We develop innovative thinking in children and adults. How to convince people who don't want to be convinced? Lego and X-rays

Bogdanovich Vitaly Nikolaevich

The concept of “creativity” is so vague that I even find it difficult to compare this process with anything. Today, the so-called “mass culture” refers to everything that can and cannot be named. The spectrum is incredibly wide and all “products” of creativity mainly come down to the sphere of art. This is understandable. It’s been a hundred years since the concept of “creativity” was privatized by those who professionally or semi-professionally engage in art (drawing, sculpting, singing, reading...). A huge layer of technical creativity was discarded “as unnecessary”; it was denied what is called creativity. But in vain.

Let's take the generally accepted meaning of “creativity” as a basis. The encyclopedia describes it as a process of activity that creates qualitatively new material and spiritual values or the result of creating an objectively new one. It is aimed at solving any problems and satisfying needs. The main criterion that distinguishes creativity from production is the uniqueness of the result. The result of creativity cannot be predicted, even by someone who is the creator. In the creative process, the author invests in the material, in addition to labor, certain possibilities, expresses aspects of personality, which gives the product additional value. Thus creativity:

activity that generates something qualitatively new, never existing before;
creating something new, valuable not only for one person, but also for others.
the process of creating subjective values.

It seems to be complete, but somehow dry and not very clear and applicable to what we observe in everyday life. Deep down, everyone knows that they are creators. Of different calibers, but creators. In different industries and in different cases. We also know that creativity is incredibly diverse and there are no areas in which it is not present. Let me give you a different formulation of creativity:

spiritualization of matter;
non-standard solutions to standard problems.

Regarding the first, I will be careful not to write anything seriously for now, since this is the topic of a separate article, but regarding the second formula, let’s talk in more detail.

“A non-standard solution to standard problems.” This may look like practical ingenuity, the ability to make something out of nothing, a creative streak. This is the ability inherent in everyone to find new approaches and unusual solutions in any situation. One of the well-known and effective methods for developing the ability to think outside the box is solving situational puzzles. The conditions in these problems are specially formulated in such a way that they create a certain image in the mind, from which one must be able to move away when solving it.

Here's how one problem was elegantly solved. Millionaire merchant Shustov bought wine cellars in Armenia and organized an action. He found several dozen lively young people with good manners and from noble families, paid them a salary and sent them to Europe. Their task was to go to luxury restaurants at least three times a day, place an expensive order and demand Shustov cognac. Naturally, he was not there. After which they were instructed to loudly criticize the establishment, which knows nothing about such a wonderful drink, promise to make negative advertising and cancel the expensive order. In a short time the action bore fruit. The most expensive and prestigious restaurants began to purchase Shustovsky cognac.

Nothing extraordinary. Especially after you found out the solution, which was Shustov’s creativity, but not ours. But we, on the basis of other experience, “his example to others is science,” using the method of analogies, can already begin to try to create something of our own.

Practice has shown that most plans break down at the stage of enumerating options. It seems that nothing prevents you from planning how “I want” can be brought to life, but “Prisoners of Castle If” is hampered by personal and tribal attitudes. Outdated models of behavior that do not provide an opportunity to solve standard problems in a non-standard way. Plus the fear that you will have to pay an exorbitant amount for “I want.”

When it comes to the implementation stage, we get “kind of” what we wanted, but something “not like that.” Oddly enough, we are quite satisfied with... dissatisfaction with ourselves, devaluation of our own efforts and actions. This way we get neither satisfaction, nor the opportunity to draw conclusions, nor experience. Painful experiences alleviate internal discomfort for a short time, but life, the best teacher, gives us signs in the form of “changes,” “dead ends,” “the need to live on.” The sign is chance. A chance to do something outside the box. Even within the framework of standard social thinking.

Commodity-money-commodity. Someone is doing something. Someone is selling this “something”. Someone is serving this “something”. Cash flow is enclosed in this triangle. It’s worth taking a closer look and turning on, and it will definitely turn out that something is missing in it and this niche is yours. True, doubts get in the way. Inability to combine money and creativity. I especially draw your attention to your fears and to the fact that you still have a lot of illusions about the “spirituality” of the money you make.

“Do you know when I really believed that you were a great philosopher? When you got rich! Only liars, madmen and fools can say that you can be happy and free while living in poverty” (from a letter from the Marquise Dudeffant to Voltaire). Here is an example of how people showed creativity, but not in the sense of creating works of art, literature, architecture, in a broader sense. This could be the invention of indelible mascara, or finding a way out of the Cuban missile crisis... Anything.

