Do the switcheroo on your thinking

How readily and easily might you be able to change your mind? What would it take? 

The more cognitive flexibility you have, the better able to respond and adapt to change you’ll be. 

It makes sense, right, but still we see people ‘dig in’, ‘stick to their guns’, ‘hold the line’. But in these times of crazy change and uncertainty, convicted beliefs may be more practical if they loosened up a little. 

Rather than being hung up on building your smarts and clever, are you cognitively flexible?

This article from The Conversation UK by Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, Christelle Langley and Victoria Leong shares more detail. 

In essence…

“Cognitive flexibility provides us with the ability to see that what we are doing is not leading to success and to make the appropriate changes to achieve it.”

How easily can we switch between concepts and adapt our behaviours? 

Or do we defend, resist and stay? 

Perhaps we could trick or hack ourselves to try some different ways of thinking. 

What would it take for you to try?

Determined to make it work this time

There can be those days when we:
- Don’t get done what we hoped we would
- Don’t achieve what was on our list
or 
- Don’t get that breakthrough we were needing. 

We might hope to achieve more ‘next time’ by ‘sitting down and doing better’. 

But berating ourselves in the hope of better outcomes is perplexing. Because what have we really changed? 

If we are just expecting to do better even though we don’t have a new process for it, how could that actually work? 

Our habits and older ways of working kick in.

Unless we change the way we do things, we won’t change what we can do. This is where a safe space to try new ways of doing things can help. 

Join me at ‘the work hack club’. I'm gathering with people who need some of these new ways, plus some accountability and support. We’ll work alongside each other, online, and try some newer, better ways of working. 

It's 
- Focused
- Accountable
- Collaborative
- Supportive

And breakthroughs are guaranteed! Come for one session or make this your more productive habit. Check my website for more details.

It may not be pretty but it may just work

When we make up a solution, put together a near enough or good enough fix for something, it may not be pretty. And it may not be perfect.

For some of us who like our precision, accuracy, completeness and alignment, we might also prefer things to be ‘just so’, working well and of the highest quality. But in times when we are finding and needing hacks and short cuts to make things work, it’s worth allowing some leeway.

If we can allow things to be a bit clunky, imperfect, basic and rudimentary, it will relieve the pressure on those who are doing their best.

Human ingenuity is at work and while it’s clever, it might not have the highest fidelity on the first pass. Better will come over time. 

Taming distraction

Not every plan goes to plan. Inspiration may not show up when we’d like it to. Getting into a ‘flow’ with our work can be impossible at times.

Distractions are everywhere.

⏺ Internal distractions happen when our day-dreaming, mind-wandering brain looks for a release of pressure.

⏺ External distractions are bright shiny anythings promising rewards: people, screens, programs, food, random tasks.

One of the best ways to deal with distractions - internal and external - is to trick ourselves by following a system or process to keep us on track.

A hack for our mind.

Whether it’s a timebox, a task sliced from a bigger piece of work, a creative constraint or a gamed activity - we now know there are things we can do to make work easier, more focused and more productive for us ... even when times are tough.

Thinking a to do list will still do is an old way of thinking and working.

To do lists have evolved - and no, not just to a tech version in an app! How we prepare to do the work has changed. There are new and better ways of thinking and working available to us.

These ways are used by some, unknown to many yet available to us all. We are in an era where how we work is ripe for the hacking. 

The 'triple threat' work skills for the future

Trying to make sense of the ongoing changes in the world seems like a tough ask sometimes; as soon as you’ve got your head around one shift or change ... ‘thud’, along comes another, and then another. This is the world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity (VUCA) after all. 

So what are we to do? 

And the emphasis is on ‘do’. We can’t just sit and wait things out. Mind you, pointless ‘doing’ isn’t too helpful either. 

With the big world, your work world and your own world undergoing constant shifts, tweaks, adjustments and aftershocks, there are some critical work skills that will do you well - both now and the future. There's machine learning, artificial intelligence and more VUCA so you’ll need something that’s sharp and has staying power in your backpack or the often-quoted “toolkit” to ride this out ...and keep on riding. 

The Institute for the Future and the World Economic Forum release details on what they think you’ll need for the future. Add to that what I’m thinking and seeing when I’m working with business, and yes, there’s a dose of Sensemaking capability needed.

What’s the triple threat?

The ‘triple threat’ isn’t about the world’s demise - though with some changes recently, it could well head that way sooner than we were planning! 

Triple threat: it's the three powerful skills I think will make you a sure thing for better thinking, more useful solutions and a stronger bias for action… no matter what happens with the evolution of work. 

Why a triple? 

An actor who’s known as a triple threat is a threat because they can do more than just act. They can sing and dance and act. They’re more of a threat to succeed and get a wider range of gigs than the single domain expert who’s a great singer but… or acts well but can’t do much more. Nothing wrong with focusing on acting -- or any domain -- but having a couple of other domains of expertise in your kitbag will simply take your further, for longer. 

Football players (catch, pass and kick) or cricketers (bat, bowl and field) or netballers (shoot, pass and defend) who are triple threats are indomitable. They’re everywhere. They’re higher profile. They deliver greater value. They’re truly indispensable. And they’re probably feeling super-fulfilled too. Imagine using all that talent in so many areas and doing all much good, bringing that much value. 

Distributed -- not diluted

While deep expertise is ace, some transferability or ‘neo-generalism’ as Kenneth Mikkelsen and Richard Martin in 'The Neo-Generalist - Where you go is who you are’ explain... is the thing. It’s my favourite book of the moment. It speaks of the ability to be a specialist and a generalist. To ‘traverse multiple domains’ and ‘live between categories and labels’; now that’s a winner in my eyes.  

With triple threat work skills under your belt for the future, you’re more able to cross disciplines and blend opportunities that might have passed the single domain expert by. You're able to combine, mix and cross-pollinate what you learn from one area/gig/field/job/contract/experience... and apply it in another.

Steven Johnson in ‘Where good ideas come from’ calls this looking for ‘the adjacent possible’ ... and it has a dose of his ‘serendipity’ about it too. As he unpacks seven of the innovative spaces and places where good ideas come from, you can see how having more than one domain of expertise is like capability on steroids! 

The triple threat of work skills for the future

The triple threat work skills for the future? 

I think you’ve got to wonder, think and then do something with what you find out. 

Sing, dance and act. 

Bat, bowl and field. 

Shoot, pass and defend. 

At work, it's curiosity, ingenuity and creativity.

It looks like this... all bright and breezy: 

Curiosity is to wonder.

It’s about questioning. What’s going on? It’s a facilitation of a diverse conversation and dialogue. It’s about scanning, listening, reading, absorbing. Hmmmmm!

Ingenuity is to solve.

It’s about thinking. More deeply. It’s connecting dots. What does this mean? It’ssensemaking. Looking back, working out what’s needed next. Coming up with plausible solutions and ideas. Ahaaaa!

Creativity is... to create.

Of course it is! But not arty painting - unless that's what you're doing! This future work skill is for making, shipping, delivering, doing. It’s about the hack. Get it done. Tick! 

The Triple Threat of Work Skills for the Future are: Curiosity. Ingenuity. Creativity

These are a triple threat because they are adaptable, flexible and transportable.

They encourage you to be open to different perspectives and they create conditions to wonder what the heck is going on… and to respond, to work out 'what are we gonna do about it.' Oh, and then actually do it!

Don’t just wonder. Don’t just think.

Finish the game, the play, the third act and get into action.

Do.

Then you’ll be able to wonder again, think some more and put some more things into practice. 

Go you triple threat you!