In Search of SuperMind - Extreme Thinking Explained

Corinne Canter Senior Consultant Human Synergistics Australia

HUMAN SYNERGISTICS: EXTREM3E THINKING® WHITE PAPER SUMMARY

In Search of SuperMind.

ET whitepaper summary.indd 1 3/11/15 11:41 am

© 2015 Human Synergistics Australia Research and Development Dr.Trisha Stratford and Corinne Canter all rights reserved


For more information on Extrem3e Thinking visit www.extreme-thinking.com or contact the relevant office below: Sydney Office Auckland Office Wellington Office+61 2 9271 5900 +64 9 309 9010 +64 4 470 7700




The story behind a new problem-solving, stress-reducing technique for business leaders.

Extrem3e Thinking®... It’s all in the mind.

It’s just past 7am when Simon rushes into his office, cursing the time his laptop will take to boot up. He’d barely left home when a text message arrived from his CEO, asking him to draw up an urgent roadmap for a product that isn’t scheduled for development until next year.

Waiting for the software to load, Simon starts drafting his initial thoughts on his tablet – but force of habit and distracting beeps soon see him switch to his emails, which are coming in thick and fast. He reminds himself to cancel a video conference later that day.

Now deep in multi-tasking mode, Simon searches Google for similar products to the one he’s been asked to develop. He stares intently at the screen, his mind randomly racing through everything else on his plate and his right leg restlessly twitching up and down. He has a moment of panic… time is flying and he needs to find a creative solution to what, right now, seems an impossible task.

Simon’s situation is typical of thousands of leaders around the world. Overwhelmed by a deluge of data and the need for speed, they’re trying to do their best thinking on the run – as well as meet high expectations for original ideas and creative problem-solving. The effects are inevitable: poor-quality decision-making, poor-quality leadership and, ultimately, poor-quality organisational performance.

Sadly, this is a phenomenon that’s all too familiar to many of the leaders we work with, so we set ourselves a challenge: could we find a way to ease this pain, and enable leaders like Simon to get the headspace they need to think clearly and creatively and answers we need if only we can learn how to unlock it.




Escaping the ‘noise’ – the new challenge for leadersWe began by looking at the core of the issue: the human brain.

Neuroscience has shown that the part of the brain responsible for problem-solving and decision-making requires a certain level of arousal to enable focus and performance. However, too much arousal results in unhelpful stress and the longer that this lasts, the more likely it is that leaders will move into a defensive way of thinking called ‘fragmented mind’.

In this state they’re in survival mode; focused more on getting through the day unscathed than about growth or performance excellence. We know from extensive research that this state is significantly less effective than leaders with more constructive, ‘focused minds’.

Our own research into the impact of 6,500 leaders in 2012 concluded that the effects of a defensive mindset extend to leaders’ teams and organisations. The study showed that:

• 71% were perceived by their teams and peers as overrated, enjoying more authority than they deserved and having inhibited change while increasing stress in others

• just 29% were perceived as increasing productivity, motivation and organisational agility

• only 7% met the criteria for what we term a ‘total visionary’; a leader who demonstrates and stimulates original thinking and has the ability to assimilate and synthesise multiple perspectives and consciously chart their own course, while creating a healthy, constructive culture in which their employees thrive.

Searching for SuperMindIt has become abundantly clear that, to respond effectively to the challenges of the digital age, leaders need to improve their ability to think flexibly and creatively while reducing their stress. They need the intellectual freedom to explore, access and release new ideas – and ultimately experience those ‘Aha!’ (Or ‘lightbulb’) moments that transform stale, predictable responses into refreshing, inspired solutions.

We call the state at which they reach those moments ‘SuperMind’.

A CONCEPT BASED ON RESEARCH The concept of the Aha! moment has already been explored in neuroscience research. It’s defined as a clear, often unexpected insight, where a whole solution to a problem arrives at once. It’s often accompanied by a shot of positive energy and a sense of certainty that the solution will work.