In 1873, Levi Strauss discovered that immigrants to the United States were not provided with durable trousers. He provided them with them, who sewed them from what had already been brought, but was lying in warehouses (canvas), strengthened for reliability with double stitching and rivets. This is how a huge and capacious niche arose, which is still being replenished with everything they can. He was determined to identify a niche to meet demand.

Now the technique. Known but forgotten. It is divided into several stages.

Stage one

The time it takes to complete the first stage is at least 7 minutes a day for 3–4 weeks.

Organize your space and time. Sit comfortably, put a standard A4 sheet of paper, a watch with a second hand, and a pen in front of you. Take a dictionary from the shelf, open it at random and point your finger at the page. Read this word, time yourself, and within one minute write down as many ways as you can use this item in your life in different applications.

We came across the word “lubricant”. We write: “for lubricating mechanisms, for unscrewing bolts from rusty parts, for lubricating bicycle chains”... Stop. You are repeating yourself. Again: “to protect the hands of those who work in cold water, lubricate the pole on which the birdhouse hangs, cats will not climb in. As fuel or for igniting raw material. Can be used to remove the scent of a person from a trap. A means for reducing friction, preserving metal, helping to move heavy objects across a surface. The container it comes in can be used as a …1 You start thinking outside the box. You wake up. It's now easier for you to generate ideas. Get ahead of others. Include yourself in the process.

Stage two

Start programming changes in your daily life. The main task is to force yourself to overcome inertia and force yourself to “wake up”. The easiest way is to get rid of standard and stereotypical actions.

Example. You regularly change your route to work, study, or to your loved one. Change your daily routine, listen to different FM radio stations, read different sites, look for new topics of communication. Change your taste preferences and diet slightly. Start paying attention to those books that haven’t attracted you before, look at places you haven’t been for a long time (vernissage). Change your style or rhythm of relaxation, take a bath instead of a shower, start brushing your teeth or shaving with your left hand, listen to what your parents or children tell you...

Anything, anywhere can be a source of new thoughts. I recommend quickly browsing through reference books, tutorials, biographies, books of useful advice, encyclopedias, books in the “How it’s done/works” series, special magazines, digests2. Look for non-standard solutions to standard problems. New paths in business, development trends, innovations, connections and parallels between what you read and your tasks. Don't avoid advertising, what are its new trends? Appearance, marketing moves. The situation is similar with “gloss”. This is a mirror of the consumer market. What are they advertising, what are the trends, what is the demand for? In the world of business, there is no business that covers the entire sphere, without “holes.” This is the niche.

Remember “Stage 1” regularly and practice it as often as you can. You will begin to be visited by thoughts that can already be implemented in life. You gain skills in working with information. By analyzing trends, you constantly train yourself to be able to connect things that, at first glance, do not correlate with each other in any way.

This way you force those parts of the brain that are still asleep and live to their benefit to be activated. This technique will help you find a common language with the “new” generation. Young people, of course, are temporarily more relaxed in terms of thinking, they have fewer cliches and stereotypes than those over 30–40.

The information obtained allows you to use more brain cells that you are not yet able to use. This is the only way you learn to master the process of managing information, which is a total resource. We have two eyes, ears, arms, legs and cerebral hemispheres. The left thinks logically, the right thinks in images. Linear exercises stimulate the left, and intuitive exercises stimulate the right.

Example. An idea that revolutionized the glass industry. The chief engineer of a glass factory was faced with a problem with the quality of the sheet glass produced. According to the technology, the glass was passed between the shafts and then ground, which is expensive. Experts were looking for more advanced materials for grinding. He felt that this was not the direction to look for a solution. The solution to the problem was prompted by a piece of soap that was floating in the water among the stains of grease. This created a process in which glass was made in a furnace using molten tin. It hardens more slowly than glass, which avoids the occurrence of defects on the surface. The technology is still in use today.

Thanks to a fixed search for relationships, you will change the “coordinating point”, which will help you perceive the world more deeply and comprehensively. Then you can think about the rain outside the window and cloudy weather, about the weather forecast and the problem of global warming, about how you can take part in the arrangement of tigers in the Ussuri taiga.

To yourself or to people? Doesn't matter. At school we folded in columns. Having received the answer, as at the end of the textbook, we proceeded to the next example. Then we transferred this logic to the sphere of creative thinking. I received an answer that suited me - stop thinking, because the answer agreed. What else? Life is different from arithmetic. A new way of solving can be much more important than the previous one learned earlier. It will allow you to gain a new status, find a new market, a new niche, a new product, and most importantly, reveal yourself. There is no reason to think that the first answer is better than any other.

