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What gets in the way of innovative thinking in business? Whether you are personally reflecting on a particular problem you would like to solve, considering new opportunities, developing a new product or service, resolving customer issues, or working with a group for similar purposes, there are specific habits, approaches, or tendencies in your thinking that could actually be “disabilities” and inhibit powerful thinking. In this primer on the topic, I would like to introduce you to five common thinking disabilities that you should avoid.
1. Going on Intuition
Intuition is a powerful tool. There are many individuals who possess powerful intuition due to a combination of deep market knowledge, meaningful experience, and specific relationship with certain knowledge or tasks. There is no doubt that many leaders have risen to their leadership position because of some demonstration of good intuition. However, intuition can also be a thinking disability if it goes unchallenged in every situation. Normally, intuition has a life span in terms of effectiveness, depending on the ongoing involvement of the individual in day-to-day activities directly related to the market and customers. This means as individuals get promoted to leadership positions, if they spend less time involved directly in market or customer activities and more time managing people, processes, and direction, there is a normal drop in the accuracy of that person’s intuition. There are also two other disabilities that can arise when relying on intuition. One is that those that think intuitively may have a difficult time communicating this to others, or perhaps don’t even try. People who are primarily not intuitive thinkers may have a hard time understanding how an intuitive thinker reached their conclusion unless the intuitive thinker can walk them through the thought process in more detail. This ties into another related disability – when intuition goes unchallenged. So, if the intuitive thinker does not work to help others understand the progression of their thinking, others may not have the chance to challenge particular assumptions and steps in the process. This shortage of a full disclosure of the thought process can leave people frustrated. It is also not surprising that some intuitive thinkers don’t really respond well to challenges in their thinking. That is true partly because they themselves may tend to leave their own intuition unchallenged and have grown comfortable with not rigorously thinking through and challenging their own ideas.
2. Ignoring Existing Mental Models
What about existing models of thinking that we start with? Is there a way things have already been done? Is there a pre-determined way we believe things will go? Are we aware of new conditions that might exist outside of the model we already have in our minds? I am now addressing the possible disability presented by our existing mental models. Mental models are best described as commonly held views about the way the world (in this case, the world of a specific business) works, which in turn, create routines, processes, and patterns of thinking that are comfortable to us and accepted as the “way things work.” This is certainly one of the most difficult possible disabilities to diagnose since many mental models are deeply entrenched within our thinking and may not be apparent. These models affect what we see in situations and can prejudice how we see new information unless we are diligent to expose them and challenge them. If we are reflecting personally on some challenge, this is particularly difficult. You may find it helpful to attempt to write down your assumptions and make note of particular thinking that may be susceptible to using only past experiences or past results. You can then write down particular information that might be useful to examine or particular perspective that you might want to get from others. When thinking in a group, you are generally working with people who have very different ways of thinking. In fact, you should make sure that you purposefully meet with those that think and learn differently (intuition vs. thinking through, feeling vs. only logic, experimentation vs. trusting proven methods, entrepreneurial vs. administrative) and you should work hard to draw out as many different points of view as possible to challenge and add to your thinking. Always challenge yourself and others by asking what assumptions you are making and whether those are just accepted assumptions or proven to be true and relevant. Ask yourself and others if certain models are still valid, still helpful, and stay actively open to new models.
