlines give reminders
Partitions set boundaries
Tripwires remind us that we have a choice to make
Decision making Process
Decisions made by groups must've seen as fair
Allow for "bargaining" will not only improve the decision making process (more options, vanishing option, reality testing, .. ), but will also encourage buy-in and the decision will likely be seen as a fair outcome
Groups must trust that the process is just
Success emerges from the quality of the decisions we make and the quantity of luck we receive
Know what you don't know -- Michael Roberto
Know what you don't know -- Michael Roberto
It is important that when present with problems, a leader must have the know how and decision-making process to solve them. However, it is of equal importance, if not more, for leaders to DISCOVER problems. He or she must figure out what problem needs to be solved before beginning to make decisions. Identifying the true problem facing an organization often proved to be the most difficult challenge that leaders face. In many instances leaders do not spot a threat until far too late. At times, leaders set out to solve the wrong problem.
SEVEN sets of skills and capabilities that leaders must master if they want to become effective problem-finders.
1. Circumvent the "gatekeepers" (i.e. those who control filters and other barriers)
---- you must recognize that people around you filter information, often with good intentions. They hope to conserve your precious time. Sometimes, though, they filter out the bad news. Problem-finders learn how to circumvent these filters.
2. Become an ethnographer (observe carefully, ask questions, listen intently, etc.)
-- you must learn to behave like an anthropologist who observes groups of people in natural settings. You cannot simply ask people questions; you must watch how they behave. After all, people often say one thing and do another.
3. Hunt for patterns (e.g. identify verifiable causal relationships)
-- the most effective problem-finders become adept at searching for and identifying patterns. They learn how to mine past experience, both personal and organizational, so that they can recognize problems more quickly.
4. Connect the dots
-- you must refine your ability to "connect the dots" among seemingly disparate pieces of information. Threats do not come to us in neat little packages. They often remain maddeningly diffuse. Only by putting together many small bits of information can we spot the problem facing the organization.
5. Encourage useful failures (i.e. those that are small, brief, inexpensive, and informative)
-- effective problem-finders learn how to encourage people to take risks and learn from their mistakes. They recognize that some failures can be quite useful, because they provide opportunities for learning and improvement. You must distinguish between excusable and inexcusable mistakes, though, lest you erode accountability in the organization.
6. Teach how to talk and to listen (also when and why)
-- you must refine your own and your organization's communication skills. You have to train people how to speak up more effectively and teach leaders at all levels how to respond appropriately to someone who surfaces a concern, points out a problem, or challenges the conventional wisdom.
7. Watch the "game film" of past performance (make adjustments, practice deliberately)
-- the best problem-finders become like great coaches who watch film of past performances and glean important lessons about their team's problems as well as those of their principal rivals. You must become adept at review and reflection, as well as how to practice new behaviors effectively.
It is important that when present with problems, a leader must have the know how and decision-making process to solve them. However, it is of equal importance, if not more, for leaders to DISCOVER problems. He or she must figure out what problem needs to be solved before beginning to make decisions. Identifying the true problem facing an organization often proved to be the most difficult challenge that leaders face. In many instances leaders do not spot a threat until far too late. At times, leaders set out to solve the wrong problem.
SEVEN sets of skills and capabilities that leaders must master if they want to become effective problem-finders.
1. Circumvent the "gatekeepers" (i.e. those who control filters and other barriers)
---- you must recognize that people around you filter information, often with good intentions. They hope to conserve your precious time. Sometimes, though, they filter out the bad news. Problem-finders learn how to circumvent these filters.
2. Become an ethnographer (observe carefully, ask questions, listen intently, etc.)
-- you must learn to behave like an anthropologist who observes groups of people in natural settings. You cannot simply ask people questions; you must watch how they behave. After all, people often say one thing and do another.
3. Hunt for patterns (e.g. identify verifiable causal relationships)
-- the most effective problem-finders become adept at searching for and identifying patterns. They learn how to mine past experience, both personal and organizational, so that they can recognize problems more quickly.
4. Connect the dots
-- you must refine your ability to "connect the dots" among seemingly disparate pieces of information. Threats do not come to us in neat little packages. They often remain maddeningly diffuse. Only by putting together many small bits of information can we spot the problem facing the organization.
5. Encourage useful failures (i.e. those that are small, brief, inexpensive, and informative)
-- effective problem-finders learn how to encourage people to take risks and learn from their mistakes. They recognize that some failures can be quite useful, because they provide opportunities for learning and improvement. You must distinguish between excusable and inexcusable mistakes, though, lest you erode accountability in the organization.
6. Teach how to talk and to listen (also when and why)
-- you must refine your own and your organization's communication skills. You have to train people how to speak up more effectively and teach leaders at all levels how to respond appropriately to someone who surfaces a concern, points out a problem, or challenges the conventional wisdom.
7. Watch the "game film" of past performance (make adjustments, practice deliberately)
-- the best problem-finders become like great coaches who watch film of past performances and glean important lessons about their team's problems as well as those of their principal rivals. You must become adept at review and reflection, as well as how to practice new behaviors effectively.
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