Let?s move on to think about decision making. Remember that when we talk about decision making we are focusing on the smaller chunks that become clear when you use problem-solving skills. Each of these chunks will need decisions to be made. A technique which has been found to be useful is called PMI, which stands for ‘Plus?, ‘Minus? and ‘Interesting?.
For this, you need a table with 3 columns, similar to the one below. We have given the example of Jim going back to college.
In the ‘plus? column, write down all the advantages that you think would result from a particular decision; in the ‘minus? column, all the disadvantages. The ‘interesting? column is for possible results of taking the decision.
Give each point you have written down a score. For the ‘plus? column these scores should be positive (+) scores; for the ‘minus? column they will be negative (-) scores. The ‘interesting? column can include both positive and negative scores. You choose which values and numbers to give to each entry.
Add up your scores. A positive score should encourage you to take action; a negative score might make you want to think again.
Figure 11 PMI for Jim going back to collegeLong descriptionThink of a decision that is facing you at the moment. Draw up a PMI chart and put as many comments in each column as you can. Add up your scores. Did this exercise help you to reach your decision? Write a comment about this.
Finally, write down what you feel Drill Down and PMI have added (if anything) to your problem-solving skills and your decision-making skills.
Thinking back over what you have done or past events is often thought to be all that is required to ‘reflect?. It is worth pointing out that reflection is now viewed as important in many different contexts, and it is seen as an important academic skill in this unit. It is also an important aspect of professional practice in careers such as social work and medicine. However, backward-looking reflection can only have very limited benefits. It could make you less likely to embark on a process of change if it reminds you only of a time in the past when something did not work out well for you. So, reflection is most worthwhile when it is used as the basis for trying something new in the future. Trying something new and seeing how it works out is the focus of later sections in Learning to change.
It would be helpful (even at this early stage of the unit) to begin to think about what you might do differently in the future. So, the second aspect here is to say what you learned from using Drill Down and PMI and how you might use these techniques in future. You can be sure of one thing ? if you do things differently, you are bound to get different results from the ones you may be accustomed to.
This activity asks you to choose either problem solving or decision making and select a problem or decision that relates to changes you might want to make. If you choose to focus on problem solving, use Drill Down for this activity. If you select decision making, use PMI.
Problem solving and decision making are important aspects of using learning to achieve personal change. In this section you are gathering evidence about what you have already learned. You will probably have developed preferred ways of dealing with problems as well as skills that underpin these preferences. It is very useful to take stock of these and extend them. This serves to remind you what you are good at. It also reminds you of examples of when you have used the skills you already have. The value of having examples of what you have already done ‘at your fingertips? is stressed in Learning to change. They have a clear value in situations like a job interview, where you are being called on to show what you have done that is relevant. But they also have a broader usefulness. If you are as clear as possible about what you have done, and what you can do, then you are in a far better position to begin thinking and planning for a whole range of personal change.
Using problem-solving and decision-making skills to good effect can play a big part in transforming our lives. Let?s give the last word on this to Shehnaz:
Well, five years ago now I had no qualifications and which is one of the reasons why I started studying with The Open University in order to give me a qualification to get a job, which I successfully did, and I have got a job now. In five years time from now I would like to have completed my degree and hopefully work towards getting a full teaching qualification.
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