When the plan changes at the last minute, your executive needs more than a calm head. Dr Ken Hudson, author of Switch Thinking and holder of a PhD in Organisational Creativity, explains the two-minute technique that helps you find better options fast.
The plan everyone has been working on has to change at the last moment. How do you help the executive who put it together through those frantic, chaotic minutes?
Try Switch Thinking. It only takes two minutes:
- Ask your boss: What are some expected questions about the new plan?
- Now switch: What are some unexpected ones?
Or ask: What are the three key points you want to get across in the presentation? Now switch: What story or anecdote could illustrate those three points?
These switches are small and fast but can make a big difference in the moment.
And because the CEO or senior leader is often caught up in last-minute changes, your ability to consider a broader range of possibilities will be appreciated long after the crisis has passed.
Switching how you communicate
Here’s another scenario. You’ve been asked to give information to an executive who has been pushing back recently.
Try switching your communication style:
- Ask yourself: How do I like to communicate information?
- Now switch: How might they like to receive it?
If they’re under time pressure and like information presented directly, deliver your message that way. If they’d rather have a quick chat, be open to that too. You don’t have to change your message – but you can choose how to deliver it.
Why it works
When we’re under pressure, we default to our usual way of thinking. It’s efficient and has worked in the past, but in a changing, unpredictable world we need to be more flexible.
In those moments, pause and ask: does this situation call for my usual response, or something different?
Say the CEO has asked you to find a venue for a leadership conference. You ask yourself: where did we go last year? What worked, and what could be improved? Those are valuable questions. Now switch: what’s a different venue that reflects the theme of the conference?
By switching from the usual approach, you’ve created a choice that might lead to a more engaging conference at a completely new venue. Or, at the very least, it confirms that the current venue is good value.
Where it came from
The insight came from watching bilingual people switch between languages. I thought, if you can learn that skill, perhaps you can also learn to switch the way you think.
Switch Thinking is the deliberate, conscious choice to move to another way of thinking for two minutes, on any issue, problem or challenge – then switch back to your usual approach if you wish.
It often doesn’t matter what you switch. You’re trying to create a new possibility. You could switch your perspective or an assumption, or switch to imagination.
My favourite is the imagination switch: I know… Now switch: I wonder…
I use “I wonder” all the time with colleagues and AI. I wonder what I’m missing. I wonder what I could let go of.
Start using the word “switch”
The starting point is to use the word itself. It tells your brain what you want it to do.
Try: Can we switch that question around? Why don’t we switch where people are sitting at the next meeting? I wonder if we should switch the agenda around at the next leadership meeting?
Because the switch lasts only two minutes, it’s time efficient. And it often widens the options you have.
I’ve found that when you start using the word, everyone else starts using it too, which can open people’s minds to new possibilities.