Moving Hearts and Minds

In our day-to-day analysis of problems and challenges we unknowingly adopt thinking habits. One form our habits take is the use of ‘thinking channels’ along which conversation and analysis flow. Thinking channels by their nature guide and at the same time constrain how a given problem will be treated. They deliver the route to different types of solutions and are one of the main processes we bring to problem solving. However, there are three important problems identified in this book: a. Thinking channel selection is usually unconscious and unmanaged b. We typically use a narrow range of channels c. Our existing narrow repertoire of thinking channels is not enough to tackle the problems and challenges we routinely face Further to this, I have outlined that there are well-established norms and conventions that shape our social thinking. Discussion, analysis, and most forms of social thinking take place as conversations. Conversations follow a ‘turn-taking’ fashion and have a momentum and character all of their own. This is important because: a. Attempts to improve the quality and alter the direction of social thinking must work with, rather than against, the norms of conversation b. Artificially introduced thinking techniques, which include most creative thinking tools on the market, break the flow of conversation and feel awkward and forced c. The remedy to this requires a widening of the range of thinking channels we use and a ‘natural’ introduction of these new channels