“THINKING OUT OF BOX”

VALUABLE BUSINESS PROPOSITION:

DEVELOPING STRATEGIC THINKING COMPETENCE.

The competence for strategic conclude that one of the causes of the
thinking is a core business management difficulties faced by them with the demands of
requirement for success and business strategic matters is the preferred thinking
managers are required to ground their daily patterns.
actions toward strategic objectives.
According to the Mental Model description, the
On one hand, building strategic competence is
data analysis shows that the natural incidence
especially critical for facing challenges in these
of strategic thinking favorable capabilities
turbulent times present. In today's ever-
among MBA professionals assessed represents
changing business environment, strategic
only 11,2%. These data indicate that most of
thinking competent and successful leaders can
these MBA professionals are operational-
envision a coherent future that doesn’t exist in
minded (78,7%) and indicate that these
the present, and embrace a broad perspective
professionals, in not attending appropriate
of their organization. They are also acutely
training and development programs for
aware of the trends and developments that
developing strategic thinking capabilities, may
impact present and future business realities.
have troubles in dealing with business strategic
questions and may consider, in many times,
Successful strategic leaders not only manage
these strategic questions as theoretical issues
by focusing on the day-to-day objectives of their
without importance, not related to the practical
organizations but also by strategically
business objectives and results, and letting
positioning themselves and their organizations
them out of their professional focus and
for tomorrow. “They see the forest for the trees”.
interests. This need demands that MBA
These are only a few of the key strategic
programs have as their main purpose to help
thinking attributes that will
the professionals attending these programs
define a leader. Without this
develop the skills for strategic thinking.
foundation, how can one
develop an organizational
The MBA Program Challenges
strategic intent, how can one
see the whole process through Research data indicates the relatively low
and accomplish goals? frequency of the thinking preferred model that is
appropriate to the strategic thinking among
On the other hand, managers and professors
assessed professionals attending MBA
claim that professionals attending MBA
programs. The most frequent mental model
programs have more difficulty in dealing with
found among these professionals is a thinking
strategic matters for defining alternative futures
model that is characterized by focusing on here-
and possibilities and prefer dealing with
and-now issues and by trusting facts, proven
subjects more focused on here-and-now
data, previous experience, and the information
operational issues. They complain about
their five senses bring. In other words: they are
professionals' problems in coping with strategic
operationally minded professionals.
business issues in their subjects. It may
indicate that these professionals have Most of these professionals are conservative
difficulties in developing this skill and that these and tend to focus on current questions to be
difficulties may be tied to skills for thinking practical and utilitarian and to let past
strategically. experiences guide them in solving problems.
They may miss the strategic issues and the big
Results from the research on preferred thinking
picture, or new future possibilities by
patterns among professionals attending MBAs
considering these issues as theoretical and as
with no practical utility for immediate results.
This appointed low frequency of a strategic
mental model among assessed professionals
may be correlated to the professional’s
difficulties in dealing with strategic issues as
reported by MBA professors. This also indicates
the need for programming activities to help
these professionals in developing capability for
strategic thinking which is a basic request for
strategic business management and strategic
business issues of the enterprises.
So, one of the main objectives of MBA
Programs is to develop, guide, and enhance the
strategic thinking skills of all MBA professionals
attending the program. This is not an easy task
and it demands hard work because it demands
letting people out of their comfort zone related
to their personal preferences. The greatest MBA
challenge embedded in this objective is
improving the ability “to see the forest without
getting lost in the trees”.
The development of MBA professionals’
strategic thinking competence
Katz (1991) in dealing with the question of
developing conceptual or strategic thinking
competence, points out that “several methods
have been tried to aid people in developing this
ability with varying success” and that “some of
the best results have always been achieved
through the coaching of subordinate by
superiors” (p.32).
According to his proposition, other ways to
develop this skill is through trading jobs or job
rotation, that is, by moving promising young
men through different functions, and special
assignments, particularly that which involves
interdepartmental problems, and works with
cases involving broad management policy and
interdepartmental coordination, and by
presenting a series of detailed description of
specific complex situations (KATZ, 1991, p. 32).
He stated that conceptual skill must become a
natural part of executive makeup and “different
methods may be indicated for developing
different people, by virtue of their background,
