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Photograph by Darko Manasic / Alamy
thinking sweet spot, and your gaps, you
can begin to cultivate thinking diversity
by considering the ideal response in a
variety of situations.
If success in one area depends on
your ability to relate to others, such
as building trust with a new client or
colleague, take the time to do that.
Don’t rush like it’s a task to complete
as quickly as possible; instead, make
time to engage. If another assignment
requires a technical perspective,
immerse yourself in the analysis. Focus
on the research and expert opinions of
others. Sweat the small stuff, and be
willing to map out all the pitfalls.
Regardless of the situation, it’s
the pivot toward an alternative
thinking style (or blend of styles) that
can make the difference between
frustration and positive results. If
you’ve ever wanted to just get “down
to business” while your colleague
wanted to envision all possible
scenarios, you know how irritating
the mismatch between thinking
approaches can be.
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To avoid this type of conflict, talk
about your thinking preferences
with others. For example: “Hey,
I appreciate the importance of
having a vision. For me, I feel like
we’ve already done that work and
the best use of our time is to focus
on the tactical plan moving forward.
Is it OK if we shift gears, or is there
still something for you regarding
the ‘big picture’ that we need to
explore?”
As you work to stretch your own
thinking agility, remember that
the least likely time to change is
when you’re facing high pressure to
perform. In those critical moments,
people usually behave in the way
they know best. This means that
efforts to stretch your thinking
agility are best undertaken when
pressure is low. Agility moves
aren’t about right or wrong ways to
think. They’re about the situational
awareness and intentional effort
to adjust your thinking to the
circumstance.
Finally, as you take steps to implement
these strategies, consider your
team and organization as a culture
of thinkers. They reflect clusters of
thinking sweet spots and thinking
gaps — all amplified by the thinking
agility, or thinking immobility, they
possess. To leverage this awareness
for your broader enterprise, link it with
the CEO’s agenda and get to specifics.
Assessments such as the Whole
Brain model can be socialized on a
large scale to establish a baseline
of awareness of current thinking
patterns. As you staff teams and
develop people, include thinking
elements in every decision. From small
moves, such as designing your weekly
team meetings to be more inclusive of
diverse thinking styles, to big moves,
such as aligning your business’s
strategy to the thinking capabilities
needed to execute it, consider your
firm’s thinking as an integral part of
your overall talent strategy.
Based on: Strategy + business