The quality of your thinking determines how long your business will survive.

This article uses a simple metaphor, supported by psychological research, to contrast two approaches to thinking based on a Business Head and a Creativity Head. 

For smooth operational business efficiency we put on our Business Head – a type of thinking that is excellent at managing production or planning a recruitment campaign or writing a financial justification. This Head gets used the most in business and its power and success is derived from the way it uses mental shortcuts.

Unfortunately this type of thinking is counter productive when we need to come up with novel ideas. In spite of this, we still insist on using it, with the result that many businesses get very short on fresh ideas.In these situations, a Creativity Head is needed. It uses a thinking approach that actively opposes these mental short cuts and so it appears illogical to the Business Head.

Let's look at some of the fundamentals of the Business Head and how the Creativity Head counters them

Status Quo Thinking
Business Heads avoid Change. Creativity heads seek Change.

Why does it seem harder to change our thinking, than keep it the same?

The answer lies in what psychologists call the 'status quo bias' which is a strong tendency for people to get stuck in their present ways of thinking or course of action. The perceived potential loss in moving from our current thinking, carries a higher psychological penalty than the possibility of gain. What this means, is that losses hurt about twice as much as gains make us feel good. So to avoid possible pain we prefer to stay mentally where we are.

This approach is embedded in our Business Head as, 'if it isn't broke then don't fix it'. The downside is that it stops us thinking about possible alternatives until it's too late.

When the transistor replaced the vacuum tube in the mid-1950's, the six top producers discounted the importance of the new development and held aloof from solid-state technology, None of them exists in today's semi-conductor industry. The demise of many companies owes much to their 'blindness' to a changing business environment.

Re-evaluate your thinking on a regular basis. Ask “What-If” questions, and use scenario planning to prevent yourself falling into the status quo trap.

Negative Thinking
Business Heads are negative, Creativity Heads are Positive

Try this short exercise. Jot down as many words as you can in two minutes that express emotion. Read no further just get those words down.

Now, divide them up according to whether you think they are: Positive, neutral or negative. Robert Schrauf, professor of applied linguistics at Penn State University found the outcome was: 50 percent negative, 30 percent positive and 20 percent neutral. How did you do?

Why is it, that it seems easier to be negative than positive? Psychologists think it's a consequence of evolution. When we lived in Caves we had to be prepared for actions like fight or flight. (Fredrickson 2000). Our default mental state was the narrow and focused, negative emotion of fear or anger which we needed for survival. As we developed and turned to creating and building resources, our thinking 'broadened' allowing the more positive emotions to develop. (Gazzaniga 1988).

This default negative mental state still dominates our Business Head today. But the Creativity Head only works when people seek broadness rather than narrowness and are positive rather than negative. That's why we have to contract to consciously suspend judgment before we start generating ideas. Otherwise ideas all get shot down before they see the light of day.

On the same note, our Business Head loves to talk in negatives. Present an idea to your boss and he might say, “Not bad.” We seem to have been conditioned to speak in deficit by describing what is missing, what is excluded, what's wrong, what is not there. We often describe things, good or bad, in terms of what the experiences are not. All this negative language 'primes' us subliminally into a negative state.

So, with your Creative Head, think about the problem statement itself and counter your natural tendencies by posing it as what you want, rather than what you don't want. Instead of saying “How can we reduce staff turnover”” you could say “how can we retain staff”. It's simple and it works.

Perception
Business Heads think Fast, Creativity Heads think Slow

Imagine you're in a problem solving workshop. Your Business Head assesses the issue quickly and wastes no time in going straight for fresh solutions. You'll find the Business Head is often quite impatient and doesn't consider checking out the problem statement itself. We rely heavily on our powers of perception.

But, in exercise after exercise, workshop participants have discovered that they can't trust their perception blindly. It makes things up and misses things out using 'hard-wired' mental rules. Quite often these rules lead us in the wrong direction. Your Creative Head needs to check out how the problem is perceived because fresh perceptions lead to fresh ideas.

Always start any problem solving workshop with time spent rephrasing the issue as though perception was turned off for the moment. Flipping the words of the problem statement around and changing them helps to overcome the limitations of perception. It lets your Creative Head find fresh solutions.

Assumptions
Business Heads take things for granted, Creativity Heads doubt

Business Heads use assumptions for rapid thinking. They reduce the amount of information that you need to consider when you tackle problems. Without assumptions your Business Head would be totally clogged up.

But, as with perception, your Creative Head is doubtful and know the wrong assumption can lead you around a mental pathway that misses the fresh solution to your problem. Once the assumption is uncovered and broken, it produces the 'Ah Ha' eureka moment when a solution just pops out.

Uncovering assumptions is time consuming because the assumption making process is, like perception, well embedded in our thinking software.
Put on your Creative Head and spend time listing assumptions and breaking them to see what it brings. Never take anything for granted.