Stage three

The world is changing. The world is changing faster than we can understand. We, too, in theory, change synchronously with him. Which way? How long have you asked yourself this question? Maybe it's time to look at the world around us from the point of view of the opportunities that we and only we need. There is already room and space for creativity, development, self-development and the application of strength, energy and for one’s own benefit.

An example of how sports and business are compatible. You can solve the problem “directly”: production and trade of equipment, construction of facilities, maintenance and repair, rehabilitation and treatment of athletes, maintaining fashion for it, mastering the mega-budget “Health of the Nation”... If we ignore the details that hide connections, then the combination of sports and business carries a package of useful information: help in self-realization, will give you the opportunity to become wealthy, keep fit, etc.

Any business is 80–90% relationships. We avoid dealing with unpleasant people and meet them halfway... 2/3 of deals are concluded through contacts with those with whom we have good relationships. What are the benefits of informal meetings? Because they create an atmosphere of close communication, and we need warmth and respect more than anything else. We are ready to go to great lengths for a respectful attitude that does not reveal any selfish interest.

When they play sports, everyone changes. Queen from the tax office, Chief from the Administration, Boss. They are no longer the same as in the workplace. Praise, playing together, and a common field of interests help build relationships. Praise from a subordinate or petitioner is insincere by definition, but it’s a different matter when it comes from the lips of a stranger... Friendly praise, a passed game, a mug of beer or a cup of tea, and you become a pleasant acquaintance. Next, it's up to you. This is a resource, and how to use it is your personal creativity.

The same resource is art. Vekselberg bought Faberge eggs, brought them to Russia, and he is the head of the Skolkovo project. And this, for a moment, is 1.1% of GDP! The main task is to use those resources that were not used before you or were used differently than you can. For some, uranium-containing clay is a material for making jugs, for others, it is a raw material for nuclear power plants.

The creators are scattered throughout the entire mass of the nation and correspond fundamentally to its evolutionary level. They move evolution and, at the same time, introduce an element of chaos and unpredictability into life. They are responsible not only for their work, but also for where, from whom and how his “word will respond.” He is responsible for this with his soul. I remembered the devils’ response to the complaint of a writer, roasting on a slow fire in hell, addressed to his fellow sufferers:

Yes, we let them out to cool off once a year. Someone killed, but new people have already been born, new property has been acquired to replace what was stolen. People grew up who never knew that such a person once existed and did something there. And your books are still read!

Create. Everyone is capable of this in their own way. Creativity, regardless of its level and scope of application, is necessary for us like air, because in the process of its implementation you create a new you.

1 Task. What options can you offer?
2 Walt Disney drew many ideas from them: “Your imagination can be flawed, poor, inflamed, frozen. The digest is something like a gymnasium for training the imagination.”

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MINISTRY OF CULTURE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

FEDERAL STATE BUDGET EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION

"ST. PETERSBURG STATE INSTITUTE OF CULTURE"

Department of Management and Economics

ABSTRACT

in the discipline "Management Decisions"

on the topic “Standard and non-standard management solutions”

Completed by student

gr. SKT/SZ511-5/1

V.A. Mortuary

Supervisor

Ph.D. econ. Sciences, Associate Professor

E.V. Gaponova

St. Petersburg - 2015

Introduction

The result of the manager's work is a management decision. The entire activity of the organization depends on what this decision will be, and whether the goal will be achieved or not. Therefore, making a decision by a manager always presents certain difficulties. This is due both to the responsibility that the manager assumes and to the uncertainty that is present when choosing one of the alternatives. Decision making is not the preserve of managers alone. After all, we all literally make decisions every day. True, not all of our decisions are as fateful as those that company managers have to make. But still, our decisions have a significant impact on our lives. Almost each of us sometimes thought: why did I act this way at that moment and not otherwise, because because of this I now have new problems? It turns out that at some moments we get rid of some problems, but in the future we are faced with new ones.

But on the other hand, you can’t decide nothing at all and let things take their course. In this case, the person loses understanding of the situation and cannot further control what is happening. Making various decisions every day, we begin to act so mechanically that we no longer notice the processes that precede the decision itself. In everyday life, a fraction of a second passes between our awareness of a problem and its solution, and we often cannot say why we acted this way and not otherwise. This is explained by the fact that if a problem arises very often and every time it is solved in the same way, then the algorithm for solving it already becomes a program that our brain executes automatically. But most of the problems that arise in a manager’s work are not repeated so often, and therefore their solution is also a kind of problem of choice, which is not always easy to make.

The process of developing management decisions is one of the most important management processes. The success of everything undertaken by the manager largely depends on ensuring its effectiveness.

