Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Six Mindset 'Traps' That Block Strategic Thinking Dr. Julia Sloan
julia@sloaninternationalconsulting.com From the research-based book
Learning to Think Strategically, Julia Sloan, (Elsevier)
As the economic engine continues to hum in low-gear, executives and entrepreneurs who know how to think strategically will be among the first to pick up speed. Strategic thinking requires agility and adeptness in dealing with enormous complexity, polarities, contradictions, competing assumptions and incomplete information.
The ability to 'shatter' and re-frame current mindsets is a hallmark of successful strategic thinking. This requires a mindset--or pattern of thinking--that can mentally construct and re-construct new possibilities and arrangements. Without this, we run the risk of becoming ensnared in 'same-frame' thinking.
There are six mindset 'traps' that tend to block our ability to think strategically. When mindsets show up as habitual thought patterns, they become 'traps' detrimental strategic thinking. What differentiates strategic thinking from strategic planning and strategic implementation is critical reflection and the ability to identify, expose and challenge the underlying premise to strategic beliefs and assumptions.
Our default mindset (or, the way we automatically think about problems) creates 'blind spots' shielding us from our assumptions, which in turn supports same-frame thinking. Though the following six mindset 'traps' may support conventional problem solving and decision making, in fact, they actually impede our ability to think strategically.
Strategic thinking requires 'switching off' our auto pilot and default settings and boldly challenge the fundamental assumptions that support current or past strategy decisions and practices.
Six common mindset 'traps' turn up in the following reincarnations:
TRAP #1: The EXPERT Mindset Makes decisions quickly due to vast experience, a successful track record and expertise. Experts ?know.? Has a tendency to brush off suggestions of a person who follows a more careful, unfamiliar and less conventional thinking process. May miss details, be oblivious to intriguing leads or overlook alternatives because of familiarity.
TRAP #2: The CONFORMIST mindset Supports the views of others in order to feel included or superior through association. Club mentality. Won't rock the boat.
TRAP #3: The IMMEDIATE GRATIFIER mindset
Wants action NOW! No time for thinking or reflection. Anticipates rewards for quick action and instant results.
TRAP #4: The SIMPLIFIER mindset Responds to complexity and contradiction by over-simplifying, which leads to unfortunate shortcuts and quick fixes. Minimizes complexity by affixing appealing solutions such as ?12 Steps to?,? or ?Learn-whatever-in-just-10-minutes-a-day.?
TRAP #5: The KNOW-IT-ALL mindset Makes instant judgments based on frozen same-frame thinking. Feels threatened by exposure, challenge and by putting underlying assumptions and frames to test.
TRAP #6: The SATISFIED mindset Seeks to preserve familiar ways and possibly a privileged position. Critical reflection is a threat to sense of self and position. Keeps doing what's been working without challenging or changing frames. Savors being part of the elite strategy team that protects same-frame thinking rather than 'shatters' and changes frames of thinking.
TIPS FOR RELEASING THE 'TRAPS' * Look in the mirror. Do you see any of these? Admit it. These are habitual and inflict all of us. Often, these mindsets are helpful for solving conventional business problems, but become 'traps' to strategic thinking when they impair our ability to shatter and re-frame. Critical reflection requires us to slow down, switch off autopilot thinking, make our assumptions explicit and take time to critically challenge the premise of things we normally think.
* Look at your strategy team. Have any of these mindset 'traps' been set by the company's culture? Which mindsets are supported by the company culture? What mindsets get rewarded in company strategy meetings and promotions? Senior leadership can take a humorous tact by calling their own mindset trap or that of the strategy team--jabbing the team if it enters into a Know-it-All mindset trap or a Satisfied's mindset. These traps undermine strategic thinking by locking into same-frame thinking.
* Consider the inclusion-exclusion quotient of strategy meetings. Who gets invited to strategy meetings? Who doesn't? What mindsets do participants share? How broad is the scope of thought-diversity sought for strategy meetings? Strategy teams should candidly assess the breadth and depth of their current thinking. Aggressively invite and rotate diverse political, economic, social and personal perspectives and insights that define business issues differently. People can look surprisingly different, but think the same. Corporate leadership should keep tabs on who their thought leaders are, how diverse their thought leaders are, and fill the company strategy pipeline with diverse thinkers.
* Notice if there's permission to challenge and ask tough fundamental questions about past, current and future strategy. What dungeons await those who dare to challenge the status quo of company thinking? Senior leadership should routinely publicly and privately, invite questions that challenge fundamental strategic assumptions that they and the company hold (or hide). When senior leaders model this courageous habit, it creates explicit permission within the company for testing and strengthening strategic beliefs.
* Have the assumptions that prop up current business strategy been made explicit? Is time allocated to challenge assumptions and are tough questions encouraged by senior leadership? This requires a vulnerable yet couragous mindset of senior leadership. Stating known, current assumptions about strategy and inviting tough questions from diverse groups around the globe to further test or uncover any invisibile assumptions can be a time-consuming and nerve-wracking exercise in the short term. But for the long term, it's a rigorous strategy approach that instills a collective habit-of-mind that can expose and avert risk and shape a corporate culture of integrity, transparency and strength.