Applications of Insight Thinking
Insight Thinking is one of many terms used to describe a natural mode of thought that is highly conducive to fresh thought, insight and access to wisdom.
This document restates all of the applications of Insight Thinking described on the Applications of Insight Thinking page of the Insight Management Partners's website.
Insight Thinking
Insight Thinking is one of many terms used to describe a natural mode of thought that is highly conducive to fresh thought, insight and access to wisdom . This mode of thought can be understood and appreciated through a set of principles that describe and explain how thought shapes our moment-by-moment experience, and, consequently, our ability to see, listen, interpret, decide, and then act. As the understanding of these principles is deepened, the Insight Thinking state of mind becomes more present. Insight Thinking Methods (ITM) is one way to better understand and then apply these principle to precipitate a marked increase in the quality, frequency, and timeliness of insights that allow swift and reliable resolution of business issues and problems.Strategy
A truly novel and sustainable strategy occurs as the result of a powerful insight . Following such an insight, what was previously not known, understood, or seen becomes apparent clearly, simply, and compellingly. Most strategy formation focuses exclusively on data and analytics; the arrival of any insight is purely serendipitous. By deliberately seeking insights, we revitalize these classic tools and processes for dramatically improved outcomes. Strategies thus created are robust and differentiated. Recently developed strategies are rapidly reviewed and enhanced. Stalled or labored implementation is reinvigorated. And all these accrue without the feeling of a "forced march" and with reliable improvement to your organization's bottom line.In the field of Strategy there are currently three applications of Insight Thinking Methods (ITM):
1. Formulation: the creation of a new strategy
Focusing on insights allows organizations to enhance substantially the ways in which they develop their strategies. Using Insight Thinking Methods (ITM), people have:
- distilled a complex situation to a simple, easy-to-grasp answer or solution
- solved entrenched, competitive situations and dilemmas
- produced novel, highly differentiated ("breakthrough") strategies in as little as half the time and effort required by traditional methods
- achieved real change of the bottom line
- implemented with confidence and with less-than-expected management pressure
2. Mid-point Review: re-validating or enhancing an existing strategy
After a year or more into implementation of a new strategy, many companies realize that they are not adhering to their original timelines or achieving the intended results. Nevertheless, they soldier on because the time, effort, and disruption involved in revisiting the strategy and associated assumptions are so extensive. Insight Thinking Methods (ITM) has enabled firms to undertake thorough reviews of their strategies in only 4-6 weeks with the following results:
- increased confidence in and alignment around the chosen strategy
- a confirmed or upgraded strategy
- deeper understanding of, and new insights into, changes in the industry context
- re-energized or accelerated implementation
- increased probability of achieving the stated strategy's intended goals and results
3. Implementation: re-energizing strategy implementation
There are two primary reasons for strategy failure: bad strategic thinking or analysis, and failure to implement. The second is, regrettably, more prevalent than the first. One cause is the near-exclusive reliance on a cognitive grasp of the strategy, achieved primarily through repetition that intends to break through or break down prevailing thought patterns. But these patterns are entrenched and a new strategy often does not take root easily. By contrast, when people "see" the strategy for themselves through an insight, implementation is almost spontaneous. Insight appears to supplant old thoughts with new ones; subsequently, it becomes unnatural not to implement, as well as increasingly difficult to remember the "old way." Insight Thinking Methods (ITM) has enabled hundreds of people to absorb a fundamentally new idea in a very short period of time.
Problem Solving
Insight Thinking Methods (ITM) has been highly effective in allowing people to resolve all sorts of problems - primarily by allowing them to look at data, situations, and perspectives in a fresh way. (See also, "Strategy" and "Innovation" applications.) ITM is especially valuable for problems or issues that persist or seem unsolvable, or for which progress toward a solution is too slow. (See our brochure on Reveal - The Rapid Resolution of Intractable Problems.) ITM enables people to cut through the "brain fog" and the reams of data, and often, to resolve issues in a matter of days or even hours.A more complete description of the types of business problems that Insight Thinking addresses can be found in the resources section of this website.
Innovation
Innovation has always been equated with fresh thought: the creating of new ideas from the unknown, or viewing what is familiar and well established in new ways. Whether the area is new or old, an essential and critical capability is that ability to generate new thoughts. Insight Thinking Methods (ITM) contributes directly to what might be termed the innovation mindset - the fundamental urge to create coupled with the fostering of an innate curiosity - the capacity to "see things freshly." Clients have successfully used ITM in achieving step-change process improvements (e.g., reductions in product development "cycle time" from 24 to 11 months), and in leadership efforts to instill an innovation mindset throughout an entire company.A more complete description of the Application Methods to innovation can be found in the resources section of this website in our Leading Innovation - a Five -Base Game article.
Executive Performance
Insight Thinking Methods (ITM) has shown itself to be a powerful complementary skill for leaders. It allows executives to access a calm and reflective, and thus, wiser, state of mind. Their performance improves, as does that of the teams of which they are part. Executives report expansion of their personal resilience, and, interestingly enough, improvements in their golf games - though neither of these effects (especially the latter) was an initial objective for the use of ITM. They simply occurred as happy byproducts of its use.There are currently three areas where ITM have been applied to Executive Performance:
High Performance Teamwork
Insight Thinking, combined with Innovation Associates' tried-and-tested Visionary Leadership and Planning®, creates a matchless approach to boosting executive team performance. Teams operating in a heightened state of mind work gracefully and without conscious attention to "good teamwork rules." Wisdom and common sense dominate and make the rote following of prescriptions unnecessary. Team members also become naturally more skilled at eliciting the best from each other and from the team in general. Ego investment and personal sensitivities diminish, allowing people to direct all of their energies to the business matter at hand. New or unusual solutions surface rapidly, decisions are reached quickly, and strategies "stick," getting implemented without undue effort or re-visitation.
Individual Resilience
Insight Thinking tends to "immunize" people from the peculiarities and vicissitudes of colleagues. Executives with prior exposure to Insight Thinking report a significant drop in the stress and aggravation they experience in management meetings. Outside observers also note that teams exposed to Insight Thinking got more accomplished.
Insight Golf
During and after their experience with ITM, several executives reported improved golfing, in terms of both performance and enjoyment. It seems that the state of mind required to play their best golf was the same as that which enables better business decisions. (Because people have only one brain, whatever mental practice occurs on the fairway appears to benefit the office, and vice versa.) A few tests at local country clubs with other golfers supported this idea: participants cut points off their handicaps and enjoyed the game more. Currently, we see Insight Golf - a two-day, executive team workshop at a golf course - as another
interesting and effective way of learning to use Insight Thinking.
More details can be found in the resources section in our document on Insight Golf .
Frontiers
These topics are in initial exploration. They have either been suggested by clients or have emerged from other applications. We anticipate that the list of subsidiary areas of application of Insight Thinking Methods (ITM) will continue to evolve.Research & Development Returns: How do you improve decision making so as to increase the odds of picking and funding the right ideas and halting the bad ones?
Stock Picks: As with the prior area, how could you improve decision making around when to buy, hold, or sell stocks?
Hospitality/Customer Service: How might the personal and organizational equanimity generated by the use of ITM improve customer service offerings in terms of quality of service, lower training costs, or both?
Cancer Research: Why does the research in this area take so long, given the staggering impact of this disease? Can the pace be accelerated?
A more complete set of descriptions of these areas of exploration can be found in the resources section in Current Frontiers of Insight Thinking.
