This activity would normally take this group of managers 2-3 hours but i suggested we could do it in 10 minutes with no drop in quality using a new way of thinking. I used my company as the client and the brief was to write a press release announcing the launch of a powerful new thinking system called Speed Thinking. The target audience was business leaders but in particular HR managers.

This is the process we went through:

Step 1. The 2 Minute Brief

I gave the group 2 minutes to ask me any question about me, my business, the benefits of speed thinking, client list, about me etc.

Step 2. Nine Headings in Two minutes

Working by themselves each team member had to write nine possible headlines in 2 minutes. The important point was to start and not to filter. I suggested to them that they should include a mixture of usual and radical headlines.

Step 3: Evaluate the best rational and emotional headlines

Working with a partner, the group then discussed each other’s headlines and agreed the best rational and emotional headline in a 2 minute period (I wanted the group to escape the left-brain, linear style of communication).

Step 4: Nine bullet points

Each pairing then selected their preferred emotional headline and were then asked to write the nine key support, bullet points under this heading (in 2 minutes).

Step 5: A workable draft

Each pairing were then given two minutes to convert these bullet points into a workable press release and then we read these out to the rest of the group. People were amazed at what they could do in such a short period of time.

An example of a press release from this process is given below:

‘A world first officially launches down under today, as Australian thought-leader, Dr Ken Hudson, introduces a brand new way of thinking to organisations across Australia, large and small.

The new home-grown speed thinking model has been endorsed by major leading global organisations whose productivity has noticeably increased since working with this thinking guru.

This will come as good news for Australian business as we enter a downturn, with clear business benefits which will come from a faster thinking workforce being very apparent.

Tipped as the new Malcolm Gladwell, next year Dr Ken also has plans to introduce his model to schools to embed this smart way of managing thinking time from the earliest age.’

 Imagine the time you could save if you could complete activities such as this one in minutes rather than hours?

Dr. Ken Hudson

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The question is this:

How likely is it that you would recommend company X to a friend or colleague? (on a zero to 10 point scale).

This is an intriguing, effective and fast way of assessing consumer’s reaction to your business. So we asked the same question of two different groups that have participated in The Introduction to Speed Thinking Course (one a PR company, the other a public course).

Our NPS was 78% for the public course and 83% for the In-house one.

The NPS is obtained by taking the percentage of detractors (score 0-6) from the percentage of customers who are promoters (score 9 or 10).

Although it is only two courses and the numbers are small, our NPS would place us in the very top tier of all firms highlighted in Reichheld’s book.

If you can, I would recommend that you try the NPS approach. It is backed by research and the aim is to drive business growth rather than artificial customer satisfaction scores. Also it is simple, smart and quick-everything we love about a new way of working.

What is your Score?

Best Wishes

Dr. Ken Hudson

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I asked them for a problem that they were struggling with and divided the larger group into smaller groups. Each group then tackled the problem using the old approach (i.e. one person capturing the ideas as people call these out etc). The highest number of ideas was 14 in a five minute period.

I then asked people to use the speed thinking approach to the same problem (i.e. each person works by themselves and tries to create 9 possibilities in two minutes). Under this approach the same group created 110 ideas in two minutes! Almost an eight times increase.

Now sure there will be duplication of ideas but the difference in output was profound. What’s more everyone was more involved and energised.

Why does the new Speed Thinking approach work?

- Everyone plays, there is no loafing or relying on anyone else.

- Everyone can write down their own ideas, in their own language at their own pace. The group does not slow down to the ability of the person to capture the ideas.

- Because everyone is working at speed their is little filtering of their own ideas or others.

- Introverts are heard rather than being drowned out by the extroverts.

- People have to use their intuition more rather than their critical, logical thinking style.

This dramatic increase in the initial flow of ideas then provides a rich source of material that can then be enhanced and combined to create powerful new concepts.

Try it, the next time you are running a brainstorming session-your team will be amazed.

Dr. Ken Hudson.

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The new way seems to be that if you can get to the correct answer as quickly as you can then so much the better. For example, if you are taking away 18 from 80 the new, short way would be to take away 20 then add two (80–20+2=62). This quick fire way of working out the answer is faster, more accurate and i suspect more fun. It also gives students a better feel for numbers and the relationships between them. As my daughter comments when she is doing her homework, this answer does not feel right so she can quickly redo the work and correct any mistakes.

Is this the way of the future? Is this new way of teaching math’s the way we should be teaching all other subjects? Perhaps teachers and parents are more comfortable with this new way of thinking because there is a single correct answer. You can either do it the fast or slow way but there is only one single correct answer. Yet with most problems at school and indeed in life there is never the one correct answer so there is a continuing belied that somehow the slower we go the better off we will be.

My proposition is that our kids are showing us the way. They are learning to think quicker because it is a better way to adapt and respond to a broadband-paced world. Perhaps it is us adults that need to learn from our kids in this regard?

What do you think?

