Jacqui Purdy, professional coach and founder of Here to There, finds that getting her clients to throw off the blinkers is often the key to getting them to where they want to be.
In a world where change is the only constant, business owners and managers are under pressure to make consistently good decisions in challenging circumstances. Keeping an open mind is crucial to being able to do this.
Being open-minded helps us cope better with change, making us less vulnerable to ‘the shock of the new’. It also means we’re more likely to find the upside in a tricky situation, to see the pros among the cons. And it makes us receptive to new opportunities that might otherwise be overlooked.
Question your assumptions
I recently worked with a professional services consultant in the pharmaceutical sector. After many successful years he had hit an impasse with his business development and couldn’t see where his future growth might come from. But by testing his assumptions – by really questioning what had always been ‘obvious’ or ‘taken as read’ – he realised he could expand his services in unexpected directions, shifting into new market sectors that he is genuinely passionate about.
Maintaining an open mind is also important for relationships and communication, especially for people in leadership roles. It helps us to become better listeners and suspend our judgement, to understand a point of view that may be very different from our own.
See the world through different eyes
One senior director I’ve worked with was experiencing conflict with his MD over a company expansion programme. Communication was breaking down and the boss was taking matters into his own hands, over the head of my client. Despite the clear discomfort of the situation, he was able to shift his perception from his own to that of his MD, and with that insight he could take a more positive, constructive approach and was able to resolve the deadlock.
Of course, in the heat of the moment it’s not always easy to see both sides or maintain a balanced outlook. When we’re under pressure it’s tempting to narrow our view and fall back on familiar assumptions and beliefs. But that’s precisely when an open mind is most needed and can pay the biggest dividends!
Professional poker player Annie Duke (who also has a PhD in psychology) talks about the power of embracing uncertainty and being open to dissenting views. She would encourage us to accept our beliefs as always ‘under construction’ so that real learning can keep on happening.
It takes practice
Like a muscle, the brain needs to stay in training. So here are a few ways to keep yours match fit for open-mindedness:
- talk to a neutral party to get a different perspective and some objectivity
- get out of your comfort zone: tackle something new, and spend time with people you wouldn’t normally hang out with (and whose opinions are different from yours)
- re-frame your negative thoughts – train your brain to seek the positive in any situation
- practice mindfulness meditation and learn to observe what’s going on with you in any given situation
These ‘exercises’ will help to develop an open and receptive mindset, and improve our decision-making – because we do still need to know when to stop with the questioning and make a decision.
As space engineer James Oberg famously put it, ‘It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out.’