Cognitive Imperatives For The Future Workforce

“The future is not what it used to be”

Albert Einstein

“We can’t become what we want to be by remaining what we are”

Max Du Pree

“The best way of predicting the future is to create it yourself”

Xerox Company

The future is about change:

• Fundamental• Pervasive• Continuous

change

ambiguity

uncertainty

Change is not a linear process

Transistor

VHS IT cul-de-sac

Silicon chip

Mode 1 (theory)

Knowledge

Mode 2(‘real world’Application)

Disciplinary

Knowledge Interdisciplinary

Transdisciplinary

The speed of change, and its pervasive and fundamental impact, mean our notions of epistemology and pedagogy should also be subject to constant change.

Our notions of education, education systems and education institutions are rooted firmly in the past.

Howard Gardner’s basic premise:

In the past and present, the focus of education and training has been on the attainment of knowledge, skills and understanding

In the future, the focus of education and training must be on ways of thinking

“This is not to say that current generic competencies do not address cognitive abilities, but it is to argue that they do not necessarily address all the cognitive abilities that will be necessary for employees of the future, and it is certainly to argue that we will need to look at different ways of packaging or understanding those cognitive capacities”.

Larry Smith, Campus Review October 2008

Gardner’s multiple intelligences• Bodily-kinesthetic: good at physical activities (sport/ dance)• Interpersonal: communicate effectively and empathize easily with

others (teachers/ social workers)• Verbal-linguistic: a facility with words and languages (writers/ lawyers)• Logical-mathematical: good with logic, abstractions, reasoning, and

numbers (scientists/ engineers)• Naturalistic: sensitivity to nature and their place within it (naturalists/

farmers)• Intrapersonal: affinity for thought-based pursuits such as philosophy

(philosophers/ theologians)• Visual-spatial: good at visualizing and mentally manipulating objects

(artists/ architects)• Musical: sensitivity to sounds, rhythms, tones, and music

(instrumentalists/ singers/ composers)

Howard GardnerFive Minds for the FutureBoston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007

Available through the Australian Institute of Management Bookshop in Sydney and Brisbane, or on-line

aimbooks.com.au

Disciplinary

Synthesising

Minds for Creatingthe future

Respectful

Ethical

Reflective

Minds we need to develop in others

Minds we need to develop in ourselves

In the future:

We need to be equipped to deal with the expected

We also need to be equipped to deal with the unexpected – that which cannot be anticipated

Disciplinary mind: mastery of a professionSynthesising mind: ability to integrate ideas into a

coherent wholeCreating mind: capacity to develop new and innovative

product and answers to challengesRespectful mind: awareness of and appreciation for

differences among peopleEthical mind: knowing what is right, and behaving

accordinglyReflective mind: interrogating one's own experiences

“The empires of the future will be empires of the mind”

Winston Churchill

We must start with a vision of the kind of individuals we want to emerge from the vocational education and training system and then think about the knowledge and skills that are needed, not the other way around.

Vision should drive process, not the reverse.

Policy makers act as if the aims of the vocational education and training system are self-evident

It can be reasonably asserted that the vocational education system is doing a good job of preparing people for the present, but not necessarily the future.

Much of our curriculum – our training packages in Australia – is still narrowly focussed on knowledge and skill.

We acknowledge globalisation and the rapidity of change in our rhetoric, yet then prepare a vocational curriculum that reflects what we ourselves experienced and understood in the past. It is not the basis for an effective curriculum that prepares people for the future!

We need to think globally, but we also need to remember the importance of continuing to act locally, at least in part.

What are the consequences if we don’t develop the ‘minds for the future’?

Without a disciplined mind, we won’t be able to succeed in any demanding workplace of the future

Without a synthesising mind, we will be overwhelmed by the amount of information

Without a creating mind, we won’t be able to solve the problems of today and grasp the opportunities of tomorrow

Without a respectful mind, we won’t fit comfortably in the workplaces of the future

Without an ethical mind, there will be a lack of workplace and community trust and integrity

Without a reflective mind, we won’t learn from our successes or our failures

The disciplined mind

There is a significant difference between accumulating subject matter knowledge and thinking in a disciplined way.

A discipline is more than a distinctive knowledge base – it is a distinctive way of thinking.

People bring to work the habits and beliefs that served them well in the past.

Old habits die hard.

Before we can learn something new, we often have to unlearn something old.

Facts are inert knowledge that gain meaning by being put in context.

“An individual is disciplined to the extent that she has acquired the habits that allow her to make steady and unending progress in the mastery of a skill, craft, or body of knowledge”

Howard Gardner

A disciplined individual realises that:1) She must be a lifelong learner in order to cope

with the increasing complexity of, and increasing amount of information in, the world: and

2) The process of learning is intrinsically enjoyable and rewarding

The synthesising mind

The ability to bring together information from disparate sources into a coherent whole is vital for the world of today, and even more so for the world of tomorrow.

Ways of synthesising include:

• Narratives (stories/ anecdotes)• Taxonomies• Rules and general principles• Models• Issues/ themes• Theories• Scenarios

The creating mind

The Russian psychologist Csikszentmihalyi argues that creativity is never simply the achievement of a lone individual. Rather, he says, creativity involves the interaction of (1) an individual (or group or team) who has mastered some discipline with (2) the cultural domain in which that person is working and (3) the relevant discipline field.