Yours in Speed, Dr. Ken Hudson

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This sort of physical restless behaviour may actually be good for you according to the latest research:

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/health/top-story/story/680778.html

Going for a walk for example, is good for your brain on three levels:

1. The heart pumps more blood, affecting not only muscles but also the brain. Your brain needs blood, because in the blood are nutrients and oxygen, which are good for the cells and will make the brain healthier.

2. The act of doing a movement over and over also can stimulate the brain’s neurocircuits, the research author (Dr. Gary Small) ads, resulting in activity in various regions of the brain.

3. The last point is that when you are walking (outside ideally) you can take in any number of fresh stimulus e.g. it might be bird flying or a cloud. This might just give you an insight into solving a new problem in a new way.

The main message seems to be this-if you want your brain to speed up then gets your body moving. It will be healthier aerobically but also better for your brain. It seems our body and our brain is built for movement. That is why in my speed thinking sessions i like to have people moving all the time. It could be working with different partners or having everyone record their ideas on a whiteboard. The energy release is amazing and people become more playful. It is hard to be completely serious and rational when you are moving.

Try Moving. Your waistline and your brain will respond enthusiastically.

Dr. Ken Hudson

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It is enough to make you tired just thinking about it. But that is exactly what more and more people are experiencing. It really is ’survival of the fittest’ as business managers become overworked, stressed, burn-out or simply quit hoping that there next job will give them some relief. But guess what? The grass is not greener over at the next pasture.

Do we have to put up with this? Time management can help you to some extent with its emphasis on pritorizing. Perhaps that is why there is so much discussion on obtaining a better work-life balance because for most of us, work is such well…hard work. As a very hard working mum of one of our daughters friends just told us that she was too stressed to go on a holiday!

Or to put it another way–work as we know it simply does not work anymore. Surely we need to reinvent work itself. Why do we accept that work has to be the way it is? Unless we run our own business, why can’t we try and change the way we work.

My proposition is that Speed Thinking might just be what we all have been looking for. If you can change the way you think, you change your actions, feelings, expectations and ultimately your results. It is your greatest leverage point.

Speed Thinking enables you to think in a faster, better and more powerful way. I will not go on but Speed Thinking has the potential (I believe) to totally reinvent the way we all work. To become an activity in life that is purposeful, has meaning and is an expression of our mostly hidden, untapped talents.

Does anyone want to join me in this new movement? Reinventing and reimagining work so that we can produce more by working less and that work can create energy rather than sucking it from us.

Ken Hudson

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So, I think we need to create a new measure which i have called your personal ROTI or what is your return on the time that you need to invest in a project or meeting? Many of us have done this intuitively when we are weighing up the merits of attending a meeting for example. But it is now time to formalise this. Your time is valuable and it is a scarce resource. Hence you need to invest it where you will achieve the greatest return.

Enter this new measure of ROTI. Every time you are faced with a decision where and how much to spend of your time try and work out your ROTI. For example, I was recently invited to talk to a group of small business owners. Normally I would love to do this but it involved speaking at night (so minus 1 point because it takes me away from my family), it was an hour and a half away (another i point), this would be stressful (another 1 point detraction) and i was only speaking for 15 minutes (another neagtive one point). In return it would make be feel good (plus 1 point) and I might gain some new business (plus 1 point). In this case my personal ROTI on this meeting is in the negative so the decision becomes an easy one.

A new world, requires new measures. This simple concept will help you make better decisions and assist with your time management. It waill also ensure that you gain the greatest possible return from your time invested.

Do you use anything similar to a ROTI score to help you manage your time?

Ken Hudson

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Using the Speed Thinking Process this is how i would facilitate a group problem-solving session. Let’s imagine the problem was how to improve communication across the group. Firstly i would ask everyone for their nine responses to this in the next two minutes–this should be done individually. Then i would ask people to discuss their responses with a partner (chosen at random) in two minutes. 

The next step is for the smaller groups to select one of the barriers to group communication and discuss how to address this in two minutes (by creating nine possibilities). The smaller groups would select their best response and present this to the larger group.

The advantages of this process are:

- it is shorter

- everyone is involved

- everyone is heard

- there is a greater divergence of solutions and problems highlighted

- the ultimate decision and agreed actions are more likely to be implemented because there has been more engagement in the process.

Ken Hudson

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The answer?

Take the chairs away. The researchers compared the results from 111 meetings around a specific problem and found that the seated meetings lasted 34% longer. What’s more there was no difference in the decision making outcomes of the group.

In fact, among the standing meeting participants they expressed a greater satisfaction with their meetings.

This study can be found at:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E1D6103BF931A15755C0A96F958260

Some of the reasons that a stand up meeting is shorter might be:

- The sheer novelty of doing this

- You do not become too comfortable

- There is some physical motivation to quicken the meeting

- And also according to the Speed Thinking principles a better decision is often made quickly anyway.

Imagine the possibility of freeing up one third of your time. It has to be worth a try!

Ken Hudson

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