Ambi-thinking

… and you picked up that new desk that you’ve needed. It is an Ikea special. You drag it into the spare bedroom and get ready to assemble. You meticulously unwrap each piece. Every component is either laid out on the floor, placed against the wall, or setup on a table. You verify that each part is accounted for in the manual’s inventory guide. Next, you proceed step-by-step in perfect sequence… all steps followed with absolute precision and, nearly 5 hours later, your desk is perfectly assembled and ready to go.

Nah… scratch that… and you picked up that new desk that you’ve needed. It is an Ikea special. You drag it into the spare bedroom tear open the box and get to work. Clearly the biggest piece is the desk’s top… oh, these must be the parts for the draw. You find the screws that seem to fit. Some 45 minutes later your desk is perfectly assembled and ready to go. You also ended up with a few extra washers and a bolt or two that will come in handy for the next project.

You were likely able to relate to one of these scenarios and probably found the other example made you feel just a bit uncomfortable. The easily relatable example above can serve as a test to determine if you are a linear or non-linear thinker. Linear thinkers operate in an environment of natural order. Each step leading to the next logical step leading to a pathway towards the desired result. Nonlinear thinkers are more creative. While there is a start point and desired goal, in-between, the non-linear thinker finds that new pathways may open and different ideas can influence a divergent, possibly better outcome, or a more expeditious conclusion.

Once recognizing your natural bias to strict order or predilection to creative problem solving, how can you find balance? The ambidextrous baseball player can bat from the left or righthand side of the plate and thus improve their odds of success. Is it possible to achieve the same phenomenon in your approach to problem solving? Would a balanced approach to logic and creativity be true nirvana for your next project? Here are some ideas on how to become an ambi-thinker.

(1) The best GPS apps on the market know where you are and where you are going, but it is constantly assessing the variety of options and conditions to provide an optimized journey. While a step-by-step approach serves to establish the best initial sequence to a project, you need to be sure to have built in rest stops. With this in place, the non-linear thinker must begin by following ordinal steps and linear thinkers need to pause and reassess. Be sure to establish clear and frequent milestones to re-evaluate your status and pathway to the goal. Follow the next set of steps and reexamine again. Lather, rinse, repeat…

(2) Try working backwards. You know the desired outcome of a project. Now, think about the state of the project immediately before its conclusion. Again, consider the state of the project in its erstwhile state. While this process seems at first to perfectly resonate with a linear thought pattern, each phase needs to be assessed. Can you possibly skip steps or have elements of your project completed out of sequence? Can different milestones be achieved more quickly and be waiting for the rest of the project to catch up. While there is an element of building the plane in flight with this approach, you may just find that timelines become condensed, and solutions can be simultaneously logical and creative.

(3) Apply the Socratic Method to your approach. The Socratic Method uses questions and challenges to enhance critical thinking. Why not apply that to the steps in a project or task? Is the next step the best next step or could this moment of creative exploration likely derail progress towards the end goal? Be careful to not allow the act of challenging your thought process to manifest in delayed deliberation but allow the act to permit the linear to think more creatively and allow the non-linear thinker to consider the ramifications of creative divergence.

While changing one’s mindset may be a challenge, the goal of finding balance is an aspiration of people in a variety of endeavors. Great leaders have an ability to be laser focused on outcomes, but also inspire creative solutions and new pathways to success. Recognize your natural propensity to approaching a project (linear vs. non-linear) and try applying some of the steps described to help find a balanced approach. You may just find yourself with a more expeditious outcome that is better than first imagined, but without those leftover pieces that make you worry about the stability of the end product.

Reflect on something that you are currently tackling and see if ambi-thinking can deliver an optimized result.

The opinions expressed herein are strictly those of the author.