Corporate Lessons Learned From Play with Kindergarteners - Assignment Example

? Corporate Lessons Learned From Play with Kindergarteners Even as an adult, I still believe in the power of play. It is something that frees the body and mind from humdrum routines we go through every day and lets us escape to a world we fancy. It is there where creativity thrives and takes over to show us new perspectives. It leads us out of the box to see fresh ideas we can take back to reality to test. I enjoy such brief episodes of genius once in a while because it rejuvenates me and anchors me to steady ground when it is time to snap back to work. This is one reason why I envy children. They rightfully play more and in the process, become submerged in new ideas. I’ve always known in my heart that play is a key to learning, and I, for one, am a lifelong learner. Here in Europe, lifelong learning has become a way of life, as reflected from societal values (European Commission, 2002). From educational discourses of the 1960’s and 1970’s, it has been debated that the primary purpose of learning and education is not solely for acquiring and extending theoretical knowledge but “to develop one’s own character, a character, that becomes reality as a result of growing experience” (Lengrand, 1972, p. 59). The maximalistic view of lifelong learning stresses the importance of learning outside the classic educational context and premises. That would include learning technologies, printed material and visits to museums, art galleries, field centres and heritage sites. This means that even after a student graduates from formal school, he may still engage in learning in the bigger classroom called life, and this would extend all throughout his life span. While the classical field of learning was formed by closed institutions, that were to be attended in the first quarter or third of the lifespan, lifelong learning declares any place and any time as suitable for learning. Tuschling & Engemann (2006) add that learning never stops even when individuals become adults that it becomes adopted as a lifestyle (Tuschling & Engemann, 2006, p. 456). Simply put, lifelong learning extends outside the four walls of the classroom. It takes place anywhere and stays within the learner in the form of knowledge and skills. The same is true in the working world. One needs to keep pursuing learning in whatever they do whether it is job-related or not, because it is part of continual personal development. Recently, I have had the good fortune of indulging in a wonderful learning experience that involved a lot of play. I chaperoned some kindergarteners to an interactive museum that encouraged them to revel in their imagination and creativity. Little did I know that the experience offered me an abundance of opportunities to learn and develop skills that can benefit me in my future career. It was a lesson I took with five-year olds, but of course, I was on an entirely advanced level. Discover Children’s Story Centre (2013) is a newly-opened interactive children’s museum in Stratford, East London that caters to young preschool children aged 2-7 years. As a chaperone, I was assigned to watch over 5 gregarious children. The museum guide said it was alright and that the children touch and interact with the exhibits because they literally learn more “hands-on”. Adults were encouraged to let our hair down and be children ourselves, and further drive the children’s imagination to soar with interesting questions of various possibilities which can only be accepted in the world of play. I found myself rummaging for silly ideas that may just work such as tickling the giant’s feet so that he can peep down at us and we can see his face. That prompted my kids to also think up of more creative ideas we can try. Allen suggested we roll on the noisy polka dotted floor in different directions to see if we can make beautiful music together. Nancy mused that we can eat the invisible fruits of the tree so we can have magic powers to use on the giant. Theodore asked if the pirate ship had underground headquarters for superheroes. The wonderful ideas kept coming. My mind was likewise racing to keep up with them. The giant playground was intoxicating even to me, and I can’t get enough of the thrills it offered. How different the experience would be if I went there on my own or with some adult friends. I am sure it would be so much duller. At this point, I thought allowing people to think creatively without any judgment makes their thoughts flow freely. In the corporate world, I believe creative ideas should be welcome, and employees should be given several exercises in creative and critical thinking. This is especially important in globalized settings where competition is prevalent, so one needs to stand out with new and innovative ideas and not settle for mediocre products and services that have been customarily accepted. In addition to that, it is essential that employees can draw from several experiences they have had in their lives in order to justify the creative ideas they propose. The museum experience exhilarated me because of all the things I was learning from the children’s learning experiences. Apart from being aware of my own personal responses, I absorbed everything I can to apply to future work settings as I played out various work scenarios in my mind. Lessons I Learned From This Event On my way home, I reflected on my awesome experience with the children and realized that I may have learned more from it than they did. From my readings, I know I have just gone through a field lesson on corporate management. First of all, being assigned to 5 precocious children tested my leadership skills. As the adult in charge, I was expected to direct their learning and keep them behaved but motivated, so they maximize their experience. However, in a situation like this, directing their learning was out of the question since I was not in a position of authority to do so. I had to respect that they direct their own learning and I am only there to guide them in case they need guidance. I learned from Kouzes and Posner (2007) that there are traits that people seek in a leader that make them follow willingly. When leaders follow the proposed five basic leadership practices, success comes to them in terms of achieving the results they want from their followers. The five practices that leaders need to do are to challenge, inspire, enable, model and encourage their followers. I am committed to following these practices with the future members of my team when I become a leader myself. The first leadership practice is to keep on constantly challenging the established process and improving on areas that need it. With the