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 –
this course
new concepts to add to cvs2bvs etc
particularly PTO
Bad-
course short
not enough time to build in new thinking habits
everything you could think of – short of death has tried to keep me from computer
Better –
go through original courses again (PRR)
read all other SOT material
go to other recommended resources – eg TED
Good:
CVS to BVS
PTO
Truth virus
Bad:
No immediate feedback
Better:
A slightly more tactful approach
GOOD:
CVS2BVS
Thinking & reading other responses
Discussing GBB at the dinner table
BAD:
Missing the feedback of a conversation
Batch managament of the lessons
BETTER:
Reading more of others responses
Taking a few minutes of each day
Keep thinking about BVS
G’day
Good;
1 GBB,
2 PTO
3 Using above with my family
Bad;
1 Brief Strengths Test
2 Comments going missing
3 Automated training is very cold and impersonal
Better
1 Seeing the problem & opportunity PTO’s through
2 Keep using GBB
3 And the next 154 days???
Good – simple principles; daily emails driving discipline to complete; references to real life experiences (e.g. military)
Bad – managing time to complete lessons against competing priorities; no feedback; too much personal reflection.
Better – lesson content could be included in the body of the email so reduce the reliance on internet access and so lessons could be done while travelling (for example); better context by company about relationship with philosophy/strategy; more simple tools.
Good – New skills, interesting, thought provoking,
Bad – DFQs came on weekends when I don’t check email, no feedback from the trainer, too easy to miss a DFQ
Better – Some more practical tools, more examples of new “thinking” working, better anonymity.
G1: Interesting to learn new techniques
G2: Reading other peoples responses via blog
G3: Changed my daily thinking patterns
B1: No direct interaction with others
B2: Text open to my interpretation with no teacher explanation
B3: No feedback
B1: Follow up classes
B2: Some kind of feedback
B3: More in depth teaching method
Good. Reflective, interesting, informative
Bad. Seems very high level with no real practical experience, not entirely clear if I was getting the concepts right (No feedback), I don’t feel I have actually gained any “skill”
Better. Some practical elements built into the course to hone skills like PTO & CVS2BVS, Some individual feedback on responses to ensure I am “on track”, Greater depth on the concepts perhaps with real world examples to see how we can apply the practices
Good – reflection, practice, repetition
Bad – not always sure on right track, not always in depth, feeling isolated
Better – provide feeback, extra content, working groups
G: exciting experience; acquirement (interesting knowledge, new BVSes); acquisition new techniques (E+S=T, PTO, GBB).
B: 1) I can’t measure my skills (no measurement implements) and that’s matter that
2) my confidence improve not so match as I desire and
3) I can’t feel full satisfaction. ( or frustration :D)
B: maybe more time; maybe more practice tasks; feedback.