Many books now highlight the importance of both slow thinking and fast thinking. Carl Honoré popularised these ideas with his 2005 book In Praise of Slow. In the United States this was called In Praise of Slowness.
Good decision makers often set aside time to do some slow thinking. Why? Fast thinking can help to generate the pieces of the jigsaw. But slow thinking may be needed to make sense of the whole picture.
Different people choose different ways to help things fall into place. They may go for a walk, take a few minutes thinking time, put themselves in a calming environment, enjoy a good sleep or reflect in other ways.
Carl was not against appropriate speed and said that some things may actually need to go faster. Many of our epiphanies, however, come from give ourselves time to do some slow thinking.
Good leaders set aside time for their team to do slow thinking. One team I worked with found value in taking such an helicopter view. They aimed:
To refocus on the real results they wanted to achieve – because sometimes these may have evolved – and their picture of success;
To refocus on the strategies they could follow to give themselves the greatest chance of success;
To refocus on how each team member could build on their strengths and make their best contribution towards achieving the picture of success.
‘But we haven’t time for slow thinking,’ somebody may say. Good leaders say that the opposite is true.
They believe that, when appropriate, it is important to make time to see things in perspective and make good decisions. The quality of these decisions will determine whether or not their teams achieve success.
The Pause Principle
Kevin Cashman described a similar approach in his book The Pause Principle. Below is an excerpt from Kevin’s website.
Cashman’s work centres around one simple truth: that fast thinking is the domain of management transaction, while slow thinking is the leadership domain of strategic, innovative transformation.
Daniel Forrester also encouraged decision makers to take a similar approach in his book Consider: Harnessing the power of reflective thinking in your organization.
He believe it is vital for leaders to take time to get a deep understanding of the situation. They then need to explore all potential options and the implications. Here is some background from Daniel’s website.
Consider
This original work distilled the lessons in leadership and habits of reflective thinking that made the difference within the recent financial crisis, war in Iraq and in recovering from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
“STOP, THINK, AND DON’T DO SOMETHING STUPID!”
This is the warning Dr Robert Bea drills into his Civil and Environmental Engineering students at the University of California in Berkeley.
Bea wants to dramatize what he terms the inevitable “oh shit” moments that present themselves-before an actual engineering calamity like the Deepwater Horizon/BP disaster happens.
Reflection supplies an arsenal of ideas and solutions to the right problems. Forrester shows us that taking time and giving ourselves the mental space for reflection can mean the difference between total success and total failure.
Daniel Kahneman – Thinking Fast And Slow
Daniel provided an in-depth analysis of these two ways of thinking in his book Thinking Fast And Slow. Here is an excerpt from the Model Thinkers website which gives an excellent summary of the book.
Kahneman’s findings are captured in his 2011 bestselling book Thinking Fast and Slow where he describes two distinct thinking systems:
Fast thinking (system 1): which is automatic, intuitive, error-prone and used for most common decisions. This is by far the majority of how we think each day.
Slow thinking (system 2): which is effortful, reasoned, more reliable and used for complex decisions.
Fast thinking is a primal survival mechanism that uses heuristics, or cognitive shortcuts, to quickly respond to threats. It’s fast but those shortcuts are ultimately unreliable. In contrast, slow thinking requires considerable attention and delivers a more accurate understanding.
Let’s return to your own life and work. Imagine that you want to set aside time for some slow thinking. What are the kinds of situations where you are able to make sense of your thoughts?
Different people do this in different ways. Some organise their time in blocks so they can do deep work. They also build in time to reflect, recentre and refocus.
You may spend time in a stimulating sanctuary, go for walk, listen to music or have a short nap. You may relax, potter around or simply let your mind wander.
Looking ahead, how can you give yourself the chance to do some slow thinking? What may be the benefits of taking these steps – both for yourself and other people?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
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