POSSIBILITIES
The million- dollar mindset?
In a recent McKinsey poll, 84 percent of global executives reported that innovation was extremely important to their growth strategies, but a staggering 94 percent were dissatisfied with their organisations’ innovation performance. How and why is there such a universal struggle with this most fundamental of success factors? In the spirit of Exploare magazine, join us as we delve into how neuroscience might shed some new light on this age-old challenge, and the fundamental principles that cannot be ignored…
It’s often cited as one of the biggest priorities – and frustrations – for leaders. Innovation, and the ‘secret’ to unlocking it, is a topic that both captivates and constrains. Type the word into your search engine, and you’ll be bombarded with TED talks, book reviews, and business articles. There’s certainly an over-simplified message conveyed that billion-dollar companies and ‘disruptors’ supposedly know how to innovate, and other organisations should try to imitate their success via quick tricks. Unsurprisingly however, when delving deeper than the headlines and sales pitches, it soon becomes clear there is no one method or change that can be made. Instead, by embracing better diversity, driving positive cultural change, and supporting more open mindsets, leaders can start to cultivate the shift they want to see.
Mind over matter?
When it comes to mindset, neuroscience has become a rising star in management theory on the subject. The notion or conviction that we can improve behaviour and interaction in the workplace to enhance performance, innovation, and health by understanding how our brain works is on the rise.
Research projects increasingly show that the historic focus on learning new things and building/strengthening neural connections has limited success when it comes to innovation. More important is our ability to break down old ideas (known as ‘synaptic pruning’). Dr Mark Bonchek, CEO of SHIFT Academy, has spent the last decade championing a new term... ‘unlearning’: “In every aspect of business, we are often operating with mental models that have grown outdated or obsolete,” he says. “To embrace the new logic of value creation, we have to unlearn the old one. The problem isn’t learning: it’s unlearning.”
Unlearning is not about forgetting. It’s about the ability to choose an alternative mental model or paradigm. The same goes for the recently coined ‘elastic thinking’ by physicist Leonard Mlodinow. It champions a range of behaviours that people can better cultivate for innovation: from the capacity to let go of comfortable ideas and abandon ingrained assumptions, to reframing the questions we ask, and having a willingness to experiment and be tolerant of ‘failure’.
Where do ideas come from?
It’s all about connections
In humans, about three quarters (far more than any other animal) of our cerebral neurons reside inside the ‘association cortices’ – our association neurons are what allow us to think and have ideas rather than merely react… Studies have shown that increased neural connections (association) is where ideas come from – put simply, it’s the brain connecting something that it hasn’t ever connected before. Ideas form when information and thoughts collide – the result of minute interactions of billions of networked neurons.
“What's interesting is that the genesis of innovation isn’t the result of a Eureka moment,” says Andrew Bullmore, Partner and Head of Innovation at Hoare Lea. "It's fascinating to think that it's often a collision between smaller hunches. They then become more than the sum of their parts when we connect them together and develop these thoughts further.”
The brain’s own barriers
There are a multitude of influential factors on an individual’s thought processes, and job type is included in this. We each develop a point of view on common issues during the first years in a role – the ‘prevailing wisdom’ of the industry, employer, or even team becomes the norm in our brains. This, combined with the likely dominance of our analytical left brain (something common for most people), often means it becomes harder and harder to see ‘outside the box’. We have to push ourselves to naturally innovate, or to ask new questions rather than just answer old ones.
Researchers have shown that this ‘dogmatic cognition’ (often referred to as frozen thoughts / accepted truths) is so strong in most humans that our brain can actually reject non-confirming facts even when there is evidence for them. This isn’t stupidity at all – indeed, the irony of frozen thinking is that it’s a particular risk when you’re an expert in something.
Added to this, the longer we are influenced by societal norms, the more our brains learn to moderate anything ‘irrational’. As a child, your desire to live in a house made out of sweets is perfectly acceptable to say with absolute seriousness; when you’re a grown adult it can only be said jokingly.
Photo (below) by Eugenio Mazzone on Unsplash
In every aspect of business, we are often operating with mental models that have grown outdated or obsolete. To embrace the new logic of value creation, we have to unlearn the old one. The problem isn’t learning: it’s unlearning.
Dr Mark Bonchek
Diverse thinking.
The ‘dogmatic cognition’ barrier is similar to a brain behaviour called ‘functional fixedness’. It’s a manifestation of a larger issue with the way our brains work: they essentially deal with unfamiliar situations through ‘momentum of thought’. This means that once our conscious is set in a direction, it typically continues with that one thread even if it is fruitless. (A simple example of this is looking at a word jumble and only being able to think of one incorrect solution). Scientists have found that a new or changed situation can provide the ‘force’ needed to change momentum of thought (i.e. just moving to a new room could make a problem easier to tackle). Anecdotal interviews tell of people making life-changing decisions when something dramatic happens in their lives or they travel to a new place. Essentially, when our brains encounter different situations, we become more open to new ideas.
But not all of us have the same fixedness.
In Leonard Mlodinow’s book, Elastic: flexible thinking in a constantly changing world, he touches on a pioneering study. It showed how, when faced with a challenge where the solution was to use items in a different way than they’re supposed to be, ¾ of adult groups fail; yet children performed much better… as did members of an Amazonian tribe.
An essential part of the all-important wider diversity and inclusion movement is ensuring differences in thinking. Cognitive diversity – which includes diversity in ideas, viewpoints, and problem-solving approaches – plays an integral role in opening up new perspectives. By broadening the mix of people with a range of social, ethnic, and economic backgrounds and identities, organisations can not only be more inclusive and representative of society, but – when it comes to innovation – also promote cognitive diversity, thereby addressing challenges with a broader range of questions, approaches, and perspectives.
