Recently I had the pleasure of meeting with Chris Griffiths, CEO of ThinkBuzan, and author of the new book: "GRASP The Solution".
I asked Chris a few questions about his new book, the importance of creative thinking in tough times, and how to turn good ideas into reality. Here are his thoughts:
Chris, how long has the idea for this book been in your mind, and can you briefly outline the focus of the book for us?
You
could say that the idea’s been there for decades. I’ve always been interested
in brain based thinking theories and processes and in what thought leaders around
the world were saying and doing. The
idea had been there for a while but the hardest thing was putting into
perspective how there are so many fantastic tools out there, what can we do to
make those tools even more effective?
I felt that many people who were using thinking and creativity tools were
missing a vital ingredient - the context in which they used the tool.
Someone who’s looking to get fit knows that they need to exercise and so they
make the decision to go to the gym and use the equipment (the tools) there. But
if they don’t exercise or use the gym equipment in the right way or context,
for instance, by training after eating a three-course meal or while wearing a
business suit, or by neglecting their diet, they’re not going to achieve the
best results!
With
this book I wanted to answer the question - how can you make any thinking tool
more effective? Well you can do this by ensuring that you’ve set up the right
environment and mindset – the context
- in which you’re using the tool before you use it.
2) Is there any specific type of person, or
type of job, that the ideas in this book are most relevant to?
The
book has a definite business focus in that it’s geared at entrepreneurs, managers,
coaches and professionals. But the principles and strategies in the book are
relevant to anyone who has a challenge to overcome or goal to meet, be it
personal or professional. It’s pretty much applicable to anyone who’s
interested in making better decisions and solving problems more effectively.
Success in work and life is predetermined by whether you make good or bad
decisions. You can’t make fantastic decisions all the time but if you can
increase your chances of making better, more informed decisions by using a
process, such as the four-step process which is part of the GRASP The Solution (GTS) system, then
you increase your chances of being successful. Even children can benefit from
it! The GRASP material has actually been included in an accredited
qualification endorsed by a major UK awarding body to help maximise thinking skills
in children. But overall, the book’s slant is very much towards a business
audience.
3) The importance of creativity and
creative thinking is something the book focuses heavily on. Why do you think
the ability to think creatively is so important now, and why do you think
creativity is so often the first thing to suffer when people are busy, or times
are hard?
I
think that first of all we have to be able to distinguish between creativity
and innovation. Creativity is important today in that it’s a fundamental driver
for innovation and my definition of innovation is “the marriage of creative
thinking and sound logic, which when applied together, create a solution or
direction for one to explore and deliver”. My approach doesn’t focus purely on
creativity. GRASP The Solution is a
very pragmatic book which helps you find a solution to a challenge or a
direction to explore. A big part of that process involves being creative and
that’s why lots of attention is paid to the idea generation stage and
generative thinking strategies are used all the way through. But, just as
important are all the other components and stages that people need to work
through to reach a congruent solution. Most people think that creative thinking
is about having lots of ideas, and if they’re already sitting on a pile of
ideas or they’re strapped for time, it’s not going to be something they
prioritise. But being successfully innovative isn’t just about having ideas - it
involves a whole lot more. You need to define the challenge, generate ideas, evaluate
and analyse those ideas and objectively decide how to take the right
ideas forward. At the end of it all, a good idea is still just an idea until
you actually do something with it.
4) Many people will say they are not a
‘creative type’ or that they don’t have a creative brain. What message does the
book have for people who think like this and how can it help?
Well,
I think the book is for the most part quite prescriptive. Good creative
thinking, as with any other task, needs to have a defined system and process
behind it to make sure it’s performed in the most logical way. This might sound
surprising but logic and creativity are actually very closely related, you
can’t do one without the other to any great extent. Lots of people believe they aren’t creative.
Some are just plain scared to be creative in their organisation, perhaps
because they fear ridicule. Quite often the person we perceive to be the
‘creative type’ is the one who comes out with all the weird and wacky or fluffy
ideas. There’s no sound, practical logic behind them in terms of their
application in the real world.