attitudes, and experiences but, in every case
that method should be chosen, which will
enable the executive to develop his skill in
visualizing the enterprise as a whole and
coordinating and integrating the various parts.
But things seem not to work this way. These
recommended methods seem not to be
effective in developing the capability for
strategic thinking. In his retrospective
commentary, Katz points out that conceptual
ability – his name for strategic thinking –
depends on a specific way of thinking or one’s
mental model. The development of this
competence is more complex than he has been
thinking. As he stated:
“I am now less sanguine about the degree to
which this way of thinking can be developed
on the job. Unless a person has learned to
think this way early in his life, it is unrealistic to
expect a major change in reaching an
executive position. Job rotation, special
interdepartmental assignments, and working
on case problems certainly provide an
opportunity for a person to enhance previously
developed conceptual abilities. But I question
how easily this way of thinking can be
inculcated after a person passes adolescence.
In this sense, conceptual skill should perhaps
be viewed as an innate ability”. (pg. 34)
Katz's statement was based on what was
known at the time when he did his work. One
may say that embedded in his proposition;
conceptual skill should be viewed as an innate
ability. She or he also may see the fixed-brain
myth inside his proposition. The fixed-brain
myth states we are born with a full complement
of neurons and produce no new neurons during
our lifetime.
But advanced research techniques have given
neuroscientists and neuropsychologists
opportunities to make remarkable discoveries
on brain like the growth of new brain cells even
in adult brain, destroying the fixed-brain myth
(KATZ & RUBIN, 2000; DOUGLAS et al. 2005).
Another wonderful discovery refers to brain
plasticity and the possibility of establishing new
brain connections. Discoveries show that it is
still possible to improve one’s mental faculties,
optimize brain functioning, get the best out of
one’s brain cells, and maintain it through
adequate stimulation, exercises, and activities.
Something that now is known and that may not
be implicit in his work and that recent research
results are pointing to is that everyone is
capable of operating either in operational mode
or strategic mode. Research has shown that, by
one’s preference, like right and left hand, she or
he prefers one mode instead of the other, and
the mode not preferred is not developed and
remains primitive.
On the other hand, it is just because of this that
King Arthur's legend makes sense to the
development of strategic thinking competence.
When the story tells us Merlin “has transformed
little Arthur in a bird so that he could perceive
that things seen from the sky are so different”
makes possible one to see that addressing the
strategic thinking competence development is
not only possible but also mandatory for the
executive success.
How to do it? Fortunately, research and
development on brain knowledge such as
neuroscience, and neuron-cognition, brought us
evidence of the modifiability of the neural
system (hard and software). By the other side,
research results on Neuropsychology, and
Cognitive Psychology, like Structural Cognitive
Modifiability (Feuerstein, 2010), Art Therapy
(Guce, 2012; Kersten, 2010), and on brain
plasticity, made it possible to abandon the fixed-
brain myth and the conception of the brain as a
definitive structure, and bring about the
possibility to one have her or his mental model
modified, or developed by enhancing the natural
level of strategic thinking capability.
Recent research and discoveries also point out
some methods that can help in developing and
maintaining new brain connections. All of this
research brings about the basis for the
development and the proposition of a series of
activities, grouped under the BRAINUPMIND
brand that is designed to help people improve
their mental capability, power, and flex and
develop a mental model that is propitious to
think out of the box or to strategic think
strategically.
This brand – SYNAPSIS - was elected by
eluding the noun synapse used by
neuroscience to define neural cell connections –
neurons – that occur in the nervous systems
and to bring about a sense of involvement and
activation of different brain areas in the
development process.
Our Valuable Proposition
This is our valuable proposition: include the
SYNAPSIS Program and Tolls in your MBA
Curricula. By doing this, may be developed a
strategic competitive advantage in your MBA
Programs.
The first step is to help students in diagnosing
their mental model. This is done by the BOSS®
- Bressan Operational - Strategic Sorter
assessment which is a tool for identifying the
different mental models. The results are
reported by an Interpretative Report designed to
help them to understand their results on the
BOSS® assessment and that will be used as a
basis for enhancing students' strategic mind
capability by SYNAPSIS® technology.
REFERENCES
Douglas, Kate, George, Alison, Holmes, Bob,
Lawton, Graham, et al. 11 steps to a better
brain. New Scientist. London: May 28-Jun 3,
2005. Vol.186, Iss. 2501; pg. 28, 12 pgs
Kolb, Bryan and Whishaw, Ian Q. Brain
plasticity and behavior. Annu. Rev. Psychol.
1998. 49:43.64
Katz, Lawrence C. & Rubbin, Manning. Keep
your brain alive. New York: Workman, 2000
Mackhann, Guy & Albert, Marylyn. Keep Your
Brain Young. USA: Wiley 2003
Huang, Gregory T. Essence of thought. New
Scientist London: May 31-Jun 6, 2008. Vol.196;
pg. 30, 4 págs.