LM May 2018

HOW ELASTICTHINKING Can Stretch Superintendents’ Minds for Enhanced Problem-Solving

By Dr. David E. Bartz, Professor Emeritus, Department of Educational Leadership Eastern Illinois University

• Demonstrating a willingness to experiment, innovate and try different approaches to problem solving. • Looking beyond the existing conditions , circumstances and order of things to explore new ideas to solve problems and gain additional perspectives on issues (Mlodinow, 2018a; Kirkus Review, 2018). Bottom-up insteadof top-down thinking In comparison to traditional linear reasoning as part of analytical thinking , which is represented as a step- by-step “top-down” progression in the brain of logical relationships between factors to solve a problem, elastic thinking is a “bottom-up” process. Bottom-up means that one clears the mind of preconceived notions for a problem which allows the brain to utilize emotions and feelings for ideas that are different from the linear top-down approach frequently utilized. The bottom-up approach used by elastic thinking prompts new insightful associations, patterns and relationships between concepts and ideas that prompt alternative solutions for problems and different perspectives on issues. Elastic thinking can also cause a sideways expansion of the mental parameters and boundaries of the mind that restrict the perspectives of a superintendent to solve problems and gain new perspectives on issues (Rifkind, 2018, p. 4). continued...

Superintendents are “problem solvers” for a variety of areas such as budgeting, building maintenance, transportation, collective bargaining, technology, curriculum, student learning and citizens’ complaints. They are also expected to furnish board members and others with insights on issues such as student assessment, school shootings and teacher shortages to name only a few. I’d like to introduce you to a different approach to problem solving—elastic thinking. I believe it can provide superintendents with new ideas and insights for problem solving and a variety of additional perspectives on important issues. Here’s how it works: Elastic thinking characteristics • Moving beyond our conventional mindsets through flexible thinking to reframe questions we ask to generate new ideas to solve problems and gain additional insights on issues. • Abandoning ingrained assumptions we possess about a problem and opening ourselves to new associations and relationships between ideas and new paradigms for framing the problem. • Concentrating on generating new ideas and perspectives for a problem by utilizing our imagination and “free thinking” as much—or more—than traditional linear analytical thinking based on existing frames of reference.

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