Joseph Raelin (2001) defines reflection as “a practice of periodically stepping back to ponder the meaning to self and others in one’s immediate environment about what recently transpired” (p. 11). For me, the act of reflection is intentional. It requires one to deliberately pause then take a look back, to think about how and why of the event or new knowledge. The next step of personal reflection involves bringing the discovery to the current stage of life; which leads to the next phase of learning – application.
Reflection often goes hand in hand with critical thinking. According to the Center of Critical Thinking: “Critical thinking is the ability to think about one’s thinking in such a way as 1. To recognize its strengths and weaknesses and, as a result, 2. To recast the thinking in an improved form”(Glaser, 1996, para.6). Part of the critical thinking process overlaps with reflection. Both practices require one to track the thinking process as a way to bring light to the current situation or decision. In the ladder of inference TED video, Trevor Maber (2012) showcases people’s thought process through relatable life experiences to help viewers identify their assumptions by practicing reflection. Once the assumption is recognized, critical thinking comes into play.
This course showed the gap I have from my action-oriented mindset to the art of reflection, especially the distance I still need to cover to reach public reflection. With my busy schedule, I often find myself running around and spending my energy on result-driven efficiency. This semester encouraged me to take breaks from my daily routine to stop and ponder on the impact of my actions and the result of future decisions. The final post on every Sunday became a safe place to practice my reflective skills and show it through critical thinking. Not only I need to reflect on my learning through the readings and teachings of the week, but I also need to bring my cohort mates’ comments into consideration in my final post. When my colleagues’ sharing, or questions challenge me, I try to track my thoughts through the ladder to find the root of my assumptions.
One of the pleasant surprises of this semester came from all the reflection and sharing I did about my workplace. Before the OLL program, I did not realize how much learning I could still have from my current job position due to my assumption. I thought I had learned my ropes after going through the same project cycle at work for almost the third year. Nonetheless, week after week, my learning challenged me to take a more in-depth look into my workplace to actively reflect and apply the new concept we have discussed in the course.
Using the idea of public reflection for example, with the help of cohort mates’ questions under my weekly post, I discovered probing and testing reflective approaches might not work best in China due to the collectivist culture. In a typical Chinese workplace, where “fit in” is more important than “stand out”, the act of critical thinking might be viewed as a threat to the stability of the culture at first glance. Though more and more people get to see the importance of critical thinking, especially in academia, the way they deliver and share their critical thinking is crucial in this culture settings.
National Cultural Dimensions
As someone who has a passion for cross-cultural environment and diversity, the idea of national cultural dimensions was not foreign to me. Most of my knowledge of diversity and cultures came from personal trips over the years and leisure reading. This semester provided the first opportunity to learn about those cultural dimensions systematically. As Cooper, Hellriegel, and Slocum (2017) pointed out “Cultures do not exist as
