Imagine to innovate
Leadership requires imagination because this wonderful skill opens a view to so many possibilities. A precursor to creativity and innovation, it allows us to challenge ‘the way we’ve always done things’ to try something new. From petrol cars to electric vehicles, from in-person meetings to online conferencing, from staying firmly on the ground on Earth to soaring into space to seek out other worlds.
What if we reviewed whatever we’re doing today with a mind open to new ideas. What if we undertook an imagination audit to test whether our deeply entrenched views, our mental models or ‘the way we’ve always done things’, are fit-for-today’s purpose.
“A company that takes imagination seriously would be conscious of how mental models are choices rather than inevitabilities,” writes BCG Henderson Institute chairman Martin Reeves and Casati Health founder and CEO Jack Fuller in a post Competing on Imagination’. Instead, he suggests companies could teach employees that the brain’s beliefs about reality are merely shifting probabilities.
In other words, businesses can begin to entertain alternative views when they shift their perspective around mental models.
Shared assumptions can lead to missed opportunities when not challenged. Dare I suggest, only an imaginative, curious, questioning culture that is open to new ideas can ‘see’ the endless possibilities, the multitude of alternatives, the opportunities that await.
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Dawn offers a coaching program to help leaders develop the skill of imagination. An industry fellow at Griffith University, she also offers experiential workshops to boost imagination and lay the foundations for creativity and innovation.
More details available via DM or dawn@imaginationsession.com
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