Reflection and Learning

The importance of Reflection is clear. This is where LEARNING happens. For reflection to be successful the reflector needs to be open to his espoused theory and theory-in-use gap being exposed and crawled over. I suspect that many people may retrospectively “close this gap” (cognitive dissonance?) and thereby not acknowledge it. Doing this closes the door to learning. This is where the power of the techniques used and espoused by Chris Argyris come through – the power of disorienting people and leaving them feel exposed ‘in practice’. This then opens things up for learning. i.e. by Shining a Light or Focusing Attention sharply on the area.

Read more about Chris Argyris and his double-loop learning theories by clicking on the title of this blog post.

Cult Fiction

My son Andrew (aka Andy, Drew or Ardie depending on which sub-culture you belong to) has written a book. Needless to say I am extremely proud. What father would not be delighted to see his son grow to write a novel and have it published?

He belongs to a generation immersed in social networks, new media, always-on communication and a new language associated with this world community. This is a world that appears to have no barriers, no boundaries, no class. It feels timeless and season-free. Ideas ping their way around the globe, being freely shared, blended, improved, challenged and accepted.

Of course I would love it if you read the book, and I do recommend it, especially if you have ever enjoyed any of the work of Douglas Adams. But, even more than the content of the book itself, this feels like the product of a new generation of thinkers, a new age of innovators, and the dawn of a more co-operative and hopeful world. Reading will never die, but the way that we create and generate new ideas to be read will continue to evolve. It's exciting to observe at close quarters.

Whet your appetite at the following links;-

http://www.facebook.com/CultFictionBook

http://ardiecollins.com/blog/

military precision in the Tube

Are humans naturally programmed to serve in the miltary? I was impressed as I watched the movement of people at the bottom of the escalators at Holborn tube the other day. The permutations of possible routes people can take is complex. Down and right to Piccadilly, down and left to Central. Direct from Central to Piccadilly and vice versa. Up from the blue line and likewise the red. 6 different routes in a relatively small space and hundreds of people all in full flow. I did not spot one collision. People seemed to lock on to their destination point and in a feat of collective co-ordination and uncanny, and apparently unwitting, mutual understanding, they weave and stride, eyes fixed, focused and unerring, slide past one another and disappear into the next tunnel or up the escalator. All of this achieved while many are locked away in their i-pod world or screening their texts and emails on blackberries and i-phones. I have been to the military tattoo at Edinburgh Castle, I have even been in a para-military organisation (steady!! - it was the Boys Brigade). I have trained for weeks for Drill Parades and was always secretly proud of my grasp and timing when it came to the 'slow march'. But, having watched untrained commuters, from all cultures and countries, randomly thrown together in a tube station, perform a graceful and synchronised drill pattern with absolutely no rehearsals, I am wondering if we are indeed the descendants of a long lost military tribe with a natural instinct for co-ordinated and synchronised precision. Just a thought!

Is the Internet changing the way our brains work?

According to an article in Newsweek (Monday Jan 18th 2010) the answer is no. But, it may be altering the way we think.

Shortened attention span. Less interest in reflection and introspection. Inability to engage in in-depth thought. Fragmented, distracted thinking. These are all ways that the Internet supposedly affects thought. 109 philosophers, neurobiologists, and other scholars were asked "How is the Internet changing the way you think".

The general consensus of scholars who study the mind and the brain is that the Internet hasn't changed the way we think. Neuroscientist, Joshua Greene of Harvard, argues that it has provided us with unprecedented access to information, but hasn't changed what our brains actually do with it. Cognitive psychologist, Steven Pinker of Harvard, is equally uncertain that any fundamental changes have happened. "Texters, surfers, and twitterers have not trained their brains to process multiple streams of novel information in parallel, as is commonly asserted but refuted by research".

And yet, many scholars do believe the Internet alters thinking. Howard Rheingold (a Communications expert) believes the Internet fosters shallowness and distraction, with the result that our minds struggle to discipline and deploy attention in any concerted way. It is also argued that the Internet is causing the disappearance of retrospection and reminiscence. Evgeny Morozov, an expert on the Internet and politics, claims that our lives are increasingly lived in the present, completely detached even from the most recent of the pasts.

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (the author of the work on Flow - referenced and discussed elsewhere in this Blog) argues that since online information is often decontextualized it satisfies immediate needs at the expense of deeper understanding, resulting in more superficial thought. With facts (whether true or false) only a click away, the Internet allows us to know fewer facts, reducing their importance as a component of thought. But that increases the importance of other components such as correlating facts, distinguishing between important and secondary matters, knowing when to prefer pure logic and when to let common sense dominate.

In other words, more than ever, we need to apply judgement to what is important and what is not. I don't believe this is fundamentally different to what has gone before (apart from in terms of volume). All sources of information are subject to interpretation, and are conveyed through the filter of someone's brain. Judgement will become an ever more critical skill; but our brains, our thinking, and the way we process information, is tried and trusted and will serve us well.

Signposts & Weathercocks

I have a lot of time for Tony Benn. He is a genuine politician, an honest man, and someone always worth listening to. I heard him recently put in refreshingly simple terms the whole essence of leadership. It summed things up for me admirably.

Signposts are reliable. They provide you with a sense of direction. If you wander off and get lost, when you come back to them they are still pointing in the same direction. They stay firm and committed to where they believe they are going. They are not knocked off course easily.

Weathercocks on the other hand change at the whim of the wind. They seek out forums, opinion polls and swing with the tide of popularism. They cannot be relied upon.

Give me a signppost over a weathercock any day.

Change Your Mind More

"Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." wrote George Bernard Shaw.

What were you working on before you checked your email?

The question "What were you working on before you checked your email?" struck me between the eyes one morning. It immediately summed up to me all that is wrong with email - or at least the way we allow it run our lives. Don't get me wrong - I love my email. I'm pretty attached to it and wouldn't want to go back to a pre-email, snail mail world. But, how often does your day take on a different course than what you had planned after you start reading your email? How often does an email intrude on your day and take you on a totally different journey. Is your email ruling you, rather than you being in control of it? I received the message from a regular newsletter I receive from David Brownstein, Hollywood Coach. I worked with David a few years ago when I was being trained as a Leadership Coach, and he has some great messages such as this on his blog. I recommend it to you. Click on the title to read David's newsletter.