The unconscious mind is a key player in this process. It absorbs and stores all the related information and helps the brain to reorganise and make connections between the different data points.

Research conducted in 2013 added to this information. It concluded that when we consciously focus on a problem, we activate the neural networks required to work through the issue – and those networks remain activated for some time after we’ve stopped consciously working on the problem.

We applied insights from these research studies to our own challenge, and developed a working theory about how the unconscious mind, through its vast processing capacity and storehouse of information, can deliver the ideas and answers that leaders need.

The results were overwhelmingly similar, and a real demonstration of the power of the unconscious mind. Most said their best thinking happened when they were alone – walking, running, in the shower, during the early hours of the morning or in routine and recreational activities. They described it as their best thinking because this was when they experienced most of their breakthrough ideas – in short, their Aha! moments and, ultimately, a state of SuperMind.




Combining knowledge, experience and researchThe terms ‘fragmented mind’, ‘focused mind’ and ‘SuperMind’ were coined in 2010 by Dr Trisha Stratford, a neuro-psychotherapist, lecturer and researcher with the University of Technology, Sydney.

Through her own research into Aha! moments in therapist/client relationships, Trish reached some conclusions about the effects of brainwaves – those electrical patterns in the brain that can be detected using equipment such as electroencephalography (EEG). She found that our state of mind depends on which of the five brainwaves (delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma) are dominant and in which parts of the brain. When slower brainwaves are dominant we can feel tired, sluggish or dreamy, and when the higher frequencies are dominant we feel wired, or hyper-alert.

Dr Stratford also found that a part of the brain known as the parietal cortex (‘the seat of imagination’) became particularly active during Aha! moments.

This research dovetailed neatly with our own investigation into the power of the unconscious mind. We theorised that if leaders could alter their brainwaves and activate the parietal lobe, they could create the headspace to increase their insights and Aha! moments. We believed that in doing this they would reduce their stress levels and improve their access to the answers they needed, with all the downstream benefits of improved wellbeing and performance.

Unlocking the power of the unconscious mindTogether with Dr Stratford, we spent the next three years developing, testing and refining the technique that’s now known as Extrem3e Thinking®. Our goal: to help leaders boost their brain power by integrating the power of the conscious and unconscious mind to solve complex problems creatively.

As part of our project we talked to leaders about their own journeys to the Aha! moment, and learned that it typically follows a period of problem-solving frustration. It’s the same for most of us: when we’re wrestling with a complex issue our instinct is to throw more brain power at it, try harder and do more. We read a lot, search the internet, have lots of meetings, consider copying an existing solution, drink more coffee than we should, skip the gym and stay up late – and repeat this ‘Try Harder Cycle’ until our lack of progress triggers frustration.

The Try Harder Cycle is an integral part of the insight-generation process, because the Aha! moment favours a well stocked mind. However, it doesn’t solve the problem, and lingering at this point puts leaders at risk of developing fragmented minds.

This is where Extrem3e Thinking comes in. It interrupts the Try Harder Cycle, enabling leaders to:

• spend more time in ‘focused mind’ (enabling a fast track through to SuperMind)

• manage their stress levels, whether they’re under pressure to solve a problem or simply trying to get through the day

• refocus on problems to enable more creative solutions.




The technique employs a four-step process that we call ARCS:

ASSESSAssess your state of mind, at which level are you at? Are you in the Try Harder Cycle™ and struggling? Reframe the stress by understanding that you are on track to a breakthrough.

RELAXRelax your mind, breathe and centre. This step is about rising above the ‘noise’ of the stress of the Try Harder Cycle™. Something as simple as changing your breathing will help to take the edge off the struggle and prepares you for the next step.

CONSTRUCT

Construct the problem. Focus the struggle. Rather than the THC driving you, you are now in the driver’s seat and from this position you can begin to work with the problem in a way that is more concrete using the more creative parts of our brain. We developed a technique called “Thandling” which involves leaders actually building the problem (thinking with their hands). Interestingly 70% of leaders experienced a shift in perspective at this point in the workshop.