When making many management decisions, you may be faced with unpredictability, the probabilistic nature of the result, which is influenced by many different factors: both internal and external. The lower the level of professionalism of the manager, the higher the unpredictability of results (insufficient knowledge in the field of organizational management, personnel management, insufficient skills in using methods of socio-psychological influence, technologies for developing and making management decisions).

Only a manager who masters the technologies for developing, adopting and implementing management decisions is able to effectively manage an organization in a complex, constantly changing economic environment.

1. Management decision, essence and objectives

A management decision is presented as a social act aimed at resolving a problem situation.

Any management decision goes through three stages:

1. Understanding the problem

2. Drawing up a solution plan

3. Execution of the decision

In management, a decision connects all aspects of a manager’s activity: from formulating a goal, describing a situation, characterizing a problem, to developing ways to overcome a problem and achieve a goal. A management decision, including an assessment of the situation, identification of alternatives, selection of the best one, formulation of the task and organizational and practical work for its implementation, ultimately determines the effectiveness of the entire system and management processes.

A management decision is the result of analysis, forecasting, optimization, economic justification and selection of an alternative from a variety of options for achieving a specific goal of the management system.

The impulse of a management decision is the need to eliminate, reduce the relevance or solve a problem, that is, to bring the actual parameters of an object (phenomenon) closer to the desired, forecast ones in the future.

2. Classification of management decisions

Solution is a choice of alternative. At the same time, a decision is a product of management work, which ultimately increases or decreases the efficiency of the enterprise.

Typically, in making any decision, three elements are present to varying degrees: intuition, judgment and rationality.

When making a purely intuitive decision, people base it on their own feeling that their choice is correct. There is a “sixth sense” here, a kind of insight, usually visited by representatives of the highest echelon of power. Middle managers rely more on computer information and assistance. Despite the fact that intuition becomes sharper along with the acquisition of experience, the continuation of which is precisely a high position, a manager who focuses only on it becomes hostage to chance, and from a statistical point of view, his chances of making the right choice are not very high.

Decisions based on judgment are in many ways similar to intuitive ones, probably because at first glance their logic is poorly visible. But still, they are based on knowledge and meaningful, unlike the previous case, experience of the past. Using them and relying on common sense, as adjusted for today, the option that brought the greatest success in a similar situation in the past is selected. However, common sense is rare among people, so this method of decision-making is also not very reliable, although it is captivating with its speed and cheapness.

Another weakness is that the judgment cannot be related to a situation that has not previously occurred, and therefore there is simply no experience in solving it. In addition, with this approach, the manager strives to act primarily in those directions that are well known to him, as a result of which he risks missing out on good results in another area, consciously or unconsciously refusing to invade it.

3. Types of management decisions

Since decisions are made by people, their character largely bears the imprint of the personality of the manager involved in their birth. In this regard, it is customary to distinguish balanced, impulsive, inert, risky and cautious decisions.

Balanced Solutions accepted by managers who are attentive and critical to their actions, put forward hypotheses and their testing. They usually have an initial idea formulated before making a decision.

Impulsive decisions, whose authors easily generate a wide variety of ideas in unlimited quantities, but are not able to properly test, clarify, and evaluate them. Therefore, decisions turn out to be insufficiently substantiated and reliable; they are made “at once”, “in jerks”. management decision standard resolution

Inert solutions become the result of a careful search. In them, on the contrary, control and clarifying actions prevail over the generation of ideas, so it is difficult to detect originality, brilliance, and innovation in such decisions.

Risky decisions They differ from impulsive ones in that their authors do not need to carefully substantiate their hypotheses and, if they are confident in themselves, may not be afraid of any dangers.

Careful decisions characterized by the manager’s thorough assessment of all options and a hypercritical approach to business. They are even less distinguished by novelty and originality than inert ones.

For strategic and tactical management of any subsystem of the management system, rational decisions, based on methods of economic analysis, justification and optimization.

According to the tasks to be solved, they are distinguished informational, organizational and.

Information management solutions designed to establish the necessary management structure. They answer the question: “What can be used here?”

Designed to establish the necessary management structure. They answer the question: "What needs to be done?"

Operational management decisions represent action decisions and answer the question: “How to act?”

Depending on the degree of coverage of problems, management decisions are divided into general and private.

General management decisions relate to the entire management system, to all aspects of its activities.

Private management decisions As a rule, they relate to one problem of particular importance, or to some aspect of the activity of the production site.

Depending on your goals, you can highlight strategic, tactical and operational management decisions.

Strategic (prospective) decisions determine the directions and ways of development of the management system for the long term.

Tactical (medium-term) solutions are designed to ensure the achievement of specific goals and the solution of specific problems.