I
feel that one of the key benefits of this book is that it’s very methodical and
has a common sense approach. It includes processes and techniques that will
allow anyone to be creative. And absolutely everyone has the potential
to be creative, without a shadow of a doubt. If somebody says they can’t be creative,
usually what they really mean is they’re not being innovative. They aren’t
putting new ideas into practice. And there’s a good reason for this. How many individuals
do you know who have had a schooling that included ongoing classes and courses
on creativity and innovation? It’s extremely rare for people to have been
taught how to be creative, so most people just don’t know how to do it. They think
all they need to do is run a brainstorming session or idea generation
programme. But that’s not being creative. Creative thinking needs to be part of
an innovation process. And the innovative process is necessary to help you find
a solution to a challenge or overcome some form of sameness. So, for anyone to
say they’re not the creative type is fundamentally wrong – they just don’t know
how to be creative and innovative in a systematic way.
5) Key to the book is the “GRASP” concept,
which suggests an awareness of different modes of thinking can help us improve
the overall quality of our thinking. Can you give us a taste of what is
involved here?
The
metaphor of a marathon can help to explain this. If someone sets themselves a
goal to run a marathon, they can’t expect to just turn up on the day and
complete it successfully. They have to prepare for it long before. They have to
know how to train, how to eat, they have to have the right practice schedule
and equipment/clothing. Everything has to be set up correctly to surround that
one small event which is the marathon. And I use the term ‘small’ because it’s
everything that happens before the marathon that allows them to perform the
activity to the best of their ability.
Most
people don’t realise that they allow external influences to dictate what they
can and can’t do. The key to good creativity and innovation programmes is not
so much knowing what to do, what idea generating games, tools and
tactics to use etc. - it’s knowing what NOT
to do. It’s becoming common knowledge that creativity diminishes with age.
There are numerous standardised tests worldwide that show a marked decline in
creativity as we age and the results of our own ThinkBuzan creativity test
which we’ve conducted on over 5000 people can verify this. This decline comes
about because the conventions and assumptions which are put on us through
educational systems and our early work life restrict our creativity and we
develop a fear of failure, of getting things wrong.
But
we can all overcome this. First we have to recognise some very simple basics.
Without awareness, you stop yourself from being as creative and innovative as
you have the potential to be. You could have the best tools, the best processes
but if you don’t know what thinking habits to avoid, they won’t do you much
good. Knowing what not to do is actually quite difficult – because you don’t
know what you don’t know. Yet a lack of realisation will kill countless
brilliant ideas that are buried in the back of your mind.
The
GRASP concept is really very simple and works on the basis that the mode of
thinking you’re in always dictates how you approach a task or decision. GRASP
was devised to help you understand at a high altitude level how your mode of
thinking can influence your creativity. It’s an acronym of the fives modes of
thinking that I’ve found to be most relevant in terms of their influence on
creativity and innovation – Generative, Reactive, Analytical, Selective and
Proactive. If you’re in a reactive
mode of thinking most of the time, and unfortunately most people are, you allow
an external event, idea or person to influence your thoughts and decisions. You
end up being a ‘follower’ in the big scheme of things, your progress is being
led by someone or something else. Being innovative requires strategic planning;
it requires proactive thinking and
metacognition, the highest form of thinking. This is what allows you to put a
strategy around your thinking so you can lead, not follow.
I
speak to a lot of audiences around the world and, when I explain GRASP, you can
literally see their faces light up because they suddenly realise why their
earlier innovation programmes have failed, despite all the time and money
invested in them. They failed simply because people didn’t understand the absolute
fundamentals of their thinking. You need to get into the right frame of mind
and put an end to certain habits and patterns before you can actually get down to the business of being creative
and innovative.
6) Obviously your work on thinking skills is heavily influenced
and shaped by your involvement with Tony Buzan and the world of mind mapping.
What role has mapping played in shaping the creation and contents of the book?
Tony
Buzan is the individual I would consider most responsible for leading me down
my own path of exploration into thinking, creativity and innovation. His Mind
Mapping technique is easily one of the most powerful creative thinking tools on
the planet. Absolutely everyone, every child, every adult should do it as
second nature. I don’t believe Mind Mapping should be a separate exercise,
something that’s reserved only for specific tasks - it should be done as a
matter of course.
Linear
note-taking and writing is such a massive inhibitor to creative thinking and
progress. It defies logic. If we were set the challenge to create a new
note-taking form based on all the information we have from history and science,
there’s no doubt that it would have to include images, colour, structure, words
and numbers. And this is exactly what the Mind Map does. It pulls in all these
resources and that’s what makes it so effective for not only taking down your
thoughts and information but also for building on them.
