Apr04

Strategic Thinking 1: Knowledge/Think

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So, still imagining with Bloom’s taxonomy . . . ways to achieve company wide understanding through blogging.

Imagine that you use a company blog to track the development of your next product, and that you open the blog for posting by the entire development team. Each part of the product could have it’s own category wiith subcategories. Those categories could carry what was once the emails, meeting notes, and file links for that project part. All developers could login and post as needed to move the project forward. All communication would be in one place for access.

Marketers, key members of the sales force, the warehouse and other stakeholders could have access to the blog address and the ability to comment as the project moves along.

Imagine the benefits of such a situation.

  • A significant population has gained an understanding of the project at a deeper level than just “buzz words.”
  • Interdepartmental teams begin to see the value and interconnectedness of their job roles in forwarding the vision of the enterprise.
  • Communication improves in quality and quantity because information is centralized and not lost in verbal white noise.
  • Personal investment in the product increases from all departments who have participated in the exercise.
  • The wide pool of folks who truly understand the product, it’s purpose, and it’s key values are available to teach the rest of the enterprise what they know.

This same model can be used in business to teach process or in schools to teach process or skills that children or teachers are attempting to master–students learning from other students and teachers learning from other teachers.

Bloom’s taxonomy highlighted as an explicit goal–that we ensure a small group has complete understanding before moving forward to teach a larger group–can focus our work to bring all members to mastery.

We do that by writing the word understanding into our performance appraisals of each student, employee, teacher, and manager’s work.

Bloom’s taxonomy was meant to be used in this fashion. Folks weren’t meant to move to the next step until they had mastered the one before.

We know that is not what occurs.

We’ve never considered what the world might be like if we used Bloom’s Taxonomy as it was intended. Suppose we tried that now.

What if we showed our students and workforce why taking the time to understand is worth stopping to do. The foundation of such a business would be built on something stronger than concrete and more flexible than aluminum.

A new kind of communication would be the result. A new kind of thinker would be in our midst.

Liz Strauss

 

  • http://www.lizstrauss.com/2006/04/05/everyones-business/strategic-thinking-2-understand/ Liz Strauss . com Strategic Thinking 2: Understand

    [...] « Strategic Thinking 1: Knowledge/Think [...]

  • http://www.lizstrauss.com/2006/04/08/everyones-business/strategic-thinking-3-application-in-a-knowledge-enterprise/ Liz Strauss . com Strategic Thinking 3: Application in a Knowledge Enterprise

    [...] If that knowledge enterprise using Bloom’s taxonomy, that I discussed in Strategic Thinking 1 and 2, has reached Comprehension, then the next step, Application, is seamless. It would happen in some manner for the product to be sold. The key shareholders in the development blog now would work as a team to present the product to a larger group. [...]

  • http://www.lizstrauss.com/2006/04/11/everyones-business/strategic-thinking-5-the-80-20-rule/ Liz Strauss . com Strategic Thinking 5: The 80-20 Rule

    [...] It seems that a knowledge enterprise that had brought a significant size team through the process that I outlined in Strategic Thinking 1, and 2, and 3, and 4, would be able to offer 80% of the inidividuals within the organization the tools they need to Apply and Analyze in the true Bloom definitions of the terms. [...]

  • http://www.lizstrauss.com/2006/04/13/everyones-business/strategic-thinking-6-synthesis-and-evaluation-in-theory/ Liz Strauss . com Strategic Thinking 6: Synthesis and Evaluation in Theory

    [...] In the new knowledge enterprises I’ve been describing since Strategic Thinking 1, this core group is larger, more heterogeous, and enjoys a deeper, common knowledge and base of understanding. So, when this group reaches sythesis and evaluation, their ability to strategize will have more,if not all, of the skills I describe in 10 Critical Skills for the Future. [...]

  • http://www.lizstrauss.com/2006/04/10/everyones-business/strategic-thinking-4-analysis/ Liz Strauss [dot] com Strategic Thinking 4: Analysis

    [...] In the imagined scenario, that I’ve been sketching out across the articles: Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Teach Deep Thinking, Strategic 1, Strategic 2, and Strategic 3, the team has applied their shared base of knowledge and comprehension–of a product that has been developed, and discussed via team blogging–to the task of presenting what’s been made to the larger group of the enterprise, in a way that has provided deeper understanding for all members of both groups. [...]

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