Matthew E. May in Winning the Brain Game Fixing the 7 Fatal Flaws of Thinking offers the following advice.
- When faced with a fast pace and lots of information our thinking can become vulnerable to brain patterns that can lead us astray such as the following potential flaws
- Perhaps picking the brains of new staff, residents or students would bring a new perspective because they aren’t aware of the status quo
- Leaping or a mental knee jerk because you may perceive there is not enough time to frame the issue properly
- The Fix is framestorming which is a combination of brainstorming and framing
- Step 1 Cue the language of frames
- Why is this a challenge
- What if we tried X
- How might we do X
- Step 2 Generate questions as many as possible via brainstorming
- Go for at least a dozen and preferably more
- Reserve judgment or evaluation until Step 3
- Step 3 Pick the best two and do another round of why, what-if and how
- Fixation or mental rigidity and linear thinking such as mindsets, blind spots, paradigms, schemas, biases, mental maps and models
- The Fix flipping your thinking in order to see things through a new fresh and unique lens
- Step 1 List the defining attributes
- Step 2 For each element list the extreme opposite or reverse which forces you to think differently (Airbnb, Uber)
- Step 3 Framestorm/brainstorm using you opposites list
- Overthinking and thus not being as creative as may be needed by adding unnecessary complexity (pharmacy perfectionism)
- Want to rekindle the childlike curiosity and experimentation
- Need to trust intuition
- Test assumptions about what is true
- Satisficing which is a term that combines satisfy and suffice thus we may go to what is easy and obvious and stop looking for the best or optimal solution
- Don't ask “what should we do” before asking “what is possible”
- Use “and” versus “either or” thinking to break down a challenge into its parts
- Downgrading or wholesale disengagement from the challenge
- As Henry Ford once said “If you think you can or can’t, you are right”
- The Fix Jumpstarting
- Can if cascading by replacing the “can’t because” with a “can if” statement
- Why-how keeps us engaged as the first is purpose and the second process
- Often times seemingly impossible challenges are because it is not clear how so you may have to search for one
- Fresh starts such as taking a break gives your mind time to come up with solutions
- Not invented here or not trusting/benefiting from solutions from other places
- The Fix Proudly found elsewhere
- Open “hackathons” brining the outside in as innovation is a contact sport and having dozens of talented individuals rub shoulders and put their heads together is bound to produce something profound
- Self-censoring or rejecting, denying stifling, squelching, striking, silencing or otherwise putting down our own ideas
- Deadliest of all the flaws because we shut down our own imagination which can kill off our natural curiosity and creativity
- Don't let the past determine the future
- The Fix Self distancing and be the impartial spectator
- Step back and observe what is happening
- Like traveling to a distance and unfamiliar place where you notice everything which is what you need to do to avoid self-censoring
Think about what may be inhibiting your effective leadership and try some of these and see what happens. Comments always welcome.