children, I tried to search for opportunities to challenge what they already know by asking them questions they did not expect. As they were responsive to my questioning, it became easier for me to leave my comfort zone in thinking like an adult and merged with their world in order to understand where they were coming from. I discovered that with children having malleable minds, they were in a place where possibilities are endless. I felt this would be a good disposition to have when engaging in brainstorming meetings in the future. Kouzes and Posner (2007) contend that leaders inspire a shared vision with their followers. In the museum, our shared vision was to explore and discover as many things as we can. I also tried my best to enable them when fears got in the way. One example was when Janice stopped at her tracks when she discovered that the trail involved a giant slide that curved to somewhere unknown. I whispered to her she can do it and that a surprise was waiting for her at the end of the slide. She trusted my word and let go of my hand to take the plunge. I know that life is the same. We should be brave enough to let go of our fears and plunge into adventures that lay before us so we get more out of life. I also tried to be a good model to the children in my behaviour. Much as the environment allowed us to explore with abandon, there were also rules to follow. I was there to show them I followed rules. In the corporate world, it is the same. While much freedom is allowed to manipulate variables to one’s favour, there are ethical standards that need to be kept. As a good leader, and even as a follower, I should keep my integrity intact no matter how tempting it is to make short cuts. Finally, Kouzes and Posner (2007) advocated leaders to be encouraging. In this museum trip, though, I didn’t feel the need to encourage the children to explore and have fun, because it was a given. Hopefully, in my future career, I get to work with colleagues with the same zest for work that I, myself will be encouraged. Apart from leadership skills, I also learned that good communication skills were necessary in working with children. Since they belonged to a different world from mine, I had to learn their language. That was why I had to come up with the silly questions and ideas in order to get their attention. It was one way of establishing rapport with them to gain their trust. I also learned that non-verbal communication should not be neglected. Since these children had limited verbal skills as of yet, I had to read their body signals such as when Andrew kept crossing his legs while doing arts and crafts. I knew he needed to go to the bathroom even if he was too engrossed in his task. So I had to take him to the loo right away with the promise that he’ll get back to what he was doing. Similarly, my future career may involve dealing with people from various cultures. Learning about their backgrounds and how they communicate both verbally and non-verbally is a must. Matveev & Nelson (2004) suggested that in working with groups, team members should be aware of the differences of communication and interaction styles of their team mates. They should be able to show flexibility in settling conflicts and misinterpretations and should not feel any resistance in communicating with people from various backgrounds. Finally, and I believe, most importantly, I learned how important it is to allow creativity to flourish in order to be more productive. Although the children were obviously at play, I knew they were at work, building on concretizing ideas that spontaneously come to them. It dawned on me that I have actually witnessed the children’s creative flow. Csikszentmihalyi (1997) claims that the experience of children engaged in creative learning as being deeply involved in their task is called “Flow”. This is a common experience of creative people. Flow is an optimal experience, “an almost effortless yet highly focused state of consciousness” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997, p.9). It is a way of being lost in the creative process. Once an individual gets out of this flow and is satisfied with the experience, he indulges in feeling happy. Csikszentmihalyi says the more flow one experiences in life, the more likely he is to feel happy overall, as his creative potentials are optimized. This is related to one article I read that I realized how significant it is to acknowledge the creative process, and in this situation, it came in the form of child’s play. In a study observing the effects of creative teaching and learning (Fawcett & Hay, 2004), the children were deeply involved in the learning and creative process. This was because the children delighted in other people respecting their ideas which they pursue, people giving them freedom and space to explore. They became more independent, investigative and imaginative. They solved problems together instead of running to an adult for help. They resolved issues within themselves and due to their involvement in the project, confidence and self-esteem grew (Fawcett & Hay, 2004). Applying this to the adult world, I wondered if there was a better way to run a corporate team. This information became a guiding principle for me so when I become a team leader in the future, I would always look back at this study, sit back and watch my team’s ideas (and productivity levels) take flight. I am grateful for the experience I had learning with the kindergarteners. For one day, instead of being a leader, I followed their lead and it brought me to an abundance of valuable lessons that I intend to keep and apply in my future career. References Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997) Happiness & creativity going with the flow. The Futurist, Sept.-October, 1997 Discover Children’s Story Centre (2013) Website retrieved on 29 Nov 2013 from http://www.discover.org.uk/ European Commission (2002) European Report on Quality Indicators of Lifelong Learning (Brussels). Fawcett, M. and Hay, P., (2004) 5x5x5=Creativity in the early years. Journal of Art & Design Education, Vol. 23, No. 3 Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (2007). The leadership challenge, 4th edition. San Francisco, Ca: Jossey- Bass Lengrand, P. (1972) Permanente Erziehung. Eine Einfuhrung (Munchen, UTB). Matveev, A. V., & Nelson, P. E. 2004. Cross cultural communication competence and multicultural team performance: Perceptions of American and Russian Managers. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 4(2): 253-270 Tuschling & Engemann (2006) “From Education to Lifelong Learning: The emerging regime of learning in the European Union”, Educational Philosophy and Theory, Vol. 38, No. 4, 2006 Read More