In the previous post we discussed the creative focus, and in particular, how to use it in its simplest form. We saw that the creative focus is a lateral thinking tool that "zooms in" your attention onto something, and so gets you thinking about that something in a focused and disciplined fashion. This idea of creative focus is taken from Edward de Bono's book on creative thinking, Serious Creativity: Using the Power of Lateral Thinking to Create New Ideas.
The General-Area-Type Focus.
We're now going to look at a the first of two specific "types" of focus: namely the "General-Area-Type Focus.
de Bono makes an interesting observation about this type of focus. He writes:
"This is an extremely important type of focus, but surprisingly, is not well known. This is because most people have been trained to think only in terms of a defined purpose or objective. In fact, thinking is most often treated as synonymous with "problem solving". This means that creative thinking is very limited in its scope. That is why there is a need for "general-area focus" and a need to emphasise the usefulness of this type of focus."
In other words, the general-area type of focus is not driven by a purpose, such as a problem to solve, or an opportunity to take hold of. All it is trying to do is simply turn up new ideas in a defined focus area, whether or not there is a problem to solve. The beauty of this is that you can still come up with some pretty good ideas in areas that you otherwise wouldn't pay attention to - because most people only pay attention to things that need paying attention. Again, as the old saying goes "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". But if you only try to "fix" what's "broken", you miss out on creating some great ideas for areas that aren't "broken".
How to do a General-Area-Type Focus
This type of focus thinking is very simple.
With a General-Area Type focus, we simply define the general area in which we want new ideas. For example:
- I want some new ideas in the area of restaurants
- I want some new ideas in the area of laptops
- I want some new ideas in the area of employee morale.
Once we have defined the general-area in which we want to focus on, we then go about trying to generate some ideas in these areas. To do this, we can either just go off the top of our head, or use some specific lateral thinking tools.
Either way, there are 3 ways to get useful ideas out of a general-area type focus:
1) We think of ideas that are in the general-area focus that are useful in their own right. Such ideas offer some sort of value or benefit, even though we did not set out to get that value.
2) We examine the ideas that have turned up to see which ideas offer value in the directions that are of interest to us. We then ignore those ideas that don't offer value in these directions.
3) We see if an idea that has been generated by our thinking can be "shaped" or "molded" to be of use for a certain purpose.
Important Note on defining the focus area
When doing a general-area type of focus, make sure you don't put some kind of purpose on the thinking. The only purpose is to think of ideas within a defined area.
Or to put it another way, as soon as a purpose is included, it ceases to be a general area type of focus.
While there's nothing wrong with having a purpose focus (we'll look at this in the next post), if we have nothing but purpose focuses then we'll miss out on turning up completely new ideas/ways of thinking in a general area. So to illustrate, lets say you put forward the following focus:
- We need some ideas in the general area of absenteeism
This is actually a purpose focus, as the word "absenteeism" defines a problem. This already biases your view of the matter, and sets the direction of your thinking, limiting the type of ideas that your thinking will bring up.
However, it is possilbe to treat "absenteeism" as a general-area type focus, as long as long as it is made clear that the purpose of the thinking is not to reduce absenteeism or overcome the problems caused by absenteeism. de Bono puts forward some ideas that you could develop in this instance: eg. the idea of "undertime" which might mean a shorter working week, or lower pay when demand was slack.
Now the general area might be very broad or very narrow. For example:
- I want some ideas in the are of running a hotel (broad focus).
- I want some ideas for food to put in the bar fridges of the hotel rooms (narrow focus)
Both are perfectly acceptable.
2 Reasons why we need a general-area-type focus
1) It effectively doubles the scope of our creative thinking. Instead of only thinking about problems, this type of focus allows us to thinking creatively about anything at all.
2) It ensures that we do not biase our thinking when thinking about an area. As discussed above, if we set a purpose for our thinking, it sets the direction for the thinking, as well as the way we look at the focus area. By setting a general-area focus, we are more likely to come up with "left field" ideas that would not have been thought of if the purpose was already set.
To do:
1) Find a general-area type focus.
