Reflection 1
I would say that my thinking process moulds to the situation that I am in. For example, in school, we are often marked and evaluated on metrics such as thoroughness, clarity, accuracy, precision, use of evidence, and fairness – all elements of critical thinking. In these types of situations, be it in writing an essay or completing an assignment, my brain switches to a critical thinking strategy in order to deliver on the above metrics. However, being in Marketing has allowed us as students to open up our minds to creative thinking. We are not only graded on our ability to think critically and produce an assignment, report, or project that is thorough, accurate, provides sound evidence, and so on, but also on the creative and engaging presentation of ideas, the use of visual stimulants, and always collaborating with fellow peers to gain greater insight for the assignment at hand.
Furthermore, when I am at work, I find that I engage my creative thinking first to generate an idea or concept and then use critical thinking to work out the details and clarify the idea. For example, I work in the Marketing department at HSBC Bank Canada and recently worked in a team to develop an internal incentive program for employees. This particular incentive program is developed every quarter with specific business goals that HSBC wants to achieve. I found that when I first sat down to come up with ideas, I allocated a significant portion of time just to brainstorm as many different program concepts that I could think of. I then shared my ideas with my colleagues and the Product team, eager to gain their opinion on the concept and also if the design of the program would maximize the goals of the business. To do this, I provided visual examples and a mock-up of several concepts. All these elements formed the creative thinking that went into my task. From there, I then used my critical thinking skills to fine-tune all the elements of the incentive program to ensure that it was fair for the participating employees, ensure that there were no loopholes or ambiguity in its design, developed a communication plan that ensured that the program was delivered with clarity, and developed a tracking method that was precise and thorough.
I had not realized that my thinking process had developed into Design Thinking until I read a formal definition of what it was. However, now that I understand what it is, I can see how having this more holistic type of thinking can really benefit an individual or corporation from making decisions. As stated by Lockwood, “fundamental methods in design thinking are collaboration, embedding diverse points of view, and integrative thinking” (pg. X). I can especially relate to this in my experiences at work – on every project we always engage several stakeholders from many teams, this can include having perspectives from the Customer Experience team, Diversity & Inclusion, Product, Marketing, and the business itself. It is now evident to me that the collaboration of all these teams does result in more balanced and creative decision making. Personally, with the help of my Marketing classes and exposure in the industry, my thinking process has transformed from being purely critical to also include and give equal if not sometimes greater importance to creative thinking.