"Just move the highway."
What’s holding you back from solving your greatest challenge?
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Check out our latest Insight: "Just move the highway."
At a recent luncheon, another guest at our table recounted some of her experiences working in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar for 10 years.
In addition to outlining many cultural differences, she also described a cultural distinction in thinking and approach to solving problems.
A perfect example of this “way of thinking” occurred when designing a multi-billion-dollar hospital with other North American professionals. She said that when the client asked for their preferred hospital design, the team described it, but said they couldn’t build it.
“Why not?” asked the lead representative.
“We can’t build it like that because the highway is in the way,” she and her colleagues said, pointing to a large, multi-lane highway very close to the site. “We’ll have to go back to the drawing board.”
Without missing a beat, the lead rep said “Then, just move the highway.”
"We can't build the hospital like that because..."
"Then, just move the highway."
Mental Barriers Hold Us Back:
It’s a great example of how mental barriers can hold us back from achieving our goals and vision.
The North American team constrained the design of their multi-billion-dollar new hospital because of the physical nature of the land and the surrounding area. This constraint (and likely others like financial costs) limited their thinking, restricted their design, and changed their professional advice.
Most importantly, the constraint was so firmly embedded in their way of thinking that they didn’t even realize it.
On the other hand, their client focused on the overall vision and the reasons they needed the preferred hospital design. He focused on the potential and the overall goal. His thinking wasn’t mentally constrained. He kept his mind open to possibilities.
Obviously, this experience left a huge impression on my lunch-mate.
What she described was not only a different culture with different constraints, but a different “culture of thinking.”
Thinking Constraints:
So, what constrains our thinking? What mental barriers hold us back from achieving our shared vision and goals?
If they are hidden to our awareness, how do we identify mental barriers and work around these thinking biases?
Importantly, how do we consistently work to overcome the constraints embedded in our thinking?
Process Helps Remove Mental Constraints:
Good news! There’s a simple consistent process of creative problem solving that helps individuals and teams to challenge assumptions, identify obstacles, reveal hidden constraints, reframe problems, and facilitate deep understanding.
It’s the Basadur Innovation Process and we use it for problems of all sizes – from individual to team problems, and from challenges impacting a neighbourhood to challenges facing thousands across a region.
Let's break through whatever constrains our thinking!
We'll use the Basadur Innovation Process to help you overcome mental constraints and solve your most important problems.
This complete thinking process separates problem-solving into clearly-defined steps, starting with finding and defining problems to implementing the solutions you’ve created.
It enables everyone to participate in an unbiased, open-minded way. It removes mental constraints and helps participants think both creatively and clearly. It enables individuals and teams to overcome thinking limitations and achieve more innovative and effective solutions together.
Contact us today and we’ll demonstrate how the Basadur Innovation Process will help you overcome mental constraints and solve your most important problems!
Just email us at info@augustynenterprises.ca or book a free consultation to get started.
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