Operational management decisions provide for immediate intervention in the process of activity of the managed system. These decisions are developed on the basis of current, operational information about the functioning of the managed system and its elements. Such decisions are caused by deviations in the functioning of the managed system from the planned process of activity, from the solution of previously set goals. Such decisions are called regulatory or corrective.

In terms of scale, management decisions can be global, affecting the entire organization as a whole, and local relating to only one division or specific aspect of production activities.

According to the time frame, there are retrospective decisions, the consequences of which will be felt for a long time, and current ones, focused on the needs of the present time.

Depending on the duration of the implementation period, there are long-term(over five years), medium term(from one year to five years) and short-term(up to one year) decisions. The longer the period for which a decision is made, the more uncertain its result will be, and the more risky the decision itself will be, and vice versa.

According to the degree of obligation, management decisions are divided into directive, recommendatory and guiding. In practical activities, such a division depends on many factors: the level of decision-making, the timing of its validity, and its significance for a given enterprise.

For example, policy decisions are most often adopted by the highest management bodies in stable conditions regarding the most important problems of the enterprise and are intended for mandatory execution.

Recommendation solutions are usually prepared by advisory bodies - various kinds of committees and commissions. The implementation of such decisions is desirable, but not mandatory, since those who are affected by these decisions are not formally subordinate to those who make them.

Orienting Forecast decisions are considered that outline desirable prospects for the development of a given enterprise.

According to functional purpose, one can consider organizational, coordinating, regulating and controlling decisions.

Organizational management decisions, for example, distribute official responsibilities between individual performers.

Example coordinating decisions- the procedure for distributing current work among performers.

Regulatory management decisions most often they prescribe a way to carry out certain actions in certain situations. They are expressed in various kinds of rules, routines, schedules, norms, and standards.

Controlling decisions serve to evaluate the results of certain actions.

Depending on the degree of completeness and reliability of information, there are deterministic and probabilistic solutions.

Deterministic management decisions accepted if complete and reliable information is available. Such decisions are usually easily formalized and can be made using economic and mathematical methods and computers.

Probabilistic decisions have to be made in conditions of insufficient and incomplete information. To justify such decisions, methods of expert assessments, game theory, jury opinion, brainstorming, etc. are often used.

Management decisions are distinguished by management levels territorial, sectoral, individual firms, enterprises, bodies, divisions, departments.

By field of activity, management decisions are divided into social, economic, organizational, technical, technological, environmental, legal, etc.

According to the organization of development, management decisions can be divided into individual, collegial, collegial.

Sole management decisions are accepted by the manager without agreement with specialists, without discussion in the team. Such decisions include operational decisions that provide for rapid intervention in the activities of the managed system.

Collegial management decisions are adopted on complex issues requiring comprehensive discussion. Managers at various levels and specialists in the relevant field are involved in the development of such solutions.

Collective management decisions accepted at team meetings by all participants.

According to the preparation and acceptance procedure, we can distinguish standard and non-standard management decisions.

4. Standard and non-standard management solutions

Standard decisions (also called program or standard) include management decisions, the essence of which is clearly defined, the adoption procedure is well established, and implementation is characterized by a certain frequency. A standard solution is one that involves an unambiguous choice of option. Standard decisions are made, as a rule, in well-known (standard), repeating situations. When making such a decision, the manager understands that it may not be the best, but due to various circumstances (limited time, desire to follow traditions, reluctance to search for the optimal solution, etc.) he opts for a well-known, proven one. the best side in the past, the option of action.

Examples of a standard solution include: reprimanding an employee who has committed a serious violation of labor discipline; holding a meeting of department heads to coordinate their actions at the initial stage of implementing a plan; obtaining a bank loan to provide financial resources for a new project, etc.

Such solutions significantly simplify the management process. Therefore, it is necessary to strive for the maximum possible standardization of the structure of techniques and procedures for making and implementing management decisions.

Non-standard (problematic, atypical) creative problem solving, which requires new information, searching for other combinations of decision-making, developing and evaluating previously unknown alternatives, etc.

Such management decisions cannot be formulated and planned in advance. They appear in the management process when problems arise that are not provided for by standard tasks and solutions, and are determined by the state of the control object, the influence of external and internal conditions.

An example of a non-standard management decision.

Antarctica. Scientific village. People worked for several months and counted the days until the ship came for them. But for some reason the ship's arrival is delayed for a month or two. The tension in the team is such that sparks fly when there is a collision. Just look, someone will kill someone! And then the station manager decides to take the fire on himself: he begins to find fault with everyone, mocks the workers, and comes up with the stupidest prohibitions. Soon the entire team unites in the fight against management. Then they admitted that they were thinking about revolting and isolating him from the team. But he achieved his goal: people waited for the ship, no one went crazy or hurt their comrades.

