Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them.
Image: Solutions Key – GotCredit (CC BY 2.0)
Category: Management (Page 9 of 24)
We have all been told that thinking outside-the-box is often the secret to finding resolutive solutions to our problems. In a world that seems to be evolving faster and faster, it is imperative that we find ways to adapt ourselves and our businesses to new circumstances and new challenges.
But due to the way our mind works, it is often harder than expected to actually think out of the box. First of all, what box are we talking about? And second of all, if we get out of that box, where are we supposed to go.
This is precisely the problem that Alain Iny, BCG Associate Director, and Luc De Brabandere, BCG Senior Advisor, address in their book “Thinking in New Boxes: A New Paradigm for Business Creativity”.
They propose a new form of strategic creativity, which they defined “thinking in new boxes”, that helps people tap into their creativity while being sure of addressing the right questions.
We must come up with many new boxes, and then choose the most appropriate one to solve our problem.
The authors outline a 5-step approach to thinking in new boxes:
- Doubt Everything – Challenge your current perspectives. The way you are thinking right now could be preventing you from developing new solutions.
- Probe the possible – Maintain self-awareness while re-examining the world around you. Explore all options and be conscious of what is happening within and outside your environment.
- Diverge – Generate many new and exciting things, even if they seem absurd and opposing. Jot down even those ideas which are unpopular and unattractive. But always keep in the back of your mind the framed question that you began with.
- Converge – Evaluate and select the ideas that will drive breakthrough results.
- Reevaluate – No idea is a good idea forever. Embrace the change. Always reevaluate, relentlessly.
If you wish to learn more you can:
- Watch Alain Iny’s TED talk:
- Watch Luc De Brabandere’s TED talk:
Mind Maps are a tool introduced by Tony Buzan which help organize our thoughts and ideas through key words in a hierarchical yet creative manner. Mind maps can be used for anything from studying, to tackling problems, to making decisions and even preparing for our next job meeting.
Here are the main steps to creating a mind map:
- Take a blank piece of paper and place it horizontally
- Write the core concept you wish to analyze
- Add branches which represent the main ideas which are linked to that concept
- Each branch can have further branches stemming from it
- Lines representing the branches should be thinner as you get further away from the central point
- Be creative: use colors, use curvy lines, use images which help evoke certain ideas
- DO NOT FOLLOW A LINEAR PATH: you can go back to branches and add or subtract as you wish
Most important of all, find your own mind mapping style. In order to make ourselves be understood by others, we must find our voice!
Here are two TED talks on Mindmaps:
If you want to learn more about mind mapping, you should check out these previous articles:
The Ultimate Book of Mind Maps (part 1)
The Ultimate Book of Mind Maps (part 2): the success formula
Positive thinking can lead to a lot of positive change in your life. Developing an optimistic outlook can be good for both your physical and mental health.
This article provides 10 tips to make positive thinking easy:
1. Spend Time with Positive People
2. Take Responsibility for Your Behavior
3. Contribute to the Community
4. Read Positive and Inspirational Material
5. Recognize and Replace Negative Thoughts
6. Establish and Work Toward Goals
7. Consider the Consequences of Negativity
8. Offer Compliments to Others
9. Create a Daily Gratitude List
10. Practice Self-Care
Image source: Flickr – Boohoomian (CC BY-NC 2.0)
It’s easy to think that people blessed with brains are inevitably going to leave the rest of us in the dust. However, the latest studies from Stanford University, summarised in this article, show that your attitude is a better predictor of your success than your IQ.
In particular, people’s core attitudes fall into one of two categories: a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. Those with a growth mindset believe that they can improve with effort. They outperform those with a fixed mindset, even when they have a lower IQ, because they embrace challenges, treating them as opportunities to learn something new.
There are some strategies that will fine-tune your mindset and help you make certain it’s as growth oriented as possible:
- Don’t stay helpless
- Be passionate
- Take action
- Go the extra mile (or two)
- Expect results
- Be flexible
- Don’t complain when things don’t go your way
Most guides for travel preparations focus on the equipment and necessary documents. But how do you prepare your mind for travel?
In this article, a professional traveller gives 6 advices to prepare for travelling:
- Study and gather information
- Change your routines
- Learn to deal with people
- Make quicker decisions
- Learn to be with yourself
- Just relax
Image source: Travel – Hamza Butt (CC BY 2.0)
Multitasking is defined as the ability to perform more than one task, or activity, over a short period of time. In today’s world, multitasking is becoming the norm in most offices and households. We’re always short on time so we figure that doing several things at once will help us get more done at the end of the day.
