book review
By Alyson Nyiri, CHRL
OPEN TO THINK: SLOW DOWN, THINK CREATIVELY, AND MAKE BETTER DECISIONS
BY DAN PONTEFRACT
FIGURE.1, 2018
Our lives have taken on an unending sense of urgency.
We’re constantly bombarded with messages that we must
do more, think more, act more and buy more. And do it
quickly before opportunities slip through our grasp. For
many, there is “more joy in firefighting than fire prevention.” But,
do we perform better under these conditions? Are we making
our private and professional lives better by taking swift action on
everything flying by us?
Pontefract thinks we aren’t doing things better by rushing to
cross things off our to-do lists. In his new book, Open to Think,
Pontefract argues it is essential to slow down. Slowing down our
thinking and any decisions and actions streaming from thinking
is one of the key ways we can bring about new ideas, innovations
and breakthroughs. When we speed through our thinking we risk
becoming “Inflexible Thinkers,” unable to accept change, favouring
the ease of the status quo. “Open Thinkers” take time to allow their
minds to wander or dream, then move toward action.
Open Thinkers are engaged, purpose-driven and innovative.
They are also resilient, seeing mistakes or setbacks as opportunities
to go back and dream or decide some more. The process
of open thinking is made up of creative thinking, critical thinking
and applied thinking. As a creative thinker, you generate new
ideas, eschewing constraints as you go. Then, gathering these
ideas, you apply critical thinking by applying a thorough analysis
in order to make decisions. The applied thinking phase is a commitment
to action.
Sure, most of us would say we think like this already. Who
wants to admit they take shortcuts in their thinking and actions?
Yet, we do. This habit of thinking quickly leads us to what’s called
“Automaticity” – an internal momentum that doesn’t need overt
fuel to keep going. It’s a type of shorthand that allows us to fill
in the blanks on the fly, often leading to incorrect conclusions.
Pontefract calls this “Indifferent thinking”. Its kissing cousin is
called “Indecisive thinking,” whereby we take excessive amounts of
time vacillating over how much information is enough – “paralysis
by analysis” – resulting in a “blatant disregard for making progress.”
Putting open thinking into action is not as simple as lurching
toward action. How we complete tasks is of paramount importance
in Pontefract’s new paradigm. We must overcome our
FIGURE.1
inappropriate action bias toward busyness and instead moderate
our action, remain open to sudden shifts by what often feels like
standing still. We must also be ruthless about eliminating distractions,
be mindful of what’s relevant and be humane by empathizing
with those we work for and with. In the end, all we can do reliably
well is a single action. Become an anti-multitasking individual,
make the space and the time to focus deeply on one thing at a time
and your productivity will soar. n
40 ❚ JULY 2018 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
/