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Why think outside the box

Why do some people manage to “catch the Firebird”, unlock their potential, become successful and happy, while others are said to be “neither a candle to God nor a devil’s poker,” while they themselves whine about missed opportunities and “villain fate”? The difference in the destinies of the first and second is in the ability or inability to go beyond standard thinking.

A person who thinks differently than everyone else is a creator, a seeker who has escaped the captivity of templates and stereotypes. Would our outstanding contemporary and other great people be able to make discoveries, realize themselves, leave their mark on Earth if they thought in a standard way? Of course not.

Gray mediocrity, who are comfortable thinking like everyone else - in stereotypes, which means not thinking at all, constitute a gray mass that blindly follows the person they have chosen as a leader. Even if he leads them to a dead end.

A gray life, gray thoughts and gradual degradation - that’s what the inability to think outside the box is. The harm of stereotypes is that they relax the brain, which no longer wants to do anything, and a relaxed brain means a degraded one.

And vice versa, life drive, the joy of creativity, a sense of personal strength and inner freedom, pride in oneself, recognition and respect - all this is received by a person who has escaped the captivity of stereotypes.

People who dream of becoming successful as individuals must learn to think outside the box, to move the arrows of their lives to a different path - away from templates, routine and boredom.

However, there have been, are and will be people who think in stereotypes. And they can even become professionals in some narrow industry. But, as a rule, they see life in a gloomy light, and they do not love themselves or people. They walk along the narrow corridor of life, not imagining that behind its walls a vibrant, interesting life is seething.

Rebooting to outside-the-box thinking and breaking patterns

How willing we are to think outside the box can be tested by asking questions like: “Are we willing to step out of our comfort zone or prefer not to? Are you doing something you don't like, but don't dare change jobs? Are we grumbling about how we’re fed up with everything, but not changing anything? How do we perceive new things - do we immediately reject them or think about them first?”

People who think in stereotypes really don’t like to leave their comfort zone. They will whine that everything is bad, but they won’t lift a finger to get out of the usual stagnation. All kinds of changes frighten them. Someone jokingly remarked on their behalf: “Dreams, adventures, great things called me. But the sofa screamed loudest.”

Every day we perform the same actions and, as a rule, in the same sequence. We already do many things “automatically”, and our brain gets used to not thinking and relaxes. Simple ways to "turn it on" are:

1. Do non-standard things

We are used to getting to work on the same road, we know all the traffic lights, bumps and potholes, we almost say hello to strangers whom we are used to meeting every morning? Let's change the route - this will force our brain to awaken, cheer up, and turn on attention.

After work, we rush home, but if there are no urgent matters waiting for us there, we will try to change our usual routine - we will invite our wife or husband, boyfriend or girlfriend, without waiting for the weekend, to walk through the park, look into a cafe. Or maybe we’ll go to the pool or workout, or go for a run if we haven’t done it before.

Are we waiting for a vacation to go on a short trip to the country or to a familiar resort? Let's change ourselves and go to an unfamiliar place, country, to the mountains, and not to the sea. Let's take a vacation in the winter, and not in the summer, as usual, and learn some winter sport. Let's try hitchhiking or riding bicycles.

Are you used to dressing in neutral colors? Let's buy ourselves something bright - look at ourselves in a new color! Do we avoid people and don’t like to communicate? Let's make new acquaintances. Or maybe you should change your job? For the best, of course.

If some ideas seem crazy to us, we don’t get indignant, we don’t immediately say “no,” but we analyze whether there is a rational grain in them. In any case, our brain should not sleep, but work. As the poet Nikolai Zablotsky wrote: “In order not to pound water in a mortar, the soul must work day and night, and day and night!”;

2. Break the usual sequence of actions

All our actions are practiced to the point of automaticity: did you wake up, wash your face, have breakfast, get ready, run to work? During the break, do we sit with our eyes on the computer? After work - home? Is one day the same as another? It was just Monday - and now it’s Friday, and it’s the weekend. On weekends - cleaning, walking. And again all over again: Monday - Friday, weekend. We go to the same store for groceries, communicate with the same people, go to the same cafe on the same days.

This means we break out of the usual rhythm and load the brain with new tasks. Of course, you won’t go to work on a day off, and you won’t be able to arrange one for yourself on Monday. But let’s try sometimes to switch from a car to public transport, take the time to walk a few stops, and start cleaning not in the usual order and not on weekends, but little by little throughout the week.

Buying groceries in different stores, going to unfamiliar cafes, tasting unfamiliar dishes, changing the diet and breaking the usual order of actions - all this makes the brain “not sleep”;

3. Work on the right hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for talent, creativity and innovative thinking.

