09/01/2023
Group Thinking Strategies
What makes team members sink their teeth in a task?
Everyone in a team has a preferred way of thinking and working. Knowing the language your team members think through will help you know why team members enjoy certain activities than others.
Team members think in four strategic languages: creative thinking, understanding thinking, decision thinking and a personal spirit.
Creative thinkers spend time finding unpredictable solutions to problems, envision alternatives, reframe current situations, brainstorm, challenge status quo, enjoy flash of insight, and ignore destructions to wholly focus on a task.
You recognize creative thinkers by their phrases: “Could we try this…”, “I know we’re almost done, but what about…?”, “I have this idea…”, “have you thought about doing it like this…”
Understanding thinkers are in two categories: understanding information and understanding people.
Team members who scan a situation/environment for information, see patterns and bring clarity to situations, and structure data, people, resources, and processes in meaningful and systematic ways are understanding information.
Team members who recognize, tune-in, and connect with emotional dimensions of a situation and/or show compassion for thoughts, emotions, and situations of others are understanding people.
You recognize understanding thinkers by their phrases: “Kindly clarify…”, “So, what exactly are you saying…?”, “Could you tell me how…”, “That feels great!”
Decision thinkers prefer making quick decisions so as to move to action. They determine situations, reach resolutions, validate conclusions, and rely on experiences, personal values and gut instincts as guides to making decisions/solving problems. Decision thinkers hate talking in circles forever and their weakness is lack of patience.
You recognize decision thinkers by their phrases: “I am ready to move on…”, “No, we’ve already made a decision…?”, “My instincts tell me…”, “The last time we tried…”
A personal spirit sums it up. It is the likelihood of a team member’s willingness to engage in the task or not. It is the control lever of how a team member sinks their teeth in a task.
We can help you develop creative thinking in your team to enable them find new ways of approaching problems, improve workflows and solve bigger problems. Develop understanding thinking to help your team gain deeper understanding of problems and tasks and build compassion for each other. Develop decision thinking to help your team get to the prime cause of a problem and decide to progress.
Then watch your team members onboard their personal spirits