Graduation Speech : Pick A Thinking Hat Essay

When I was younger, I would often return home to a familiar question: So, what did you learn today? My answer would always be "nothing" or "stuff." As I look back, I never lied, yet, I never told the whole truth. Many people think that you don't know anything with only 18 years of experience; I think they're wrong. I've learned a lot about myself and others from the relationships I have built throughout the years. I believe my most important lessons were "people" lessons. Those are the ones which could never be taught out of a book or in a lecture; you have to go out and experience them for yourself.

WOW! So much has happened since June. The SV FFA and ag department had a rough start to our year losing three of our students who were on the FFA officer team to other schools. Even with this bump in the road, the four officers that remained visited Mt. Shasta City and had a blast bonding and learning more about each other at their officer retreat in August. Once school started we found three new officers and attended COLC (Chapter Officer Leadership Conference) where the entire team learned about their diverse leadership styles and were able to bond together as the official Surprise Valley FFA Chapter Officer Team for the 2017-2018 school year. If you see them around, congratulate President Cindy Hinze, V.P. Maddison Seely, Secretary Maya

Given the group's ideas show that you are interested in the ideas of others, and not just your thoughts. This makes you a member of a good team. After all, no one likes to know everything

YOU ARE THE HEAD OF A SOCIAL CLUB, AND YOU HAVE BEEN ASKED TO, WITH THE HELP OF YOUR SMALL GROUP, TO ARRANGE FOR MUSICAL TALENT TO COME TO CAMPUS AND PLAY AT ATHE CHIRSTMAS DANCE. PICK A THINKING HAT. BASED ON YOUR PERSONALITY, WHICH HAT WOULD YOU WEAR IN THE GROUP AS YOU LEAD YOUR TEAM IN IDEAS GENERATION? WHICH TECHNIQUE FROM THIS CHAPTER WOULD BEST WORK TO GENERATE IDEAS AND REACH YOUR SMALL GROUP OBJECTIVES? WHY?

I once read that life is well represented as a pearl deep within an oyster. The pearl symbolizes each person's potential, or the things that are going well for them in life. Just as a mere grain of sand that enters an oyster can grow into something of great worth, there is a fragment of excellency within every one of you that over time can be shape you into an individual who will make a difference in the world.

Edgar Allan Poe once said, "All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."

As a general manager I would utilize the group decision making process by having controlled brain storming sessions that involve all employees in the company. All of the employees could potentially bring an idea or ideas to the table because creative ideas usually arise when there is total freedom of ideas minus criticism. I would first do it by email and then by a group.

Janis also identifies three antecedents that encourage group think (Macleod, 2011). The first is high levels of stress from external threats. The second is high group cohesiveness. The third is the persuasive strength of the group’s leader.

Since my group consisted of four members, I chose the Brainstorming protocol to begin facilitation. As Conzemius and O’Neill state “Brainstorming works best with a relatively small groups” (Conzemius & O’Neill, 2014, pg.113). I posed the question of “What other criteria should be monitored in order for students to be allowed to participate in trimester rewards?” to my group. After stating the question, the group was able to provide me with six different ideas. I was able to observe how giving the group a focused question helped them develop a list of useful ideas I may use to address my problem. To narrow down are brainstorming list, I chose the Multivoting protocol. Conzemius & O’Neill state, “Multivoting starts with brainstorming or some other method of generating a list of ideas or options for a particular issue” (Conzemius & O’Neill, 2014, pg118). When using Multivoting, each group member was given four sticky dots to “Determine which goals are most worthy of pursuit” (Conzemius & O’Neill, 2014, pg118). If feel we achieved a list of final priorities to address my question of

Brainstorming in groups, if handled properly, can lead to the most advantageous solution to a problem. If mishandled, the group will return disastrous advice. One of the obstacles to effective brainstorming is groupthink; when the group follows along with the consensus to maintain harmony. This process is dangerous because the ideas presented are not critically evaluated, and without proper evaluation the wrong decision can be made.

Students, faculty, family, friends, on this exciting day, I speak to optimism, laughter, and grins.

Approached wrong, Brainstorming can be a huge roadblock to progress. Constructive thinking mega-site ‘Mindtools.com ' say, “Conventional group problem solving can often be undermined by unhelpful group behaviour… when solving problems, this can lead a group to develop limited and unimaginative ideas.”

Although shared information bias was evident during our brainstorming sessions, process gain also occurred, as the presence of multiple group members provided access to information, strategies and problem solving ideas that we would otherwise not be privy to if we were working alone (Johnson & Johnson, 2009, p. 97). For example, one group member suggested that we discuss the components of the assigned task and collectively identify the most vital aspects of our group theory and how best to represent these ideas in our presentation. Through this group member’s suggestion to organize our tasks and prioritize the

Well, this is it, the day all of us have been waiting for has finally arrived. It seems like only yesterday we were picking our noses and flicking them at innocent bystanders or yelling childish phrases like, "Liar, liar, pants on fire!" or, wait, that was yesterday. Never mind. Anyways.

Brainstorming helps teams come up with innovative ideas and solutions in the workplace. Encourage team members to get together in pairs or groups to bounce ideas off each other. Remind each participant that there are no silly ideas and to get as creative as possible. By letting those individuals know that going to the "edge" or beyond of rational thought is often the best way to do things.