Have you ever noticed how some business people only offer two alternatives to any situation? This dilemma arises very often in business. The scene is usually Option A and Option B presented as the only possible solutions to a problem. The first choice is displayed as good, and the second is usually portrayed as so disastrous, that it's almost evil incarnate.
What about other choices for your business problems?
The insistence by many individuals, that there is a good and bad pairing for everything in life, is too narrow an approach. In most instances there are multiple choices, with many of those being some combination of the allegedly good and bad selections. Many people are taught to think in only two sides. Indeed, the media and the political arena are fraught with either/or positions. In business management, the best way to examine problems and solutions is examining every possible idea.
Paring down the options to only two possible answers is not only short sighted, but potentially disastrous to your business. The supposedly good and right answer might not be so perfect with deeper analysis. The thought to be terrible and wrong answer might contain elements of real value. Perhaps a third, fourth, or even the tenth choice might yield a better solution. Creative thinking and brainstorming will result in far better answers than the obvious surface solutions.
In your company, it's essential that you don't limit your options. Just because the company President or CEO championed a specific course of action doesn't mean it was the best one. A strong business is built with letting the employees find the best solutions. A creative thinking and brainstorming session should be a major component of every company's problems solving strategy. In that group, and in its variations over time and different issues, people from many different departments should be brought together.
Throw away the job titles for these ongoing creative thinking events, and talk and brainstorm as equals. The best ideas may arise from the least likely sources. Ideas can be added to one another, or bits and pieces of several seemingly off the wall theories can be united into a powerful course of action. It's important to keep all ideas in play, and not judge anything until later in the process. Let your inner child run free. Lock your internal judge in a closet for the duration.
A smart and progressive company will forget the either/or false dichotomy and look to creative thinking instead. As multiple ideas and possibilities bubble to the surface, there may be solutions arise that solve other company problems as well. That is the power of creative business thinking.
Stop thinking in terms of either/or; and make seeking more creative solutions your passion.
Your business future depends on it.