SET ASIDE

Set the problem aside, let it go and focus on something else. This requires a complete mental divorce from thinking about the idea for at least 10-15 minutes This is perhaps the most controversial and difficult stage which challenges everything we believe... Beware leaders, you cannot fake this stage, your brain will know!

Each step includes a simple exercise that leaders can incorporate into their daily routines. Our research has shown that these exercises improve leaders’ ability to process their thoughts and think creatively. For example, we developed an activity called ‘Thandling’, in which leaders actually build problems (thinking with their hands). After a workshop testing Thandling with leaders, 70% experienced a shift in perspective.

WORK HARDERLONGER DRINK MORE COFFEE

PROBLEMA SSESS

R ELAX

C ONSTRUCT

S ET ASIDE

FRUSTRATION BUILDS

CAN’T THINK OF SOLUTION TIME

RUNNING OUT

TRY HARDER CYCLE FORMING ARCS... AHA!




Putting Extrem3e Thinking to the testHaving developed Extrem3e Thinking we put it to the test – commissioning the Neuroscience Research Unit at the University of Technology, Sydney to undertake a comprehensive scientific investigation involving 30 Australian executive leaders and business owners.

By measuring these leaders’ changes in brainwaves and performance while they learned about and practised the technique, the investigation aimed to establish whether Extrem3e Thinking enabled them to think better, more originally and more creatively, while simultaneously lowering their stress levels.

The investigation followed a specific and detailed protocol, in which the participants first completed a variety of questionnaires that assessed characteristics such as thinking patterns, anxiety and other lifestyle factors. They then visited the neuroscience lab for a baseline assessment, where they completed two creative problem-solving tasks while connected to an EEG. Twenty-eight days later they were tested again, and they also took part in post-study qualitative interviews about their compliance and experience.

The results exceeded all expectations. For example, the investigation found that:

• 33% of the group improved their cognitive functioning (with clearer, improved thinking)

• the group achieved a 63% increase in coming up with multiple viable solutions to a problem

• 26% increase in accuracy

• 25% reduction in failed attempts to solve the problem

• the technique significantly reduced participants’ stress levels as measured by blood pressure and heart rate.

What does this mean for leaders and organisations? The promise of Extrem3e Thinking enables…

These results clearly demonstrate the value of Extrem3e Thinking – to individual leaders and, by natural extension, to their team members, their colleagues and the organisations in which they work. By introducing a new technique for problem-solving that complements the traditional, more linear, analytical approach, it provides a useful addition to the problem-solving toolkit.

Extrem3e Thinking enables leaders to:

• be more flexible in the way they think and behave

• consider both the detail and the ‘big picture’ in identifying, addressing and resolving problems

• reduce the number of ‘false starts’ and the amount of rework required

• consider multiple solutions to problems, so they have choice in how they tackle complex business challenges

• improve their decision-making clarity and effectiveness

• better deal with stress and keep calm in times of pressure

• respond quickly and effectively to environmental challenges

• create a high-performing constructive culture in which people bring their best

• be happier and healthier than they might otherwise be, which in turn offers benefits for their organisations through long-term retention and sustainable performance excellence.

Extrem3e Thinking offers business leaders a simple and tangible way to access ‘whole-brain’ thinking to solve complex problems, and organisations a proven way to build in-house creativity and innovation. And just as importantly it helps leaders to reduce their stress levels – encouraging them to develop new ways of working, stimulate creative thinking amongst their people, and help to build a culture that inspires every individual to perform to their full potential.




“ To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires imagination and marks real advance in science.” Albert Einstein

For more information on Extrem3e Thinking visit www.extreme-thinking.com or contact the relevant office below: Sydney Office Auckland Office Wellington Office+61 2 9271 5900 +64 9 309 9010 +64 4 470 7700


In Search of SuperMind - Extreme Thinking Explained

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