Creative thinking refers to a process that aims at acquiring meaningful connections by generating original, unusual and varied possibilities. It also involves searching for details that would help with the expansion and enrichment of possibilities. Critical thinking involves evaluating possibilities fairly, constructively and carefully. It involves focusing thoughts and actions by evaluating possibilities and developing some of the promising possibilities by evaluating options. Even though generating many possibilities is normally essential during critical and creative thinking, this might not be enough to help a person solve a problem. Any effective problem solver should normally think critically and creatively in order to generate options and focus their thinking.
Critical and creative thinking plays a significant role in enhancing professional development. With the world getting more complex, the only way people can cope is by taking command of their minds. This involves thinking effectively in order to obtain greater control of life. Critical and creative thinking helps people deal with adversity, and it plays a role in transforming dreams to reality (Lau, 2013). Critical and creative thinking involves using practical skills that a person can learn, practice or improve. The skills are normally available to any person who desires to acquire them.
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"Critical and Creative Thinking in Professional Development Analysis".
An evaluation of the contributions of team members reveals that the first member Renee, who is a childcare professional, uses creative thinking in developing learning materials to be used in teaching. Since her profession involves working with children, Renee uses creative thinking skills to design lesson plans, which are age appropriate. These plans are also used to help children grow and learn in an environment that is healthy and safe. Critical and creative thinking has helped Renee with professional development because she has been in a position to achieve the major goal of her profession, which is to enhance growth and development of the children.
Joyce, who is a customer service representative, uses critical and creative thinking skills in enhancing professional development by employing the skills when resolving conflict. When used to resolve conflict the skills enhance the smooth running of business. Joyce has also used the skills when handling the needs of customers, making her a professional in this field. The ability to use the skills to reach a satisfactory resolution is an example of how she has used the skills in enhancing professional development (Martinez, 2014). An example can be seen when she reduces fees for customers for them not to close their accounts because of interest being added to the account. The other example is by giving a customer a monetary waiver, whenever they have a bad experience with a customer service representative. These skills have enhanced her with professional development because they help her come up with rational solutions that are suitable for the company and customers.
Liz, on the other hand, who is a behavioral health professional in a government setting, uses critical and creative thinking in enhancing professional development by developing logical strategies to be used for problem solving, observation and inquiry. Her profession involves managing and coordinating behavioral health professionals and students. She also has the responsibility of leading and providing continuing education for staff and trainees. Her use of critical and creative thinking skills have enhanced her with professional development because she can synchronize numerous schedules, resulting to positive feedback. The skills have also enabled her to produce accurate data, create interpretations and conclusions since her role involves aiming for precision. The skills have also enabled her to improve various processes by engaging with other services. She illustrates that initially most of the processes were inefficient. However, when she started employing critical and creative thinking skills, she improved efficiency.
An evaluation of the team feedback gives an illustration of the strategies that were used by the team members. An evaluation of the case reveals that Renee used a strategy referred to as point of view. This strategy allows a person to explore an issue from various perspectives (Martinez, 2014). It not only broadens thinking, but ensures an issue is evaluated from various points of view before conclusions are made. Renee’s case reveals that she used creative thinking skills in creating art projects, games and science projects for the children. She also evaluated other options, for example, designing lesson plans to enable the children learn and grow in a healthy and safe environment. When faced with situations, a person should normally use critical thinking to evaluate the pros and cons of the results. This involves using point of view by examining the issue from various perspectives.
An evaluation of Joyce’s case reveals that she used critical and creative thinking to evaluate various decisions and their outcomes. Evaluating the cause and effect relationship is essential in examining outcomes before one takes action (Martinez, 2014). Although Joyce used critical and creative thinking to resolve conflicts with customers, she evaluated the best and rational solutions that would be beneficial to the company and the consumer.
Liz, on the other hand, must have used encapsulation. This involves stating ideas in a precise manner. It involves synthesizing information in an attempt to obtain the meaning of an activity or idea. This enables a person to communicate thoughts clearly (Martinez, 2014). Since she was a behavioral health professional in a government setting, Liz had various tasks she needed to accomplish. However, this strategy helped her to synchronize the numerous schedules resulting to positive results. The strategies that were found to be most effective were those used by Renee and Joyce. Renee used creative thinking not only to create activities for the children, but she used her creativity to ensure children learn and to enhance employer satisfaction. Joyce, on the other hand, examined the pros and cons of her actions ensuring they were beneficial to organization and the consumer.
In summary, the assessment reveals that critical thinking tends to be the most significant of the two processes. Even though, people need to be creative during the thought process, they normally need to employ critical thinking. Critical thinking enables people to examine the pros and cons of their decisions before taking action. Although the processes are different, they work to together to help people solve problems.