2) Say/write down: "I want some ideas in the area of (the general area focus)
3) Come up with 3 ideas/directions of thinking within this focus.
Do this exercise at least 1/day, to sharpen your general area focus thinking skills!
The General-Area-Type Focus.
We're now going to look at a the first of two specific "types" of focus: namely the "General-Area-Type Focus.
de Bono makes an interesting observation about this type of focus. He writes:
"This is an extremely important type of focus, but surprisingly, is not well known. This is because most people have been trained to think only in terms of a defined purpose or objective. In fact, thinking is most often treated as synonymous with "problem solving". This means that creative thinking is very limited in its scope. That is why there is a need for "general-area focus" and a need to emphasise the usefulness of this type of focus."
In other words, the general-area type of focus is not driven by a purpose, such as a problem to solve, or an opportunity to take hold of. All it is trying to do is simply turn up new ideas in a defined focus area, whether or not there is a problem to solve. The beauty of this is that you can still come up with some pretty good ideas in areas that you otherwise wouldn't pay attention to - because most people only pay attention to things that need paying attention. Again, as the old saying goes "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". But if you only try to "fix" what's "broken", you miss out on creating some great ideas for areas that aren't "broken".
How to do a General-Area-Type Focus
This type of focus thinking is very simple.
With a General-Area Type focus, we simply define the general area in which we want new ideas. For example:
- I want some new ideas in the area of restaurants
- I want some new ideas in the area of laptops
- I want some new ideas in the area of employee morale.
Once we have defined the general-area in which we want to focus on, we then go about trying to generate some ideas in these areas. To do this, we can either just go off the top of our head, or use some specific lateral thinking tools.
Either way, there are 3 ways to get useful ideas out of a general-area type focus:
1) We think of ideas that are in the general-area focus that are useful in their own right. Such ideas offer some sort of value or benefit, even though we did not set out to get that value.
2) We examine the ideas that have turned up to see which ideas offer value in the directions that are of interest to us. We then ignore those ideas that don't offer value in these directions.
3) We see if an idea that has been generated by our thinking can be "shaped" or "molded" to be of use for a certain purpose.
Important Note on defining the focus area
When doing a general-area type of focus, make sure you don't put some kind of purpose on the thinking. The only purpose is to think of ideas within a defined area.
Or to put it another way, as soon as a purpose is included, it ceases to be a general area type of focus.
While there's nothing wrong with having a purpose focus (we'll look at this in the next post), if we have nothing but purpose focuses then we'll miss out on turning up completely new ideas/ways of thinking in a general area. So to illustrate, lets say you put forward the following focus:
- We need some ideas in the general area of absenteeism
This is actually a purpose focus, as the word "absenteeism" defines a problem. This already biases your view of the matter, and sets the direction of your thinking, limiting the type of ideas that your thinking will bring up.
However, it is possilbe to treat "absenteeism" as a general-area type focus, as long as long as it is made clear that the purpose of the thinking is not to reduce absenteeism or overcome the problems caused by absenteeism. de Bono puts forward some ideas that you could develop in this instance: eg. the idea of "undertime" which might mean a shorter working week, or lower pay when demand was slack.
Now the general area might be very broad or very narrow. For example:
- I want some ideas in the are of running a hotel (broad focus).
- I want some ideas for food to put in the bar fridges of the hotel rooms (narrow focus)
Both are perfectly acceptable.
2 Reasons why we need a general-area-type focus
1) It effectively doubles the scope of our creative thinking. Instead of only thinking about problems, this type of focus allows us to thinking creatively about anything at all.
2) It ensures that we do not biase our thinking when thinking about an area. As discussed above, if we set a purpose for our thinking, it sets the direction for the thinking, as well as the way we look at the focus area. By setting a general-area focus, we are more likely to come up with "left field" ideas that would not have been thought of if the purpose was already set.
To do:
1) Find a general-area type focus.
2) Say/write down: "I want some ideas in the area of (the general area focus)
3) Come up with 3 ideas/directions of thinking within this focus.
Do this exercise at least 1/day, to sharpen your general area focus thinking skills!
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