Why Can't You Think "Out-of-The-Box"?

by Bill Thomas

Published on this site: February 8th, 2004

How many times have you wondered why you are unable to "think-out-of-the-box" more often?

We are all products of our environment and our backgrounds usually prevent us from viewing situations with the unique eyes of our personal experience.

However, the leaders who think "out-of-the-proverbial-box" do so by incorporating what I like to see as a, Strategically Wise Synergistic Process of Creation.

These creative thinkers apply their own kinds of action-oriented logic to problems to help them find new wisdom, discover opportunities or see the facts in different ways.

In a word, truly creative types act differently, in ways that we'll call "Logical Action-Steps".

Logical Action-Step One: Achieve Understanding not Mere Reasoning

You want to find the basic or underlying meanings of the problems facing your group.

You could reason-out what is happening, by using your linear thinking skills to negotiate, analyze or plan your response.

For instance, you could notice that it is more chilly, by 15 degrees, this evening than it was yesterday at this same time which is certainly a reasonable observation.

Your could use your reasoning prowess to remember the cooling trend of last month's temperatures and conclude that it was windier and the skies much clearer [of clouds] for most of last night and today - therefore you would assume that it was those factors which contributed to a colder night tonight than it was last night.

Creative thinkers would aggressively investigate the weather by:

• intensely searching for answers,
  
  
• through disillusioning or transforming their pre-conceptions,
  
  
• looking within, around and beneath the conditions,
  
  
• recognizing and deeply understanding their core assumptions about the weather

Logical Action-Step Two: Seek The Strategist's Viewpoint

If you're like most knowledge-workers, you probably have a fairly extensive network of friends, colleagues, and associates. Your social network has been built over time through your individual experiences, efforts and encounters.

Strategists release the latent energies of their social networks through collaborative inquiries into finding new solutions, handling challenges and exploiting opportunities for transformation.

Thus by being the strategist you actively look for ways to create, leverage and extend synergy throughout your group.

You would want to set-up an environment or atmosphere of synergism where your team interacts and has processes or policies which encourage interactions in such a way so that the total impact of the group's efforts adds up to be more than the mere sum of their individual contributions.

Logical Action-Step Three: Engage in First-Person Research

Creative leaders make it a point to evaluate the progress of their own personal development - such as, the stages of growth and the legitimacy of each stage, they also assess their behavior and preferences.

Do you regularly or completely write down or record your thoughts, feelings and ideas? How much effort do you devote to keeping a journal, a diary or notes on your inner self?

Are you the type of person who looks for and analyzes the contradictory desires inside yourself or do you tend to notice a distinction between your desires and intentions?

What do you use to practice consciousness development or strengthening activities? In what ways do you structure your time to engage in meditation, martial arts, crafts or improvisational theater kinds of activities?

Logical Action-Step Four: Empower Their Shifts To Change

You can add power to your group through practicing techniques which enable people to discover the ideas, approaches and solutions hidden within them.

Effective leaders transform interpersonal activities into creative exercises. They orient their followers to focus on reflecting, learning, thinking, questioning, resolving, creating, discussing, debriefing, playing and interacting.

You would involve and join your stakeholders - partners, associates, peers, suppliers, constituents and others who might a part or vested interest in your venture - to build a shared vision with as broad a group of your stakeholders as possible.

Logical Action-Step Five: Capitalize on Wise Synergism

Perhaps you have heard of the principle of master-mind - it's where two or more people harmonize their thinking around a specific project or problem for the express purpose of forming a mind that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Great inventors and leaders like Thomas Edison, George Washington, Alfred Nobel and many others used their master-mind groups to generate fantastic innovations, policies and achievements for all humankind.

You can leverage the collaborative activities of your team through the strategist's approach to leadership. You can expand the time horizon of your strategies to encompass a range from 3 to 21 years.

The benefits that strategic leaders provide is that their groups enjoy opportunities to:

• Share their reflections on your mission and vision
  
  
• Openly disclosure, support and confront any differences between the organization's and their personal values
  
  
• Conduct corporate and personal performance appraisals
  
  
• Creatively resolve paradoxes or contradictions in productivity versus inquiry, autonomy versus control, and quality versus quantity
  
  
• Interactively develop self-amending and self-correcting structures

You can multiply your creativity and creative leadership skills just by applying these strategies to all of your problems, situations and decisions.

Experts in psychology, management and organizational sciences call these strategies, "action-logic" - their studies reveal that professionals generally fall into one of three different behavioral categories:

1. Reactive - 5%
   
   
2. Preventive - 85%
   
   
3. Creative - 10%

This article has described the "creative" forms of action-logic - by using these strategies people will be moved to call you an "individualist", a "strategist" or a "magician"!

"I am personally convinced that one person can be a change catalyst, a "transformer" in any situation, any organization. Such an individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf. It requires vision, initiative, patience, respect, persistence, courage, and faith to be a transforming leader." Stephen R. Covey

Are you ready to leverage, empower and energize your creative leadership? Are you willing to be that catalyst, agent of change or provocateur who inspires others to contribute to the growth of your organization?

Ensure the success of your "Strategically Wise Synergistic Process of Creation" with these 5 "Logical Action Steps" - your teammates and organization will be so glad you did.

Mustard Seed Investments Inc.
Copyright © 2004, All rights reserved

Bill Thomas produces "The Leadership Toolkit" - a web based training program that improves your leadership skills, energizes creativity and transforms you into a persuasive, empowering leader. Inspire Confidence, Be Creative, Enhance Your Leadership Influence - Get "All the Tools You Need To Lead!" http://www.leadership-toolkit.com/info.html.