There is an opinion that among left-handers there are more people who think outside the box, and all because their right half of the brain is more developed. Therefore, we involve the left, non-working hand in the work, and arrange training for it in writing and drawing.

They improve non-standard thinking and dancing: they develop coordination, motor skills, the ability to distinguish musical rhythm and follow it. We learn to see the unusual in the ordinary: imagine what a cloud or a pattern of leaves reminds us of.

For those who seriously want to engage in the development of the right hemisphere, we can recommend the book written by psychoanalyst Marilee Zdenek, “Development of the Right Hemisphere.” The author offers 67 exercises to do over the course of a week and interviews with famous people about how they develop lateral creative thinking;

4. Read David Schwartz’s book “The Art of Thinking Big”

American professor David Schwartz, a famous author of books on motivation, believes that in order to think outside the box, you must first forget about the negative particle “not”. The words “impossible”, “it won’t work”, “we have never done this” need to be thrown out of your vocabulary and not uttered even in your thoughts.

In order not to think in stereotypes, you need to have a broad outlook. David Schwartz advises communicating with people of different professions, from different social groups, because communication with them fills us with new ideas, thanks to which we can look at the situation in a new way and find new ways to solve problems.

To avoid stagnation, we must periodically ask ourselves: can I do more, can I do better?

10 fun challenges to develop lateral thinking

See the answers in the comments at the bottom of the page.

The hotel has 7 floors. The first floor accommodated eight people, each subsequent floor accommodated 2 more than the previous one. On which floor of the hotel is the elevator called most often?
It was given to you, and it belongs to you now. You have never passed it on to anyone, but everyone you know uses it. What is this?
If it rains at 12 o'clock at night, can we expect sunny weather 72 hours later?
A tin can was placed on the edge of the table, tightly closed with a lid, so that 2/3 of the can hung from the table. After some time, the can fell. What was in the jar?
There are a ruler, a pencil, a compass and an eraser on the table. You need to draw a circle on a piece of paper. Where to start?
One train travels from Moscow to St. Petersburg with a delay of 10 minutes, and the other from St. Petersburg to Moscow with a delay of 20 minutes. Which of these trains will be closer to Moscow when they meet?
Three swallows flew out of the nest. What is the probability that after 15 seconds they will be in the same plane?
There are two coins on the table; they add up to 3 rubles. One of them is not 1 ruble. What coins are these?
How fast must a dog run without hearing the clink of a frying pan tied to its tail?
A satellite makes one revolution around the Earth in 1 hour 40 minutes, and another in 100 minutes. How can this be?

“Most of my problems have no solution -
or the solution is worse than the problem itself"
Ashley Brilliant

In the list of problems that periodically arise in our everyday life, there are quite unusual ones, when we simply do not know which way to approach it or which specialist to contact to solve it.

I can give an example of such a problem.

One of the entrepreneurs bought a car from a young man by proxy. After some time, he called her and said that he wanted to terminate the deal, return her money and take the car back. At the same time, he made it clear to her that she should not resist this request, since he is a member of one of the groups and will always be able to insist on his own. The lady, suspecting something was wrong, decided to seek help. She was afraid to contact law enforcement agencies because she was afraid of possible consequences and decided to ask for advice and help from us.

After communicating with the client, we made inquiries and found out that the specified group really specializes in fraud with motor vehicles. The scheme used was simple and effective - the buyer was sold a car by proxy, and after some time they were urgently demanded to terminate the deal and return the car to the owner, promising to return the previously paid amount. But most often there were problems with receiving money during the meeting - after taking back the car and its documents, the sellers could hand over a “doll” or counterfeit bills. Attempts to restore justice, as a rule, were unsuccessful, because the seller usually came with three or four muscular guys who made it clear that there was no point in protesting or turning to anyone for help.

Our task was quite unusual - we had to prevent our client from being deceived during the transaction and at the same time exclude any provocation of a conflict and its further violent development.

According to the plan developed by us and approved by the client, a meeting with the seller was scheduled in the central part of the city near one of the Sberbank branches. Together with the client there was our employee, who was supposed to conduct all negotiations and whose instructions the client had to follow without any discussion. He was introduced to the seller and the guys accompanying him as the client’s “personal consultant”. His stylish suit, excellent politeness, good physical shape, ability to negotiate and position himself correctly in communication with this contingent (which was achieved by extensive experience of previous service in one of the specialized organizations) immediately made an impression and transferred communication to a completely different plane. He suggested going into the spacious lobby of the bank to continue negotiations, and after this was done, he said that all the documents had been prepared, the car was standing next to the bank, and after transferring the money, the seller would receive everything back. Only the transfer of money should take place as follows - the seller gives cash to the bank teller with the account details where they should be transferred and then, in exchange for a receipt, receives documents and car keys. This is where the “Moscow Art Theater pause” arose. As it turned out, the seller had only half the amount with him. Trying to solve this problem by force was hampered by the presence of a “personal consultant” and a well-chosen location where security and video cameras were located. After consulting with the “escort group,” the seller asked for a delay of 15 minutes and returned a quarter of an hour later with the remaining amount. After a few more minutes, the transaction was completed to the satisfaction of our client and the obvious displeasure of the other party.

