Everything is a mixed bag in life!
Nothing can ever be ‘all good’ or ‘all bad’.
Over the past 40 years of teaching higher order critical thinking skills we have seen that one of the most useful SOT thinking algorithms is the GBB.
When you do a GBB you deliberately judge the Good, the Bad and then you go even further to discern what could be Better.
G = GOOD. The good things about an idea why you like it.
B = BAD. The bad things about an idea why you don’t like it.
B = BETTER. What could be much better about an idea.
Everyone agrees that we should all be more broad-minded, more tolerant, more thoughtful, considerate, and more creative. Why don’t people THINK? How often have you heard that question?
It is easy to say to someone, “Why don’t you be more broad-minded?” But it is not so easy to actually do it. This is because it is impossible to focus attention on general attitudes like the ones mentioned above. They sound great as slogans and battle cries but have proved to be of little value as operating tools which can actually be practised and used.
However, a GBB is specific. It is possible to ask someone to “Do a GBB on this.” The thought-leader then takes pride in the skill of being able to deliberately see the Good, Bad and Better points in the situation.
DO A GBB!
Instead of just saying that you like an idea, or you don’t like it, you can use a GBB.
When you use a GBB, you give the good points, the bad points, and also the points which are neither good nor bad but are much better.
You can use a GBB as a way of managing ideas, suggestions, and proposals.
You can ask someone else to do a GBB, or you can be asked to do one yourself.
DFQ #19:
Do a GBB!Tomorrow is the last lesson in this 30-day leadership pipeline so today is a chance to reflect on your journey so far. Do a GBB on this month’s training!
• List 3 GOOD things.
• List 3 BAD things.
• List 3 things that could be BETTER.Post your GBB below:
Good
>Have learned some great techniques for learning and for discipline.
>Have found the pace to be good, almost daily small bites works really well for me.
>Has been challenging but not too hard that I was disillusioned about it.
Bad
>Some of the concepts were not explored in depth. They were clear and understandable, just not deep exploration.
>Other students answers makes it easy to get stuck in an existing pattern.
>No individual feedback from the Tutor makes it a little bit one sided.
Better
>More breadth of content/examples supporting each concept.
>A forum or process that specific feedback is provided by the Tutor, even if as a group.
>Improved confidentiality and a framework to interact with other students away from each exercise.
>A large library of tasks that can be taken at the students convenience, but only up to the level that you have progressed to thus far.
Bad
1. Not long enough.
Good
1. I learned PTO.
Better
1. More information.
Good: Think about issues outside my area of work.
Bad: Realise I’m time poor.
Better: I need to reorganise my priorities.
Good
1. You can look at others responses and see already how much of an impact it is to look at others opininons
2. There isnt too much information to be digested
3. great topic, questions target the learner
Bad
1. Not able to readily discuss topics
2. No Face to face contact
3. Sometimes links didnt work for me
Better
1. Seminars
2. Feedback and challeneges
3. Have a chat room to discuss topics
GOOD
Loved the challenge to think
loved the shared thoughts from other folks – thanks
liked the structure
loved being able to work at my own pace as I have been away during some of the sessions
BAD
Would have like the opportunity to have diaglogue with other folks
felt stymied when I read the thoughts of others and wanted to explore further
Would have like feedback ( Michael I know you are busy but no harm in stating a desire)
Where do we go from here? just starting to get my teeth into things and nowhere to go
BETTER
Have a chat room established
Have people who are willing to share emails to do so
Organise get togethers/ seminars/ conferences
Plan for ongoing activites
Good
– I’ve grown tremendously, a great opportunity – thank you!
– Work at own pace in a very busy work environement
– No cost involved.
Bad
– Open forum, lack of confidentiality which inhibits work related discussions.
– Difficulty in responding to DFO’s daily due to unforeseen work related restraints.
– Pressure to respond – felt guilty that I had to sometimes do DFO’s in a batch
Better
– Forums for likeminded people to have interactive discussions
– Improved confidentiality
– Increased feedback
Good
– Opportunity to develop myself
– Opportunity to take time out to think
– Opportunity to share with others and broaden my outlook
Bad
– Postings are only in response to the question and rarely are an on-going discussion with all the participants
– Work related issues are hard to discuss
– Feeling compelled to respond to all of the questions when some are more relevant to me than others
Better
– More interaction between participants
– Ability to be able to connect with other participants
Good
1. Looked forward to the daily task
2. Great tools that everyone can use and no charge !
3. A review/reminder of one’s strengths and weaknesses is always a good thing
4. PTO, pipeline, PRR and CVS to BVS which I use frequently.
5. The resolution of the “contradiction” between PTO and free thinking
Bad
1. The days when there was no tasks to complete, harder to keep to a routine
2. Lack of feedback
3. Would prefer to see other thoughts after completing the task to prevent “group think”
Better
1. More interaction between participants and instructor to facilitate discussion
2. Host a discussion group/forum on linkedIn or facebook and get students talking to each other about where their learning’s have been applied. What worked, what did not work, and if so why do they think it did not work
3. More learning, just getting into and its finished! What’s next ?
Good
I) A chance to reframe, refresh, perspective and escape from the day to day
II) Seeing my teams perspective and the perspective of others, having an insight into their thoughts – collaborative learning – enabled by a blog forum that does not see the quieter members precluded from participation by the noisy ones
III) Self-Reflection in bite size chunks in a busy world
Bad
I) Responses that have not been considered – people who feel obliged to respond
II) Balance with face to face interaction
III) Has been difficult to focus when completing DFQ’s in the work environment with current state of mind and distractions
Better
I) Increased face to face discussion with others doing the course
II) Reduce inhibition associated with concerns over others reading comments – increased openness from participants
III) Option to complete DFQ’s outside the work environment
Good – user friendlieness of the teaching format. New concepts and ideas. I can read and feedback at leasure.
Bad – Christmas leave ment I had to catch up alot when I returned to work. The feedback form does not convert i to I. I don’t remember being asked to list my 3 opp/probs and counldn’t remenber then to refer to.
Better – be prompted to print out 3 probs/ opps for referrel. Increase level of standard MS office type spelling/ grammer fixes in feedback form. Out of office feature to postpone delivery of lessons.