In simple terms, creativity requires knowledge of your discipline, a supportive and inspiring work environment, and acknowledgement by high-credibility professional peers.

The person with the creative mind is:• “perennially dissatisfied with current work, current

standards, current questions, current answers” (Gardner)

• Bold and ambitious• Tough-skinned and robust – used to failure• Willing to strike out in unfamiliar directions – to be

“different from the pack”

The creator is motivated by uncertainty, ambiguity, surprise, continual challenge, and disequilibrium.

“Value the excellent failure above the mediocre success” (Tom Peters)

“Creativity is a chancy undertaking that can never be guaranteed – only fostered or thwarted” (Gardner)

“In most workplaces of yesterday and today, conventionality is rewarded; deviants are marginalised or fired” (Gardner)

“Value the usurper – employ a Devil’s Advocate” (Tom Peters)

“Don’t problem solve – opportunity solve” (Edward de Bono)

“Ask reverse questions” (Edward de Bono)

“Don’t just seek to think outside the box - create a whole new box”

“Nowadays, few workplaces worthy of the name would do anything but proclaim themselves as cradles of creativity. I do not deny their intentions, but too many corporations do not have the courage of their convictions” (Theresa Amabile)

“Try to be a peripheral visionary” (Stephen Wright)

“I used to draw like Raphael; it has taken me my whole life to learn to draw like a child” (Pablo Picasso)

There is a world of difference between being an expert and being creative.

Most creators are experts, but many experts are not particularly creative.

An expert is someone who, after extensive training and experience, has reached the pinnacle of current knowledge and practice in her chosen field.

“He has everything but he lacks inexperience” (allegedly said of an aging orchestra conductor)

The respectful mind

“The task for educators becomes clear: if we are to fashion persons who respect differences, we need to provide models and offer lessons that encourage [empathy]. Such modelling is especially crucial when the power relationship between individuals or groups appears to be asymmetrical”

(Gardner)

“Models set by teachers constitute a crucial starting point. Students take keen note of how teachers treat one another, how they treat other adults, and how they treat students – particularly those who come from a non-majority group”

(Gardner)

Teams are powerful incubators of creative thinking and ideas. Teams can only operate well if their members have developed respectful minds.

“A team is a group of staff with complementary knowledge and skills who collaborate to achieve a particular goal or segment of work” (Smith&Riley)

“The best indicator that staff are operating as a team lies in the language they use: you will hear them talking about we, us and our instead of I, you and they” (Richard Luecke)

“The diversity of knowledge, skills, perspectives and ways of thinking that are present in most teams creates the potential for significant conflict” (Smith&Riley)

“The best way that you can turn conflict from a

negative to a positive force is to ensure that team members genuinely listen to each other, accept the legitimacy of different viewpoints, question base assumptions, and objectively evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each idea” (Smith&Riley).

The ethical mind

“Being recognised as a member of a profession is not the same as acting like a professional. Many individuals designated as professionals and dressed in expensive suits do not act in a professional manner; they cut corners, pursue their own interests, fail to honour the central precepts and strictures of their calling. They are executing “compromised work””(Gardner)

The ethical mind knows the core values of one’s profession and seeks to maintain them and pass them on, even – perhaps particularly – in times of rapid and unpredictable change.

“We are who we hang out with” works in both directions!

An increasingly common ethical issue for business people generally, and for TAFE managers in particular, is having to make a decision when all decision-making options have an ethical, or at least moral, problem.

The reflective mind

Reflective practice is about interrogating one's own experiences, including one’s thinking and decision-making processes at the time of those experiences.

It is about identifying possibilities for productive future action based on a detailed investigation of the past – what some people call addressing the history of the future.

It is about learning from our mistakes and our omissions.

“Looking forward, looking back” (Slim Dusty)

‘The history of the future’

Reflection can significantly improve our self-perception by identifying that we know and have achieved much more than we previously thought, or will allow ourselves to believe.

Reflection not only enhances the way we see and value ourselves, but also our perception of how we believe we are seen and valued by others. As such, it is a major determinant of our goals and ambitions, and our beliefs regarding our capacity to achieve them.

Reflection is both a starting point and a tipping point for improving self-perception, and in turn, the nature and quality of vocational learning.

Reflection is the point at which learners start to acknowledge who they are and what they can do, and to take responsibility for it.

Reflection is about ‘looking back’ and asking the following types of questions about yourself (or your team) in relation to a particular event or issue :

• What options did I have at the time?• What were the strengths and weaknesses of each

option?• Why did I make the decision I did?• If I was confronted by the same issue again, would

I make the same decision or a different one? Why?• What have I learned that I can take forward to

improve my performance in the future?

We shall not cease from explorationand the end of all our exploring

will be to arrive where we startedand know the place for the first time.

(T.S.Eliot, The Four Quartets)

“I have just bought myself a microwave fireplace.Now I can sit in front of the fireplace all night –

in just 8 minutes!”

(Steven Wright)