Crisp Coaching & Consultancy Ltd, Radnor House, 46 Radnor Road, Horfield, Bristol BS7 8QY Tel: 0844 567 6801 Company Registration Number 05379946
Tip 14 - Think your way to success
Are you using the right sort of thinking for the problem(s) you are addressing? Could it be useful to think in different ways? Here are some models of thinking that you can utilise to extend the way you think about problems, life or business.
Models of Ways of Thinking
1. Reductionist thinking has two forms as follows:
o Logical thinking. The classic example of logical thinking is a form of reasoning which goes like this: ‘If all cows are animals, and this is a cow, then it is an animal’. This is a powerful and useful way of thinking, responsible for a good deal of the clarity we need to make sensible decisions. But we can't expect it to be good for everything. For example, logic isn't always a good way of sorting out emotional problems, such as who to marry or whether or not to have a child.
o Causal thinking is a way of linking activities or events together. A car mechanic explaining why your car won't start might tell you that a crack in the distributor head has caused the damp to get in which then caused a leakage of the current, which stopped the spark igniting the petrol. In this kind of thinking we are also saying for example that if you change “crack in the distributor head” then “damp getting in” will change, leading to enabling the “spark igniting the petrol”. This is why analysing patterns of causes and consequences can be useful when deciding upon actions.
Reductionist thinking isn't so good at helping us to think about complex systems for four main reasons:
- It only looks at specific situations.
- It’s rational and objective and ignores what are seen as subjective, emotional factors.
- We cannot always predict the behaviour of ‘complex’ systems where any changes can lead to unintended consequences. Most of the time we have to say ‘it all depends’.
- Systems are characterised by interconnectedness, and in particular by feedback loops. So thinking of separate, simple cause and effects isn't going to help us consider the many different interacting factors and feedback loops in, say, a public transport system, a business or a family.
2. System or Holistic thinking deals with wholes rather than parts. The basic idea is pretty straightforward. As an example, imagine that you are a member of a group which isn't working well. Much of its meetings are taken up with people defending themselves against real (or imaginary) criticisms and talking at cross purposes. Somehow, unimportant decisions are debated for hours and big ones go through on the nod. Everybody leaves the meeting feeling drained, but also feeling that not much has been achieved. If you wanted to understand why this was so, you could start by looking at each person individually – does he or she have the qualities which are needed to work in this group? You could list them one by one, and decide, in relation to each individual, whether or not that person was contributing to the problems. You might even decide that one person was really unsuited to the task, get them removed from the group and expect all to be well. The chances are that it wouldn't. Your way of thinking about this problem, by looking at the parts, overlooks the relationships between the people, and these are crucial to what is going on. And, when you think about it, the same is true if you look first at the relationships between two of the members, and then at relationships between another two and so on. Here are some important aspects:
- One way holistic thinking simplifies things is by taking multiple partial views. Holistic thinking recognises that in order to find out about the system, you need to take various different views. The more views you have, the more you will know about the whole. No view will be wrong or untrue – they are simply more or less helpful in understanding the whole. A feasible way of taking multiple partial views is to consider the perspectives or points of view of all the people involved.
- People sometimes say “if you'd been in my position, you'd have done the same …” If this is true and where swapping role, responsibilities, relationships and other circumstances would result in swapped opinions, then any difference is one of perspective. In general it is possible to gain additional perspectives by imagining yourself in other circumstances.
- Perspectives can be altered, by beliefs. People develop a worldview. This worldview is about deeper values which may have their origins in upbringing or cultural experience: a sense of what is ‘fair and right’ and fundamental beliefs about the nature of things. If swapping circumstances would not change your view, then any difference is more likely to be one of worldview.
- Differences of perspective and worldview can both give rise to differences of opinion, so it is valuable to understand and take into account the distinction between them.
Dealing with complex issues can be almost impossible on your own. Coaching can help with all aspects, including: helping generate more perspectives, distinguishing the worldviews and developing the solutions. Click here to arrange an introductory session to find out more.
