Don't Make a Plan B

How Back-Up Plans Can Hold You Back!

Did you know that your gut instinct only works for problems you’ve already solved before? When you have a gut feeling that it's a bad idea to go down a certain street, it's because of your personal history, things you've gone through before, and they are offering you thought processes so rapid that you interpret them as your gut instinct. This means that when it's time for us to endeavor to change something or be part of a change, it's scary right off the bat because we're used to things being a certain way.

For example, perhaps you are a business owner faced with difficult financial times. If you have never been through financial challenges, you will think it's the end of the world, and it will certainly feel that way. However, if you have been through such hard times before and have come out of them, then despite the difficulties you experience, you will know that you will survive no matter what. You will come through somehow, whatever the outcome may be. This is a very drastic example, but why is it important in everyday business life?

We want to elevate our thinking to something called adaptive thinking, which allows you to see the need for change, accept more information, and pivot. That's why I call the video "You don't need to make a Plan B," because there's never a need to make a different plan if you accept that all you have to do with your original plan is to be agile in your thinking with that plan and pivot as needed as information comes through.

Let me share with you some of the benefits that research has found for adaptive thinking. You can:

• Uncover breakthrough innovations or solutions.

• Build resilience and readiness for change, which is extremely important in everyday life. I can't think of a single plan anyone has ever made that has gone exactly as they thought it would.

• Form more creative partnerships and teams, which I love for the collaboration.

• Achieve personal growth and flexibility, which is also great because it means you will be more resilient.

There are a few components of adaptive thinking I'm not going to go into, but I want to tell you some ways that you can cultivate this way of thinking:

Seek diversity of inputs to challenge your existing notions. An example of this is not always talking to people who agree with you. There's a benefit in not just hearing "yes" but also hearing why something might not work, a better way to do it, or just an alternative way to do it.

Don’t just read news stories you agree with. For example, if I see a headline and immediately think, "Oh heck yeah!", then I'm not going to bother reading it because it's just going to be an echo chamber that I don't need in my life. The ideal is you're looking for diversity of input. That's why in a brainstorming phase, I always reach out to a lot of people who I think will give valid, thoughtful, strategic, collaborative input. And where all those voices come together, we might have an answer, and where the voices differ from one another is an opportunity for us to think of different pivotal points in our strategy.

Reflect on the blind spots in your thinking because that can limit objectivity. I took a terrific diversity, equity, and inclusion training. One of the videos was of two people reviewing their interviews with job candidates, and one of them kept saying, "Oh, I don't think that person would be a good fit." But there wasn't really a reason why except it was a feeling. So, let's go back to the gut feeling—it’s based on your experiences. Did the interviewer have a bad experience with someone that this applicant reminded them of? Did they have a stereotype about someone that this person reminds them of? Those would be some examples of learning your own blind spots.

Ask yourself “what if” situations. A lot of times because I am trying to create something new, I will have people tell me it won’t work. I ask myself, “But what if it doesn't work?” On the other hand, I would love for the people saying that it won't work to ask themselves, “What if it could work?” And then how do we come together to collaborate? So, consider the “what ifs” in every direction.

Experiment with provocative ideas outside of the norm. Just because something has been done one way obviously doesn't mean it needs to be kept being done that way. There are lots of examples of things that were never done before and turned out amazingly well. And there are things that colossally flopped, and I personally think that if you try and you had a good reason to believe that something would work, then you succeeded – and probably learned a lesson as well.

Drop the ego, truly listen, and learn. To me, there are honestly no bad ideas, because something that doesn't work right now could work two months from now, or vice versa.

My invitation to you is to work on your adaptive thinking so you can really embrace change management, which I think we all know is incredibly crucial in our lives—professional and personal.