Why Thinking Outside the Box Is Positive | Task Management Software

The lateral thinker scene is active around the world and, as it was recently in the USA, has shaken democracies. As a result, the concept of lateral thinkers threatens to be condemned for a long time. Wrongly. If lateral thinking is used correctly, it offers great opportunities for innovation.

Thinking about changing parking spaces - that was the title of a marketing campaign with which the then Opel Marketing Manager Tina Müller whipped up the carmaker's dusty image a few years ago. The highly acclaimed repositioning of the brand made the topic of how the staid image of Opel had established itself in people's minds and no longer corresponded to reality. 

Lateral thinking questions and creates solutions

Leaving old paths of thought, dissolving mental blocks, and developing new ideas are not only processes with absolutely positive connotations in this campaign, but have long been synonymous with creativity and innovative strength. And this is usually the case in a corporate context. When it comes to innovations and resourceful problem solutions, lateral thinking or lateral thinking has proven itself as a method and is therefore positively proven. 

"Lateral thinking breaks away from the previous thought processes and thought models in the company and ignores the supposed industry laws. Considerations about the design of a process or the solution of a problem start all over again, as it were on the 'greenfield' and no longer accept them, but question them, "is how Gerd-Inno Spindler defines the term in a book chapter on the subject on page 216.

Unconventional thinker scene negated and destroyed

But in the corona pandemic, lateral thinking threatens to lose its positive connotation. Ironically, a movement has decorated itself with this label that not only questions but rather negates it and is not open to objective arguments. The lateral thinker scene, which demonstrates against the corona measures without respiratory masks and compliance with hygiene rules, is a reservoir for cross-heads of all stripes. It is known that AfD members cavort there as well as aluminum hats, conspiracy theorists or esotericists who spread pre-Enlightenment thinking and even wave the Reich war flag.

They have more in common with those who penetrated the Capitol of the US capital Washington than the refusal to wear a respirator during the pandemic: anti-democracy, racism, and media hatred are close together. While some are chanting fake news and trampling on television cameras, others are shouting lying press with clenched fists.

Lateral thinking is impartial

This has little to do with lateral thinking as a creative solution that companies can benefit from. Because lateral thinking is constructive and result-oriented, but not destructive. "Lateral thinking is a strategic way of thinking in which what has been achieved so far is actively, consciously and impartially not further optimized, but rather questioned and looking for new possibilities and rules in the old or new market without accepting the existing industry rules", Spindler defines in the book chapter " Why is lateral thinking important? "On page 11.

The term lateral thinking was introduced by the physician and cognitive scientist Edward de Bono, who explains Cornelia Android in the book chapter "What do I need for this?" (Page 155). These four principles, therefore, guide the thinking method of lateral thinking:

• Recognize dominant ideas and ways of thinking
• Find other ways of looking at things
• Loosen the tight controls exercised by rational-logical (vertical) thinking
• Consciously use chance

How companies benefit from lateral thinking

Especially in times of crisis such as the current Corona situation, companies should not forget how lateral thinking can inspire product and business model development. If you break out of the usual thinking structures and look outside the box, you set creative processes free, Springer author Sven Poguntke emphasizes in the book chapter "People: lateral thinkers, intrapreneurs and visionaries for the think tank".  For him, lateral thinkers should always be part of innovation project teams. 

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Companies are therefore well-advised not to allow themselves to be negatively influenced by the misuse of the term by the lateral thinker movement - neither in terms of personnel selection nor in the way of leading teams or selecting project participants. Because lateral thinkers are not troublemakers per se, but important impulses for unconventional solutions and innovation in organizations.