Post by stefanieoshea on Feb 11, 2016 15:09:36 GMT
As I was reading the Critical Thinking for Managers: A Manifesto article I circled phrases and ideas that stood out to me as ways to try and guide my employees to be stronger critical thinkers, but once I was done I realized what I had circled were actually ways that I needed to be a stronger critical thinker. In the very beginning of the article the author states that "thinking dispositions can be taught and learned" which really stood out to me; I can teach an old dog new tricks? Including some of my most tenured employees? That was a barrier that I was letting get in the way of everything that came after in the article because there were some people that I had completely given up on under the old and dangerous saying "they are who they are and nothing is going to change that". I would never let someone say that about me or one of my programs, so why was I letting myself say that about people who could not only be taught but may also be able to bring some great new ideas to the department? Yikes!
Later in the article there are some great ideas for how to encourage critical thinking and the one that really stood out to me was cross training. When I took over as the director in my department we were undergoing a great deal of staffing change in the organization. People that had been in their positions for a very long time had departed and those of us left or newly hired/promoted were tasked with taking over their duties but there were many things that no one had a clue how to do because staff had not been cross trained! Information was not shared, likely an unintentional side effect of people being focused on their day to day routines, but once they were gone I realized what a detriment it had become to the organization as a whole. There were basic tasks that I had no idea how to do or where to even start with learning; it was in one of these moments that I decided not to be an information "hoarder" and to make sure that I knew how to do what my staff does in their day to day but also that they know what each other do, which is great for cross training as well as a team approach to appreciating how hard we all work. I realized that I took too much comfort in how well my staff could operate without my micromanaging and was missing the ability to know what they do and be able to assist them in critically thinking about their tasks and allowing other staff to do the same.
I am definitely not completely there within my own knowledge and my staff's but we are all very dedicated to being "moving parts" in order to learn and help each other both in the daily operations and when looking at the bigger picture of where we want to take our department, and now I hope to teach some old dogs some new tricks in cross training them too!
Later in the article there are some great ideas for how to encourage critical thinking and the one that really stood out to me was cross training. When I took over as the director in my department we were undergoing a great deal of staffing change in the organization. People that had been in their positions for a very long time had departed and those of us left or newly hired/promoted were tasked with taking over their duties but there were many things that no one had a clue how to do because staff had not been cross trained! Information was not shared, likely an unintentional side effect of people being focused on their day to day routines, but once they were gone I realized what a detriment it had become to the organization as a whole. There were basic tasks that I had no idea how to do or where to even start with learning; it was in one of these moments that I decided not to be an information "hoarder" and to make sure that I knew how to do what my staff does in their day to day but also that they know what each other do, which is great for cross training as well as a team approach to appreciating how hard we all work. I realized that I took too much comfort in how well my staff could operate without my micromanaging and was missing the ability to know what they do and be able to assist them in critically thinking about their tasks and allowing other staff to do the same.
I am definitely not completely there within my own knowledge and my staff's but we are all very dedicated to being "moving parts" in order to learn and help each other both in the daily operations and when looking at the bigger picture of where we want to take our department, and now I hope to teach some old dogs some new tricks in cross training them too!