How agile thinking can help you break out habits and patterns

By: Dr. Bhanu Arora

Critical thinking, also known as Agile Thinking, is one of the future competencies that leaders will require in the uncertain years to come. You'll feel as though the future has already arrived. Agile Thinking is a style of problem-solving and leadership that may have virtually immediate advantages, such as erasing groupthink, controlling cognitive restrictions, obtaining assurance, and unleashing your creativity. This might be the closest thing to a Jedi mind trick, but it's not.

What is an Agile Mind?

Agile thinking is the ability to let go of habitual problem-solving and decision-making habits in favor of attitudes that are more productive, such as creativity, teamwork, and a strong analytical sensibility. Agile Thinking is a leadership talent that allows for a flexible jumping between these mindsets, or "toggling," while keeping a quick and effective feeling of agility while switching between different approaches to an issue.

Why is Agile Thinking Important?

Future skills are vital in the midst of constant change and unpredictability. Geopoliticl unpredictability, technical imporvement, and the climate emergency will need an agile, flexible approach for organizations in the 2020s and 2030s. Innovative solutions to problems aren't always easy to find. Problems that are hard to forecast or characterize can feel like a trip to the Upside Down due to conflicting interpretations, methods, and human vulnerabilities.

Psychologically supported Agile Thinking approaches may help leaders see diffiulties differently and handle them in various ways. They find great individuals, inventive ideas, and innovative methods to do this.

Examples of Agile Thinking

Agile Thinking requires taking a step back and examine your ideas with a critical eye. Through four strategies, critical or agile thinking enables leaders to search for worthwhile answers.

Creative Thinking

Creativity takes a certain mindset. Its essential, not a frill. Creative SMEs like TV independents, advertising agency, and design boutiques have a distinct culture than FTSE giants. This culture values creativity and innovation. Creative cultures envolve in two stages:

Maintain a "lets get it done" atmosphere.
Let people play with ideas.

In this setting, conversations stray. A supremo on your squad will unleash excellence. Allow random ideas, dead ends, and unproductive speculation to emerge.

Divergent thinking is just one component. Another entails turning ideas into plans under budget and timing limits. Leaders that can quickly flip between divergent and convergent thoughts will use both to solve problems quickly.

Scientific Thinking

Inventive solution to a common problem. When the issue isn't clearly defined. If your results are poorer than last year, asking "why" may start a maze. Scientific methods prohibit quick, assumption-based judgments.

Sales may be lower than expected. A data-driven theory. Your conclusion seems certain, but the brain inherently craves certainty and will label everything as either 100% likely or 0% likely. Inactivity, flight, and warfare are relevant here.

Statistics suggest that sales numbers are only a minor part of the picture. Fractions make the brain worry about doubt and reluctance and cling to flimsy answers. Scientific reasoning - guided by cause and effect, hypothesis and study, intricacy and probability - may best curb this tendency.

Criticizing the sales team is pointless when evidence shows higher inflation, tighter export rules, and early hybrid working issues. Investigating reasons helps you choose the right responses.

Collaborative Thinking

Appropriate replies lead to teamwork. Unity is good, but creativity and integrity are essential. Group thinking can unite people and swiftly adopt the dominating personality's beliefs.

Collective, collaborative thinking empowers people to support the best ideas above the strongest voices. Creativity requires intellectual variety.

Psychological safety, not a phrase, allows people to speak up. Leaders must develop it via intellectual humility. To break out of silo thinking and maximize talent, teams must be willing to change their minds.

Flexible Thinking

Critical thinking is stepping back from first emotions, overcoming an emotional reaction, and moving quickly towards the next action. In all of these instances, it's often necessary to suppress the need to scream into a pillow, which is usually caused by the belief that something is wrong and needs fixing.

It's like hearing a poor note in a song that remains in your brain and causes low-level unhappiness. If you ignore it, it creates cognitive dissonance.

Discomfort can be hazardous. It could overshadow a good idea that is rejected because it goes against the consensus. Frustration can impair logic.

Recognizing these feelings will help you avoid them and be more open to the new proposal. Sometimes uncommon logic is useful. Flexible thinking involves switching mental models fast.

What are the benefits of Agile Thinking?

Every human being has cognitive limits, such as biases and presumptions. Emotions can overpower us by obstructing our capacity for logical reasoning, albeit this is not always the case through outbursts and reactions. Leaders may overcome their emotions, analyse their options, and select the best course of action with the least amount of delay by using agile thinking.

Since it offers leaders a range of options, agile thinking is a flexible method of problem-solving as opposed to a single, all-encompassing solution. Think of it as a mindset or behavior you should work on developing. Benefits that will manifest right away include:

Accelerated Decision-Making: better ability to judge which considerations are decision critical.
Flexibility of attitude and workflow: less reliance on dogma and bureaucracy.
Ability to tackle intractable problems: going back to fundamentals to assess what needs to change.
Innovation and Collaboration: open-minded, curious and courageous in every element of your role.
Deeper engagement and support: colleagues are more closely involved and empowered.

How to develop Agile Thinking?

Agile Thinking can be found by following a thorough process. The above-mentioned subjects are covered in four of the upcoming agile thinking skills courses on our schedule. These four courses give leaders options and the confidence to select from them. Leaders that practice Agile Thinking learn that certainty is a result reached with team members as opposed to a starting point that excludes others and possibilities. The ability to set aside ego and focus on what is right rather than who is right is provided to students by the realization that Agile Thinking is both a mentality and a method.

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