Tony
Buzan’s work has touched the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
If I can go partway to doing the same with the GRASP The Solution (GTS) system
then I’ll be doing my bit to help people think and work better. Mind Mapping
plays a significant role in the book simply because it works! There are Mind
Map summaries throughout the book and instructions and templates are given on
how to use Mind Mapping for all the different activities, from defining your
challenge, to generating ideas, to evaluating those ideas using whole brain
thinking and ultimately setting your goals and action plans. So Mind Mapping is
the practical device that you use to record and build on your ideas as you work
through the creative process. It’s an important tool and the GTS system
provides the context and process for using that tool in an even more effective
way. If you enjoy Mind Mapping but you’re not using it much because you’re not
sure how to use it or you’re a bit stuck in what you’re doing with it, then
hopefully the GTS system will help to open your options and give you another
perspective on your application of it. It can really take your Mind Mapping to
another level.
7) The book not only focuses on how to help
people create new/better ideas, but also helps them to put ideas into action
using the ‘Solution Finder’ approach. We have all experienced situations where
good discussions and ideas go no further than the meeting room, so how can the
Solution Finder help?
In a
nutshell, the Solution Finder helps because it puts a practical system and
process behind the act of creativity. My experience is that people are getting
fed up of hyped up creativity schemes and programmes. They’re just too fluffy.
People are demanding clear, pragmatic systems and processes for innovation that
they can apply in the real world. A good innovation process makes sure that you
have all the right ingredients and tools to generate original ideas, to
determine the right answer to your particular challenge and to actively take it
to fruition. This is what the Solution Finder is. It’s a very simple but
well-developed process. There are only four steps but each step is
scientifically backed by the latest research in neuroscience and management
psychology and by my own extensive research and observations over the years. The
steps are there to help you deliver ‘practical creativity’. This is something
that many managers and professionals struggle with. The Boston Consulting Group
conducted a survey in 2008 which showed that two-thirds of senior executives
placed innovation as one of their top three strategic priorities. But when
these executives were questioned on which initiatives they were most happy with
in terms of return on investment, innovation didn’t even factor! While it was
one of their top priorities, they couldn’t seem to deliver on it. I think this is because most executives only
use partial strategies. For instance, they might have their favourite brainstorming
techniques and certain analytical tools that they’re comfortable using but they
don’t cover the ‘whole’. There isn’t a system or process in place to structure
their entire innovation approach. Unless you have complete balance at every
stage, you’re going to have less chance of taking your ideas forward and making
them a success.
The
benefit of the Solution Finder is that it sets out all the steps and all the
tools you need to help you find the right idea to overcome your challenge. And
what you’ll find is that you can be much more confident about carrying the idea
forward because you’ll have performed everything correctly to get there. Each
step of the Solution Finder guides you into the most appropriate mode of
thinking for the activity you’re working on and so in the end you can be
certain that you’re heading in the right direction. Have you ever noticed that
when you rush into making a decision, eventually you start feeling really
unsure about it? It’s difficult to believe in an idea wholeheartedly when
you’ve rushed into picking it without exploring the situation thoroughly. What
usually happens is that you end up second guessing it for the next six months.
You never get behind it 100 per cent.
8) Finally, what impact would you most like
the book to have on people who read it?
Firstly,
I’d like people to understand how thinking
about their thinking can dramatically change their effectiveness and
productivity. For the majority of people, thinking is just
something that happens – they react
from one event to another, or they’re selective
with the information they see and hear. If you want to be innovative, you have
to have a ‘grasp’ of how the mind works and this is the purpose of the GRASP concept.
Once you’re aware that being in the wrong thinking mode can hinder your ability
to be creative, it becomes very easy to take control and generate new ideas.
The
second thing I’d like people to take away from this book is that the creative
process is essentially logical. You can have a set of processes which make it tangible and pragmatic. I recently had a
conversation with Stephen Shapiro, a leading innovation author and consultant,
and we both agreed that one of the most important steps in the creative process
is to define the problem. Yet this is the step that most people skip! Missing out any step of the process
reduces your chances of making the best decisions, and more so with this one
because it’s the step that sets the principal direction for your thinking.
So
together, the main impact of the book would be to help people understand how
they can put a strategy around their
thinking very simply using GRASP and the Solution Finder whenever they have to
make a decision or overcome a challenge. By working through all the stages and
switching fluently between the right modes of thinking, people will be a
million times more empowered to be innovative and confident in their final
direction.
GRASP The Solution is available in both paperback and electronic form and can be viewed/purchased here>>>