Now we can move on to the second part of the title - solving complex problems.

In our opinion, a complex problem is a problem that requires the involvement of professionals of various profiles - lawyers, economists, psychologists, experts, security specialists, etc. The solution to such problems is accompanied by a number of difficulties - firstly, the client needs to find such specialists and correctly assess the level of their professionalism. Secondly, it is necessary to assemble a team of them aimed at achieving a common goal, which, you see, is not so easy, taking into account interpersonal relationships, ambitions and much more. Thirdly, you need to choose the leader of this team, who will take upon himself not only the coordination of actions, but also responsibility for the final result.

Can the client do all this himself? Of course, he can - if he has a lot of free time or is not very interested in the end result. In the end, when our expensive Japanese TV breaks down, we don’t go into it with a screwdriver and a soldering iron - we invite a repairman. And our clients have problems that are an order of magnitude more serious than a Japanese TV.

As an example.

One of the clients turned to us to solve a very difficult and pressing problem for him. As he accidentally learned, his son owed large sums to several individuals. After he had a serious conversation with him, it turned out that his son, trying to do business, took money from his friends at interest. The business did not work out, and the debts amounted to a fairly large amount - about 10 million rubles. Seeing that the debtor was not paying, some of the creditors were preparing to go to court, while the other part turned to outright threats against the debtor and his family. The situation became so tense that the client was ready to collect part of the money to solve the problem, but it was not enough to pay even half of the specified amount. In addition, the development of such a scandal could have a negative impact on the position of the client himself, who at that time occupied a fairly high position in one of the law enforcement agencies. On the advice of his friend, he decided to contact us for advice, and if possible, then for help.

The first thing we proposed was to prevent the conflict from reaching an acute stage and to do this, conduct negotiations with all creditors. At the same time, the conduct of these negotiations must be entrusted to a complete stranger who cannot represent the interests of either party in this conflict. He must participate in this process as a professional invited to solve the problem. And only based on the results of negotiations with each creditor, after clarifying their positions and intentions, it will be possible to determine possible courses of action, draw up a plan indicating specialists whose services will be in demand, etc.

After thinking a little, the client said that he would like us to solve his problem. After the agreement was concluded, one of our team members began conducting preliminary negotiations with each of the creditors individually. The main points that were presented to the creditors were as follows:

each creditor has a documented debt to him and can go to court at any time. There is no doubt that the court will rule in his favor. But the fact that this decision will be executed raises very serious doubts, since the debtor officially does not own any property. Therefore, the creditor can only count on a portion of the amount deducted from the debtor’s salary each month;
the debtor's parents, aware of their moral responsibility for their son's actions, are ready to allocate a certain amount to cover his debts;
an attempt to transfer the problem to a criminal level immediately changes the status of the creditor, making him a possible accomplice in criminal acts.

After initial negotiations, which were conducted professionally and as friendly as possible, 15 out of 18 creditors expressed a desire to resolve the problem out of court. The three remaining remained with their decision to go to court.

Then the painstaking work began. An agreement was reached that, due to the limited funds for repaying the debt, only the amount of the principal debt (without interest) would be taken into account, which immediately required the involvement of economists, who were supposed to use receipts and scattered rough notes of creditors and the debtor to determine the amounts that were subject to reimbursement.

Some of the receipts raised doubts among the debtor about their authenticity, and we brought in experts to check them and gave opinions on the authenticity of certain documents.

Since the consequences of this problem also affected the debtor’s family, psychologists had to be involved in solving the problem.

At the first stage of work, we had to resolve issues of ensuring the safety of the debtor and his family.

After three months of work, the client’s problem was resolved. After paying the agreed amounts, the creditors waived their claims.

Moreover, what’s interesting is that the creditors were also satisfied with our work, although they received only 40% of the declared amounts. In their opinion, if it weren’t for our work, they would have no other choice but to go to court or use the services of criminal structures. Which in no way guaranteed a solution to the debt problem, and in the second case could lead to new problems.

Can we solve all problems or are there unsolvable ones? Only one thing can be said for sure: any problem must be solved, or it will remain unsolvable.