Habits can be a trap for anyone in a leadership position anyway, be it business, politics, academia, or another field.
As a leader, you need to provide a compelling vision that inspires those around you. But all too often, that doesn’t happen. Leaders lapse into mindless thinking, which affects every decision they make as well as the actions of the people who report to them.
Too often, we don’t come up with imaginative solutions because we let ourselves be ruled by routine and by preconceived notions.
We think we know ahead of time what will and won’t work, which makes us quick to dismiss ideas that sound too ‘out there.’ The people who answer to us learn the lesson that creative thinking is frowned upon, even if that’s not the lesson you wanted to teach.
There are four behaviors and practices that, through repetition and perseverance, will help you develop a mindset that’s open to imaginative and better ideas. One that will make you a better and more effective leader.
4 ways to broaden your mind and be a better leader
Formulate powerful questions.
Generating ideas starts with asking the right questions. The best questions are thought-provoking. They challenge underlying assumptions, invite creativity, give us energy, and make us aware of the fact there is something to explore that we hadn’t fully grasped before.
Train yourself to catch poorly designed questions and reformulate them. Questions beginning with “why,” “what” and “how” are best because they require more thoughtful responses than those that begin with “who,” “when,” “where” and “which.” Avoid questions that can be answered with a “yes” or “no.”
The art of proposing a question must be held of higher value than solving it. ~Georg Cantor
Expand your sphere of influence.
We’re strongly influenced, for better or worse, by the small group of people we have direct contact with. Since we tend to hang out with people who are fairly similar to ourselves, chances are we’re limiting our perspectives.
Make a deliberate effort to encounter people and ideas that are profoundly different from the usual suspects you hang out with. Visit a conference of a different profession, hang out with skaters, join an arts club, or buy a magazine randomly off the shelf.
Curiosity is the engine of achievement. ~Ken Robinson
Break your patterns.
You can increase your chances of seeing things differently if you deliberately break your normal pattern of working, communicating, thinking, reacting and responding:
- Take a different route to work.
- Change where you sit in meetings.
- If you’re normally the first to volunteer, hold back.
One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. ~Andre Gide
Learn to listen.
We’ve all been taught the importance of being good listeners, and still most of us struggle to do it. Often when people are “listening,” we’re really waiting for the first opportunity to share our story, opinion, or experience.
Train yourself to engage in three pure listening conversations a week. The conversations don’t need to be longer than 15 to 20 minutes, can be formal or informal, and the other person doesn’t need to know what you’re doing.
There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen. ~Rumi
Vow that you won’t try to take over the conversation no matter how much you want to. Just keep asking questions and don’t dismiss anything the other person says. After the conversation, reflect on what you learned. Don’t dismiss any ideas or views that don’t align with yours. Dare to challenge your own assumptions and reframe your beliefs if need be.
Some of these practices may take people outside their comfort zones, and everyone might not be ready to try all of them at once. That’s OK, but if you start to put them into practice, you’ll grow into a more mindful, visionary leader one step at a time.”
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Today’s guest contributor is Rob-Jan de Jong, speaker, writer, strategy and leadership consultant, and author of Anticipate: The Art of Leading By Looking Ahead. He serves as an expert lecturer at various business schools including the Wharton Business School (USA), Thunderbird School of Global Management (USA), Nyenrode Business University (The Netherlands), and Sabanci Business University (Turkey).
Image credit before quote added: Pixabay
