Relating lateral thinking to team values

Business Leaders and Teams could well use many examples as part of their Organization building process. Some are easy and some complex to follow. A simple example is the way Edward De Bono, arguably called as the Father of Lateral thinking quoted “You can always analyse the past, but you have to design the future”. This is something that Leaders & their teams consistently need to redefine or for that matter redesign the way they move ahead both for the success of the Organization as well as for those who choose to walk the journey.

How does one chart the route? Just like the Edward De Bono method, one needs to use 6 useful methods. These 6 are those tried and tested ones viz:- Horses for courses, Play to your strengths, Never lose an opportunity, Quality alone can survive, Team work and finally, Add Value in whatever you attempt.

Just to elaborate, by Horses for Courses, I mean that there has to be emphasis on Specialization and very little generalization. For those whose inherent quality is relationship building they need to focus most of their strengths in this activity. There could be difficult and challenging times and in order to prove one’s productivity every person would like to contribute and hence become generalists doing whatever they could to justify their positions. But when the hour calls for focused growth, the environment is best suited for specialists and every person in a team including the Leader has to be ready for this and bring in all their experience to add value.

Playing to one’s strengths is another simple method to succeed. The world around us provides huge opportunities. The experience one has not only creates relationships but also cements many. Every one needs to redefine the way they nurture these relationships and how they milk these. One would thus add value for not only the organization but also for the relationship one has built.

Never lose an opportunity to serve the client, never lose an opportunity to create relationships, and never lose an opportunity to add business. The whole world is behind opportunities and one single wrong move can bring the whole world crashing. This is one quality each one in the organization has to aspire to add value to their business consistently.

Quality is a virtue for focused organizations.  There could be challenges during the journey and many a time things turn topsy turvy due to environmental changes and the very strength based on which businesses are created and grown, get threatened. One needs to bring all of the above to quickly rally and turnaround the situation. One needs the very team work which helps to sail through in much more difficult environments. Quality alone can help in survival and this alone can help to add further value.

Team work has to be one of the hallmarks of growing organizations and that too consistently. With dedicated focus for each type of relationship, the emphasis on team work will be that much important. Team work has always added value and never has it been less important in organizations that put emphasis on “Grow with people”.

Finally, Edward De Bono’s quotes are never ending; he quoted “We need to add….” Every Business leader and teams should keep one important aspect in mind especially when the going is good. “We have been doing pretty well, or we may say “So far so good, but that is only part of the picture”, we need to add to our focus, add to our strengths, add to our opportunities & relationships, add to quality (achieve 6 Sigma), add to our Team values and finally Add Value.

Each and every point is important in itself but without the other no team or business leader can accomplish the task they set out for. That much for lateral thoughts or are they meant to be lateral at all? These are things which every aspiring leader or team should do as a matter of fact. Simply put these are basics.