Beep beep… Beep beep… Thinking Assets

By Carey-Lyn Kurten

How much does your work day resemble Wylie Cyote’s? Wylie wakes up each morning and goes to work chasing the Roadrunner. Go, Go, Go … Do, Do, Do… Work, Work, Work.  Many of us are trapped in a cycle of busy-ness. If we were measuring our success on activity, then we would define our work as successful.

                                                            But what is missing as we rush from one task to the next?

“Thinking is the ultimate human resource. The quality of our future will depend entirely on the quality of our thinking” Edward DeBono

In an Industrial Age, the harder you worked the more successful you became. Without busyness where would business be? No place, and that’s the truth. But there is a point where busyness goes beyond the point of productivity and into the swamp where crocodiles feed on those who cannot swim. We find ourselves in the Conceptual Age where success is defined by our ability to outthink our competitors. In a world where the synergy of ideas (high concept) and human connections (high touch) set the tone for achievement, can we afford to be too busy to think?   

Why is thinking so important?  Everything we do starts with the brain. The way we react to others, make decisions, solve problems, communicate, choose careers, manage and lead people. Some people focus on facts, others focus on relationships, some like details and still others prefer to see the bigger picture.  We are different because we think differently. Just as some prefer to use their left hand, and others their right, so too people have preferred ways of thinking. This diverse thinking can be a source of conflict that saps organizational energy, or it can be channeled into a powerful force that can drive your business into the future.    

There is currently a huge focus on the people perspective of organisational development. Skills levies have driven training towards standardised accreditation. There is much talk about human capital, managing people as assets, and empowering employees. John Adair in How to Grow Leaders, identifies the most common error facing organisations who commit to developing their people and he sums it up with the old English proverb: to act is easy, to think is hard . So many organisations act before they think. People are sent, budgets are spent…but how much emphasis is placed on the ultimate human resource…thinking?

Taking time out to assess the quality of the thinking in your organisation should be considered one of your critical success factors. Your people are only assets if they are growing and if that growth has a direct impact on their productivity. Their thinking effects every decision they make, every problem they solve and every human connection they make. If improving the quality of your thinking gives your organisation a competitive edge, what choices are you making?

Has Wylie Coyote ever caught the roadrunner?  

beep beep…beep beep  

Carey-Lyn Kurten

Mila    

Outsource to Outthink

Recommended reading:
A Whole New Mind by Daniel H. Pink
How to Grow Leaders – John Adair
 

Published in Business Link Magazine Ed: 43     May/June 2008