Myrna:
Regarding the 7 Step Problem Solving Method, and the two levels I
mentioned (experience and thought)
Don't let the words mean more than they're supposed to.
Level of thought means: sitting around, thinking, talking, having a
dialog, gathering ideas, inference and judgement, brainstorming--all that
kind of soft (but hard) stuff.
Level of experience simply means getting the facts first hand; witnessing
the procedure, process or work instruction; interviewing the customer at
the customer location, perhaps from a production manager's perspective;
getting the hands dirty, the feet wet, the rubber on the road. Shiba
talks about jumping into the fishbowl to swim among the fish, then jumping
out to report back. The reporting out is once again at the level of
thought, not direct experience. I hope that's easier. Do you see the
easy distinction?
Now, you mention "vibes" and "totality" and "creativity". Them words make
me feel warm and fuzzy all over. I like them. I suspect that team work
which espouses learning incorporates a kind of linearity of process during
which there are periods of creativity. We're all describing this, or
dancing around this activity in our postings to the august list.
Imagine a nice, long, oval cherry meeting table in a bright room. Six
team members are discussing the collected data upon which to make as sound
judgements as can be made. But every once in a while, from beneath the
table, almost too swift to catch, a team member will flash her net into
the air to snag an idea, floating like tree silk in the air. We're
combining two distinct kinds of "behavior" (Careful, Barry, you're
treading on thin ice...).
We haven't yet learned as humans to be totally, 100% creative. I think
it's impossible, because we are animals who by the nature of things act in
a linear way. Breathe in, breathe out. One mouthful at a time. One foot
ahead of the next. Recognize that. And recognize, too, that atop the
commotion sits the brain capable of some very non-linear stuff. Meetings
COMBINE the two. Business uses both. Learning fuses one to the other,
hopefully for the betterment of us all. Let's organize!
-- Best regards, Barry bmallis@markem.com