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Flexibility of Thought…

In order for psychologists to work out how flexible people think a simple question was asked,” Can you fit a square peg in to a round hole?” The responses are varied but in general there were 4 main type of responses that you could come to expect.

1. Give me a big enough hammer and I’ll try. This type of answer is a reactive form of response. What does this indicate? determination for sure ,but unfortunately it focuses all energy in to only one reactive  type of solution. This answer could result in the danger that peg, hole, and hammer will all become damaged or broken in someone way in the process. It is not a a great way of thinking and it does not illicit an array of solutions when presented with a problem.

2. No, I can’t do it ( no You  can’t do it ). This reply is defeatist in nature and it is a reactive response to the situation and information presented and is demonstrates the ultimate form of inflexibility when it comes to an individual’s way of thinking, illustrated quite clearly by the words, ‘I can’t do it’. These words are dis-empowering and communicate directly to the subconscious mind the message of refusal to change or be adaptive in anyway, the absolute form self-doubt. This way of talking with oneself and others encourages your unconscious to concentrate on what is impossible as opposed to what is possible. A better and more honest approach would be to say something like,’ I haven’t learnt how to do that yet’, or ‘ I haven’t found a way of doing that yet.’ Why is this important? in a business or customer environment, people are not interested in the least in what you can not do for them, they want to know what you can do and offer them. Therefore, in a commercial sense, language is a powerful factor on how you change and alter people’s behaviour and learning.

3. Yes, If I was to reshape the square peg so that it fits. This type of reply is generally a fallacious method of reasoning, in order for the square pegs to fit you must reshape them so they fit in to round holes. It can be amazing just how many companies and individuals take on this type of thought processing when dealing with a problem. This is not much of an improvement on the other two responses and is just as inflexible as number 1. It is still a way of reacting to the situation and information.

4. What would be the reason for the fit and how did a square ever be offered as the solution  to a round hole in the first place? This type of response is inquisitive in its nature and the most flexible of them all. Why? Because its curiosity looks to discover the intention behind the question, i.e. it does not presuppose that the aim is to fit a square peg in to a round hole in the first place.  Flexibility is being able to have a frame of mind whereby you are able to produce  the desired results regardless of the current situation, the difficulties,  uncertainties, pace, culture or politics. In order for a person to survive change, to successfully adapt and then thrive they require some level of flexibility that has to be proportional to the potential variation or the uncertainty in the rest of the person’s thinking system. What does that mean to you and I? in the context of business, it shows that managers never should be content with one solution, rather they must challenge what is presupposed and look at wider influences in the organisation and generate as many different and alternative courses of action to cover all possible outcomes and eventualities. This is known as ‘The Law of Requisite Variety’.

To conclude, whenever you are confronted with new and uncertain challenges, you will discover you are likely to have one of the four following responses in your thought processes:

1. Reaction.
2. Defeat.
3. Sophistry.
4. Curisosity.

The person who chooses option 4  and thinks in a flexible manner will likely be more successful in accomplishing their goals.

David Power

Medical Hypnosis Expert and Practical Parenting Expert

 David Power’s Hour

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