3. Stopping at the First Level
Figure 1 – Shifting the Burden
The next potential disability may occur when you accept the first line of thinking or solution without fully examining that thinking or solution within the larger framework of the organization, market, or system. This desired thinking is called systems thinking and is a powerful tool for seeing how forces work within a larger system. There are some fundamental systems thinking archetypes that exist and that many use intuitively without knowing it. For example, Figure 1 represents the “shifting of burden” systems thinking archetype. The bottom circular drawing represents a fundamental problem you are thinking about. There is a “problem/symptom” and a fundamental solution you are considering. However, some might immediately jump to first address the short-term symptom by suggesting a “symptomatic” solution that is represented by the circular drawing at the top. This may be an easy fix like lowering prices, giving something away with a purchase, etc., and it may indeed produce a short-term result. However, this short-term solution, where you have shifted the burden, will undoubtedly generate some form of side effects that may not be immediately apparent and should be considered. These side effects then contribute to the fundamental problem in some delayed fashion and by the time you discover these, it may be even harder to address the fundamental problem, the real root problem. Some individuals naturally think about these types of things intuitively, but without taking the time to create some actual diagram or at least outlining this type of systems thinking, an individual or group may not realize that they are shifting the burden and creating new problems by immediately gravitating to an attractive, yet short-term solution. It is imperative that you not leave personal thinking or group thinking at a superficial level that does not truly evaluate ramifications across the larger organizational or market context.
4. Things Left Unsaid
The fourth common risk for thinking disability lies in things that are left unsaid. In any conversation, whether between two people discussing an idea or a problem, or within a group setting, there is the actual conversation that someone could easily record, but there are also many things that are thought and left unsaid. The difficulty is that many of these unspoken thoughts could greatly advance the effectiveness of true communications and thinking if individuals took the time to find the right way to state these as part of the conversation. These could be thoughts like “I don’t believe this will work,” or “I don’t understand why this is a good direction,” or “I have something to add but he/she has made up their mind.” This is an unfortunate type of disability and one that could easily be avoided if organization leaders and members of the organization shared mutual trust and respect and each knew they valued honest and open dialogue. More harm is likely done to derail or water down thinking by this one disability than possibly any other form of disability. Good ideas fall short of great ideas because of silence. Ideas and decisions are doomed to unnecessary resistance and possible failure when unspoken challenges and oppositions are not fully disclosed and discussed. Your organization should strive to create a safe and welcome environment that encourages and praises honest feedback while emphasizing the concept of giving support to decisions once a full discussion and decision process is complete. Is that something that is easy to do? No, but it is worth the effort to avoid this very common disability.
5. No Room for Thinking
The final disability I want to point out is simply called “no room for thinking.” This is exactly what it sounds like. There are very appropriate times to deliver final decisions, specific directions, or information when discussion is not appropriate and most reasonable organization members completely understand this. However, even these particular situations usually follow opportunities for discussion at some level. You probably agree that most business issues, challenges, or opportunities provide ample opportunity for discussion with some group or groups within an organization. With that said, not everyone in a position of leadership or leading a particular meeting is fully prepared to leave room for discussion. These individuals that are responsible for a meeting either believe they already know the answer and just want to talk at other people, lack proper training and knowledge on how to engage others in collaborative thinking, or exhibit very specific communication skills that actively shut people down (e.g., cutting people off, nipping their engagement with comments like “yes, we’ve already tried that,” or “I already know that.” This is basically a communications disability that translates directly to inhibiting the thinking and their sharing of that thinking from others. At a basic level, this disability can be overcome by starting every conversation or meeting believing that the person or persons you are interacting with are equals and that their thinking and input is just as valuable as anything you might have to say. That works because it is true. We are all collaborators and while some are “chief collaborators” so to speak, creative and innovative thinking comes from all perspectives and from people at all levels in an organization.
Overcoming Thinking Disabilities
The above are the five thinking disabilities that I believe are common contributors to individual or group thinking falling short of true innovation. There is not a magic “innovation” pill that any group can take. There are not just a few innovative people in the world or in one organization. Those who are identified as innovative thinkers likely have purposefully or intuitively overcome such common disabilities and soak up ideas around them in conversations, in reading, in observation, and truly enjoy bouncing ideas around with everyone they encounter in the organization. Innovative or great ideas most frequently being by participating or listening to a great conversation where people are thinking openly and exploring possibilities without limits of past mental models, considering the bigger picture and overall implications to a larger context, and with challenge and debate over what may and may not work. Start by avoiding these common disabilities and your thinking will be more rewarding.