WRONG!
Our productivity actually goes down by 40% when multitasking, therefore eliminating any benefit we might have gained. This is because when we multitask, we are actually “switch-tasking”, which means quickly shifting our attention between multiple activities, constantly interrupting ourselves and losing our train of thought.
So what are some of the benefits of not multitasking?
- Becoming more mindful of your surroundings and your experiences
- Making big progress on challenging projects
- Actually completing those projects in a shorter time
- Reducing your stress levels
And here are some tips to avoid multitasking:
- Switch off all interruptions
- Shorten your deadlines so you can better focus on your project
- Establish two kinds of office at hours to focus more:
- Individual work hours – when all distractions are banned.
- Open office hours – when people can have the opportunity to reach you and get your input on something.
Want to read more about the downfalls of multitasking? Here is a good book you might want to read!
“The Myth of Multitasking: How “Doing it All” gets nothing done” – Dave Crenshaw
(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3346363-the-myth-of-multitasking)
Image source: Pixabay (CC0)
What do tomatoes have to do with management? Everything according to Francesco Cirillo, the man who invented this time management technique in the late 1980s.
The method is named after the kitchen timer shaped like a tomato some of you might have already seen.
Image Source: Flickr – Marco Verch – (CC BY-NC 2.0)
This method consists in maximising your attention for short periods of time by taking frequent breaks to refresh your mind. By splitting a large task into many smaller tasks, you are able to keep up your motivation and enhance creativity.
The method is extremely easy to implement by following a few simple steps:
- Choose a task to be accomplished
- Set the timer to 25 minutes
- Work on the task, without any distractions, until the timer rings, then put a checkmark on a piece of paper
- Take a 5 minute break, then return to the task
- After four pomodoros (that is, four 25-5 minute splits) take a longer break (15-30 minutes), then get back to the task
The actions of recording pomodoros adds a sense of accomplishment to our work and helps us give our undivided attention to the task during the 25 minutes of work.
The times indicated are those suggested by the pomodoro technique, but we can adjust them to our needs, keeping in mind always to keep a short break and a long break every 4 short breaks.
Though the method was traditionally conceived using a mechanical timer, today there are many apps that can help us in using this technique.
I recommend the app “Clear Focus” – simple and effective!
If you want to read more about the pomodoro technique and its history, you can head over to the official website:
https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-technique
Organization is important, but what you really need is focus. According to the author of this article, being able to sit down and concentrate intensely on your work is the real key of success.
Here are some tips to help concentration:
1) Cut Off the Noise: Answer your e-mails at scheduled times. Request that people don’t interrupt you when working on a big project. If you are required to answer phones and drop-in’s immediately, schedule work when the office is less busy.
2) Structure Your Environment: Try to locate yourself so you are facing potential distractions such as doors, phones or windows. This way you can take a glance to assess sounds that would otherwise break your focus.
3) Clarify Objectives: If you aren’t sure what the end result is, the confusion will make it impossible to focus. Unclear objectives often result in having to redo sections of work.
4) Divide Blobs: Taking a few minutes to plan not only your end result, but the order you will complete any steps, can save hours in wasted thinking.
5) Know the Rules: If the rules aren’t clear from the outset, you will slip out of concentration as you ponder them later.
6) Set a Deadline: A deadline can make it easier to forget the non-essential and speed up your working time. Time limits have also disadvantages when they cause you to worry about the time you have left instead of the task itself.
7) Break Down Roadblocks: Break down roadblocks by brainstorming or planning on a piece of paper. Writing out your thought processes can keep you focused even if you might become frustrated.
8 ) Isolate Yourself: Unless your work is based on other people they will only break your focus. Create a private space and refuse to talk to anyone until your work is finished. Put a sign on your door to steer away drop-ins and don’t answer your phone.
9) Healthy Body, Sharper Mind: Try to cut out one of your unhealthy habits for just thirty days to see if there is a difference in your energy levels.
10) Be Patient: If you need strong concentration, periods of 90-120 minutes of work are recommended. Any less than that and you will waste too much time getting started before the flow can continue.
Image source: Flickr – Nickolai Kashirin (CC BY 2.0)
If you can’t afford to ignore the annoying and troublesome people in your life, then Dealing with Difficult People is the book for you. Learning the 21 ‘tried and true’ tools will be useful in many situations. For example, to be a viable and successful business person, you have to be able to deal with all sorts of people.
To discover more here is the full book.
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