EFFECTIVE THINKING

EFFECTIVE THINKING

The most important mantel discipline - thinking - is the one least taught in schools or in organization. You can improve your thinking by using logic and by adopting proven techniques that will lead to better understanding, ideas, and execution.

PLANING LOGICALLY

Whit down what is likely to happen and the potential ramifications; then you can plan how to deal with each eventuality.

USING YOUR LOGIC

Logic means correct reasoning. Use your logic and you will reach the ideal stage where the compelling force of the facts eliminates all alternatives except one. This cannot happen all the time, because there will be too many unknowns. But the rational manager starts by seeking factual certainty, from which he or she can proceed to firm conclusions. Logic is no less invaluable in uncertain conditions. You can list possible events and logically establish what consequences will follow if they occur. you can then produce sensible plans for coping with each possibility, and also work out the relative likelihoods. Logic also teaches that the best-laid plans may go wrong, so cover this contingency in your thinking.

THINKING LITERALLY

Lateral thinking, as taught by Edward de Bono, uses various techniques to make you challenge received ideas and arrive at new, improved solutions and suggestions. One such technique is provocation, when you put forward outlandish notions to see what practical ideas are stimulated as a result. Another approach is to seek analogies from other fields. If you are told that something is impossible or will never work, redouble your efforts to see if the idea is, in fact, valuable.