MindLeap
Thinking is the ultimate competitive weapon
The Need
As managers or leaders we are constantly reasoning, that is ‘forming conclusions, judgments, or inferences’. Our ability to do so effectively determines our success in situation analysis, problem-solving and decision-making, especially in relation to key areas such as business planning, process improvement and people management.
Unfortunately, we are all born with a ‘hard-wired’ predisposition to use reasoning strategies that are inadequate for determining and understanding causation in modern organisations, and life in general. Reliance on these ‘instinctive thinking’ strategies has a significant adverse effect on learning, quality, productivity and profitability.
To maximise one’s reasoning effectiveness, it is necessary to master the skills of ‘ingenious thinking’, which is a fundamental characteristic of successful innovators, scientists, strategists and many Nobel prize-winners. By leveraging reasoning skills, you are investing in your most important resource and the ultimate competitive advantage – the minds of your people.
Program Format
MindLeap is a training program on instinctive and ingenious thinking that has been specifically developed for managers in commercial organisations and government agencies.
The program consists of three phases:
1. Pre-reading (minimal)
2. Two-day workshop
3. On-the-job application, with access to an online support site.
MindLeap can be implemented as a stand alone initiative or as part of a management or leadership development program.
Background
MindLeap is based on the integration of research across many disciplines, including cognitive psychology, clinical medicine, public health, epidemiology, neurology, social science, and strategic intelligence analysis.
The MindLeap program has been successfully delivered in a number of customised formats to suit client and student needs. For example:
· Courses in critical reasoning for undergraduate students at Michigan State University (MSU) and at Minnesota State University/Mankato.
· An extended, four-day workshop for intelligence analysts (from the CIA, DEA & FBI) held at the Drug Enforcement Administration Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia.
· A 15 week (45 hour) course for post-graduate students in the Masters Degree Program in Intelligence offered by the School of Criminal Justice, MSU.
· A two-day workshop for trainee doctors at the College of Human Medicine, MSU.
Workshop Structure
The MindLeap workshop consists of the following eight sessions:
1. The Basis of Instinctive Thinking
2. Seeing is Believing
3. A Mind of Its Own
4. Recognising Instinctive Thinking
5. Review of Day 1
6. The MindLeap Process
7. Applying Ingenious Thinking
8. Planning for Application
The workshop process is based on expert instructional design, hence the learning is stimulating and engaging. Most of the workshop time is spent on learning activities, either in pairs or teams.
Workshop Content
u The limits of observation and memory and why a mental picture isn’t worth a 1,000 words.
u Cognitive biases that inhibit our minds and undermine our ability to reason effectively.
u How the brain’s predisposition for pattern-seeking, pattern-finding leads to faulty thinking.
u How beliefs and preconceived explanations influence our observations and insights.
u The confusion between association and causation that leads us to misperceive and misidentify cause and effect.
u Our inherent discomfort with uncertainty and difficulty in comprehending randomness.
u Why stories trump statistics and the seduction of generalisations and simplifications.
u The human brain as an ‘associative engine’ and our tendency to jump to conclusions and incorrect solutions.
u Our difficulty in recognising and acknowledging assumptions and the effect on reasoning.
u Why intuition is seductive and dangerous yet is so widely promoted and encouraged.
u Using the signatures of instinctive thinking to recognise it in oneself and others.
u The negative consequences of faulty reasoning, especially when the risks are high.
u The six-step MindLeap process, including strategies such as Einstein’s Needles and Occam’s Razor.
u How the MindLeap process contributes to learning and knowledge development.
u The extent to which ‘brain freeze’ inhibits the ability to develop explanations.
u How the MindLeap process relates to root cause analysis and effective problem solving.
u The characteristics, importance and application of ingenious thinking.
u Cognitive strategies for overcoming instinctive thinking and leveraging reasoning ability.
u The importance of ‘falsification’ (refutation) as a strategy for avoiding ‘confirmation bias’.
u How to use predictions in testing explanations of cause and effect.
u The importance of being a sceptical and independent thinker.
Additional case studies of instinctive thinking and guidelines for applying ingenious thinking are provided on the MindLeap support site.
Benefits
This workshop provides participants with a research-based model of effective reasoning and a toolkit of practical cognitive strategies. They will learn skills that have immediate and life-long application at work and in their personal lives.
The program builds management confidence in their reasoning ability. It enables managers to be more alert to instinctive thinking, to avoid common thinking pitfalls and ‘groupthink’, and to be more rigorous in determining causes. This translates into more effective problem-solving and decision-making.
Benefits to the organisation include better performance analysis/problem solving, less wasted effort/resources, and more effective improvement initiatives, all of which directly contribute to key business outcomes, such as quality, productivity and profitability.
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