ET CITINGS

Thought Leaders

By Mark Bonchek

We all aspire to work better together. Technology is making some of that effort easier. But digital tools are only part of the answer. It’s people who ultimately make the difference.

The problem is that technologies for collaboration are improving faster than people’s ability to learn to use them. What can be done to close that gap? In today’s marketplace, the smartest companies aren’t those that necessarily out-produce the competition. Instead, it’s the organisations that out-think them. While there are plenty of tools that help us quickly understand what our teammates do, it’s harder to tell how they think.

So, we propose that just as team members have assigned doing roles, there should be thinking roles. By knowing how other members of your team and organisation think — and by others knowing how you think — everyone can be more energised, more engaged, more creative and more productive.

The first step is to identify the focus of your thinking in a particular context or setting. The next step is to notice whether your orientation in that setting swings toward the micro or the macro — the big picture or the details. These dimensions are complementary to personality, skills and traditional roles. The third step is to combine these two dimensions and see the thinking style at work in whatever context or setting you chose.



(From “What Kind of Thinker Are You?”)

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