A Culture Of Thinking Or A Thinking Culture

WENDELL GLENN P. CAGAPE, MAFS

COLUMN FOR:

August 26, 2007

A culture of thinking or a thinking culture?

Recently, in my PhD class at the Graduate School for Education at the La Salle University, we deliberated on issues affecting school systems in the country and how we can address it. Along the discussion routes we did, I offered to my classmates the concept of author Ben Heirs, who wrote the national bestseller, “The Professional Decision Thinker”. Heirs discussed the aspect of thinking strategically and to enhance any organization to achieve its goal and vision as well as its mission through the contextualization and adaptation of the culture of thinking.

In our daily lives, may it be in work, relationship and studies; we do think and practice the skill of thinking albeit simply. To make it more proactive, increase your level of thinking and accept new approaches to improve the manner that you think. As I had been saying, the absence of a thinking culture restricts us to think deeply and analyze the situation we are currently in because we feared that if we think too much, our brains will explode in thin air or worse, people will see us as another species out from the mental institution. Whatever you do, you need to think and you will never get to where you are heading if you are handicapped with your thinking skills.

The art of thinking is not a gift as opposed to the suggestion of my classmate because a thinking culture can be acquired, nurtured and sustained. Strategic thinking enables an organization to leapfrog to its objectives. Creating a culture of thinking in our organizations and communities necessitates that our thinking mechanism does not necessarily be coming from the top echelons of management. All stakeholders in the organization must be consulted and ask to participate in the thinking process. In a culture of thinking, the organization think, not only the individual running it.

The unfortunate situation of our society and in most corporations and organizations, thinking are apparently done by the top honchos and the subordinates are treated as mere implementers or worse, become the end user of such thinking processes. Because of this, our country is lagging behind in terms of economic development, political stability as well as in the educational sector. If you wonder why our universities and colleges are not at par with the rest of the world, a culture of thinking is blatantly absent. Most decisions come from the top and thinking is done sparingly. Worse, in a society like ours, we only think and plan

during meetings. We tend to focus on issues affecting our output whenever we are mandated to think, some even went as far being coerced to think.

Mr. Heirs called this dilemma as reactive thinking and short-term programming. Why reactive thinking? It is because most of our universities and colleges, even LGUs and corporations are employing their thinking capability whenever problem arises. Mostly, our behavior towards problems and irritants to our operations are addressed by piecemeal. We are not hitting the right target and because of this, frustrations ensue. The art of team thinking leadership as espoused by Mr. Heirs is what we need. This is the kind of skill that we need to develop in order for us to compete with Singapore and the rest of the world.

You might ask yourself why Singapore, a nation-state much smaller than Mindanao, was able to promote itself as the knowledge capital or nerve center of all knowledge-based industries in Asia. It is because Singaporeans excessively practice the art of thinking. You may ask why Bill Gates became the most famous, well-loved and respected billionaire that he is, it is because before he made money out of the intranet/internet and the World Wide Web as well as the Microsoft operating systems and other support software, he spent literally his entire day at the basement of their home and strategically think. When he is asked what he is doing, he responded that he is pre-occupied with thinking. Because of that culture of thinking, he explored his wildest imaginations and search for the right answers to his many questions, and look at him now, he is one of the richest man on earth.

Decision-thinking is necessary for any organization to prosper. It is very important to be reliable and credible in your decision-thinking. The lifeblood of any organization is the specific culture that it imbibes to its employees and stakeholders and thinking enables it to be advanced productively and successfully. A thinking culture is needed to make our senators and congressmen be accountable for their behaviors in their respective work. It is through this that distinguishes a man from a boy. Thinking embodies the concept of foresight. It is because in a culture of thinking, one is encouraged to pursue opinions that are different from what the institution holds or stands for but beneficial to the organization as a whole. Thinking makes one a good manager and a leader. It is in a culture of thinking that men and women are rewarded with the opportunity to take claim of the policy being adopted.