Breaking Mindsets

Often we think of having to change the mindsets of others, but what about our own? Shouldn’t we be challenging our own ideas as well as the ways of having ideas? The following list applies to both solo and group working:

• Develop a wide range of experiences and interests. The richer the experience the wider the range of possibilities. Why not take a different route home or try a different bus?
• Become aware of your own blind spots i.e. things that you do not think
  about consciously or sub-consciously.
• Step into the shoes of all your stakeholders, even those with extreme
  views.
• Try different techniques, mix up your ways of holding meetings, generating ideas etc. Keep the same ones and you will build up systematic blind spots
  or gaps in your thinking.
• Try different modes of thinking. If you are naturally intuitive then try to be rational. If you are working in groups then change the balance of the group.
  If you are familiar with NLP representational systems then work with a
  different one.
• Challenge of all of the ‘givens’. Many organisations do things because they have always been done like that. There are not always as many regulatory constraints as there might at first appear!

For more creative ideas on training or setting up innovation projects visit the Creative Business Solutions website.