Lateral thinking – Essential or just another buzzword?

In the 1980’s an advertising agency were pitching for British Rail (BR). The team from BR turned up at their offices for a presentation. They were hurriedly ushered into a meeting room and advised that their contacts would be along shortly. As they sat down, they noticed that the room was, well a bit dirty. There were tea stains on the desk and empty used plates, the bins were overflowing, and it smelt a bit odd. The clock ticked by, but nobody showed up. They chased several times, only to be told each time that the contacts would be another 5 minutes. The appointment time passed and eventually the disgruntled BR team stood up and walked out.

Upon returning to their offices the BR team were furious. How could they be treated so badly? They called the advertising agency and ranted and raved. And what was the response? The advertising agency said. ‘Well, now you know how many of your customers feel.’ ?BR were gobsmacked. But, the end result, the advertising company got the account. Why? Because they thought differently about the brief, putting the client in the shoes of their customers to understand how to sell better to them. It was a calculated risk, but it paid off. They impressed the customer and were that one step ahead of the competition.

What this tell us is that sometimes we need the ability to look at a problem in a different way. This forms the basis of lateral thinking. The action of looking beyond the obvious, ignoring the default and achieving the desired result unconventionally. It is important because we face daily complex challenges, and we are in a constant state of change. What worked 3 years ago, may now be null and void. Interestingly how often do you hear in one breath, ‘We have always done it like this.’ Followed swiftly by, ‘why do we keep getting the same problem?’

The modern-day champion of lateral thinking was the late Edward De Bono who whilst not inventing the concept was a considerable driving force behind it. He argued that the concept was useful in forcing business executives to think outside the box. It allowed a safe space to step outside of a comfort zone and be placed under a degree of pressure, which produced better results if managed appropriately.

Lateral thinking is an action that makes us dig deeper for the different, to consider things from various viewpoints, to imagine and to visualise. It can provide us with a competitive advantage in that we can differentiate our offering. Back to the BR example, the action of lateral thinking gave the advertising agency the edge because it had something to offer that got to the heart of the problem through different means. The client had seen the same types of approaches again and again, but they did not have the desired effect.

So, how can this hidden skill be utilised? One way is to devise the environment to replicate the conditions using what’s called a transitional object. This is an activity or reference point for inspiration. For example, using creativity. The objective is how people respond in an unrelated world to a task and then applying that experience and the learnings back to their work environment and applying to their roles, to solve a particular business objective. It is no surprise that many innovations from the microwave oven to commercial refrigeration have come about as a result of somebody working on something else and then they stumbled over the actual innovation.

Simple, then there should be no issue with wanting to develop lateral thinking skills, right? Well, this is where things get a little more complicated.

It’s obvious, isn’t it?

Being able to think differently, does not really sound all that impressive, in-fact it sounds obvious. There is a great deal of faith placed on assumption here. Assuming that we are fully equipped with the answers. But we don’t know what problems we are to face and that is the point, we need thinking skills to be agile and flexible in approach. The military planners of D-Day faced a problem. The lack of a secure harbour to land heavy equipment in France. Their solution was to take their own harbour to France with them. People thought this was highly risky, but it worked. It feels disingenuous to say the efforts that went behind this decision were obvious at the time. That applies to any use of thinking differently about a solution.

It is not a skill

It is simply common sense, but is it common practice? Lateral thinking is undervalued largely down to the previous point above. The military planners for D-Day used copious amounts of it to build their concept. Nobody doubts how skilful that was. Thinking the unconventional and or visualising is an action, we have to do things to achieve it. So, it should be treated as a skill, which can be improved. On the basis it forms the foundation of innovation it is not surprising that 72% of manufacturers ranked innovation as the most important skill. (1)

It lacks controls and measures

The trouble with innovation and creating ideas is that it is chaotic and laden with risk. How can we know if it is worth the effort? There is just as much value in the trying, failing and learning as there is in categorising, analysing and deciding what ideas go forward. There can be considerable structure and discipline baked into the process to avoid a costly free for all as De Bono advocated. That value can also be recognised on the bottom line. A division of Siemens reduced product development time by 50% after incorporating lateral thinking. (2)

It’s a bit ‘faddy’

It all sounds great, but is it just dropped into conversations to impress or as part of a type of bingo associated with the world of work? Any technique that provides solid and valuable methods to solve challenging problems can hardly be described as a buzzword. From the BR account to planning D-Day there are countless examples, where thinking differently and then applying the results to a problem were essential for business success. Perhaps the problem is a more lack of understanding of what lateral thinking is and where it can add value to a business. Probably we need more articles written on the subject…..

Any resource or skill which is under-utilised but can be applied to address your business objectives is worth considering. Lateral thinking supports complex problem solving and innovation. In-fact recent studies show that when disruption hits, companies that invest in innovation outperform the market by up to 30%. (3) Lateral thinking is not a magic bullet. But it certainly has merits in being incorporated to a business strategy as a way of differentiating yourself in the marketplace. It is a skill that can be developed and applied, ultimately to add more onto the bottom line. This sounds far from just buzz word.

1.?????Make UK/Enginuity

2.?????2) Thinking outside the Box - Managing Successful Innovations

3.?????3) McKinsey & Company, “Innovation in a crisis: Why it is more critical than ever,” June 17, 2020