An experiment run by the Harvard Business Review found that teams with a high deviation from a ‘standard’ perspective (in other words, cognitive diversity) are more likely to solve a problem than non-diverse teams. Similarly, a Deloitte report found that cognitively and demographically diverse teams can enhance innovation by 20 percent and identify/reduce risks by up to 30 percent.
“Everyone brings different experiences, cultural viewpoints, and identities into the workplace,” says Andrew Bullmore “These should be celebrated and valued as a key aspect of successful innovation. I also believe in the need to better engage with the next generation – people who will automatically think differently to how we do now. That’s something that needs to be encouraged rather than stifled. By understanding how future engineers, designers, and building occupants appreciate the importance of their homes, schools, workplaces, and infrastructure on the wider environment, it’s possible to set up a powerful ‘chain of natural changemakers’.”
Everyone brings different experiences, cultural viewpoints, and identities into the workplace. These should be celebrated and valued as a key aspect of successful innovation.
Andrew Bullmore Partner and Head of Innovation, Hoare Lea
Photo (below) by Joshua Rawson Harris on Unsplash
By understanding how future engineers, designers, and building occupants appreciate the importance of their homes, schools, workplaces, and infrastructure on the wider environment, it’s possible to set up a powerful ‘chain of natural changemakers’.
Andrew Bullmore Partner and Head of Innovation, Hoare Lea
From STEM to STEAM.
It’s this next generation that have also experienced first-hand the benefits of more cognitively diverse learning models. Adding the ‘arts’ perspective to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM to STEAM) subjects is the most prominent. It involves looking at the world or a challenge through a different lens (usually the culture, capabilities, and motivations of people) to better contextualise those subjects. STEAM activities are typically hands-on, which often takes some of the pressure off students, and are designed to use both the brain's 'analytical' left hemisphere and the ‘innovative’ right hemisphere when approaching problems.
A question of culture.
Of course, both mindset and diversity unavoidably intersect with culture. Increasing the ability to innovate is not an individual feat. While understanding how the brain works through neuroscience can improve a person’s ability to think differently, and more diverse teams will naturally do so, both these factors will always be affected by a culture that either fosters, stifles, or shapes innovation.
In 2018, neuroscientific and cultural perspectives were integrated into a coherent narrative for the first time. 'The human brain in the age of innovation' by Elkhonon Goldberg demonstrated that even neuroscientists are beginning to acknowledge that the two are intrinsically linked.
As Andrew notes: “To continually develop solutions to internal and external drivers requires a lot of resource, hard work, and sustained attention. Innovation has to be embedded within culture, historical successes, creative diligence, and collaborative practices. An innovation week or an innovation programme to generate ideas will only take us so far. Successful innovation is the result of the evaluation, prioritisation, and implementation of ideas – and a culture dictates which ideas are condoned or tolerated, and those that aren’t given serious consideration.
“Most importantly, a successful culture is not about innovation for innovation’s sake, but instead being committed to unlocking value (whether that be social, economic, environmental and so on) through innovation in a responsible and effective way.”
Looking inwards at organisations, there are many cultural questions that can be asked… Which ideas are deemed inconceivable or too risky? Are some dismissed because they came from the ‘wrong’ person? Do things slip through because they are presented in a way that diverges from a conventional process? How free do people feel about speaking out on a new way of doing things, even if it’s far from being thought through? It’s so easy to kill an idea but infinitely harder to defend it. Is there a culture of supporting people in taking things further? How is feedback given and received? How are mistakes and ‘failure’ communicated, and positively learnt from?
Of course, ideas should be challenged. However, it’s vital that they don’t fall victim to internal conflicts, deafening silence, or actual suppression. Biases and prejudices have an incredible unconscious impact on how we perceive ideas. Ultimately, an organisation’s success at innovation depends on how ideas are collected, evaluated, and progressed. Like so many things, it’s clear culture is at the core.
LET'S TALK
Photo by Dmitry Ratushny on Unsplash
Want to improve your elastic thinking?
“Within each of us are two distinct thinkers, both a logician and an associator. These two thinkers are competitors – out of whose struggle our thoughts and ideas emerge. We can all switch between modes of brain function that ‘spontaneously’ generate ideas and those that scrutinise them. The trick is being able to shift between these two modes when we need to. The latest findings in neuroscience and psychology give us the tools we need to make ourselves better elastic thinkers. Nurturing your ability for elastic thinking can help you generate new ideas. Some (many!) will prove useless, while others will culminate in the innovative solutions required for the problems of today.” Leonard Mlodinow
Over eight weeks, regularly try:
● Stepping outside your box – putting yourself in situations you wouldn’t usually be in.
This is about absorbing different information into your unconscious, which will help build associations that you wouldn’t otherwise get.
Example: actively strike up conversations with people you never would usually dream of talking to, pick an activity that would never occur to you to do, or explore a subject/skillset that you believe doesn’t play to your strengths.
● Practising remote associations and riddle solving – training your brain to reach the ‘aha’ moment and problem solving without using your analytical brain.
In trials, people who do exceptionally well on these activities report that they are ‘letting their mind wander’ rather than working through options.
Example: remote association tests, such as trying to find the connecting word that works when paired with three or more words: ie pine, crab, sauce. (The answer is apple.)
● Actively ‘switching off’ – letting your unconscious brain dominate more often.
The demands of daily life mean we hardly ever have time to just let our minds wander; most of the ‘down time’ we get is spent listening to music, podcasts, or just holding things in our brains (such as “I need to remember to take the bins out tonight”).
Example: write down everything you’re ‘holding in your head’, set alarms so you don’t have to stay present, take a walk, shower, or lie in the dark, but do not take your phone with you!