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“The key to success is to risk thinking unconventional thoughts. Convention is the enemy of progress.
If you go down just one corridor of thought you never get to see what’s in the rooms leading off
it.”
--Trevor Baylis, UK inventor
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We all like to believe that we are independent thinkers. But are we really?
Marketers spend billions every year trying to convince you that “xyz” is the best, most innovative, fastest, smartest, coolest “xyz” ever developed. Even more importantly this new and exciting “xyz” will drive patients to your practices in droves. You will have to beat them off with a stick. Your practice will stand head and shoulders above any other practice in your area. Never mind that those other practices are being told the very same thing by the very same people.
You want to believe and that is when independent thinking flies out the window.
Independent thinking, really “critical” thinking requires real work and regular practice. With the help of Roger Darlington, a communications expert from the UK, let’s find out how we can reclaim that skill set and why it will benefit every one of us every day.
Independent or critical thinking is not just criticism wearing a nice smile. It means refusing to accept information at face value. It involves questioning and analyzing information so that you gain real understanding of a product or a technology or a design. |
First, check the source of the information and the relationship between that source and the product manufacturer. Who stands to gain the most from your acceptance of the product? If it’s not you and your patients, then who?
Check more than one source. Use your professional network to ask questions about the product or service. Be prepared to consider every opinion, not just the opinions that are similar to yours. You could be wrong or just misinformed.
Be ready and willing to change your mind. It might be uncomfortable. It might mean that you change the way you and your staff communicate with your patients. However, in the long run, you and your practice will benefit from your attention to the facts at hand.
Mr. Darlington advises, “Don’t jump to conclusions. Although the currently available facts may suggest a particular conclusion, other conclusions may be possible. Further facts may support an alternative conclusion and even invalidate the original conclusion. Even when this is not the case, it is always helpful to have further, supporting evidence to support the original conclusion.”
“Some people take no mental exercise apart from jumping to conclusions.”
--Harold Acton
He also advises having a basic understanding of statistics. Understand the context in which the information was gathered. Know who paid for and stands to benefit from positive statistics. You need to understand the differences between mean, median and mode.
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Mean is the mathematical average of a range of numbers.
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Median is the middle number in a range of data arranged by value.
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Mode is the figure which occurs most often in a set of data.
“Sometimes”, he says, “the median or mode may be a better indicator than the mean by reducing the impact of ‘extreme’ instances.”
Translate statistics into meaningful information. A product that claims to increase patient satisfaction by 100% may only mean that now 4 people are more satisfied this year than 2 were last year. Don’t allow statistics to stop you from asking pertinent questions. “How?” and “Why?” are questions to be asked of and answered by every one and anyone who is trying to promote a new product or service.
Resist the temptation to rely on past history. Just because a company has served you well in the past, doesn’t mean that it has your best interests at heart today. Economic times change, industries change and not always in ways that are beneficial to you or your practice.
Beware of “groupthink” and anecdotal information. Groupthink is defined as the tendency of a group to yield to the desire for consensus at the expense of considering alternative courses of action. According to
BusinessDictionary.com, “Group-think is said to be the reason why intelligent and knowledgeable people make disastrous decisions.” It is the very antithesis of independent thinking.
Anecdotes are little more than one person’s experience with a product, service or company or even worse, an unsubstantiated rumor. If a bell starts to ring or a little voice in your head starts to say “seriously?”, it’s time to start asking questions like “Why?” and “How?” and keep asking them until you’re satisfied with the answers.
In years past, we’ve been asked to ‘think outside the box’ or ‘push the envelope’. But what does that really mean? It means to be creative, not limiting yourself to standard solutions or conventional ideas. Often the craziest ideas generate unprecedented results, like putting a full-service lab in a retail optical shop and thereby creating the game-changing force of Precision LensCrafters as it was originally known.
Think like the competition. Professional sports teams use scouts to track talented players and to gain as much information about opposing teams and strategies as possible. You, or someone tasked by you, should be following the trends in your local markets. What are your demographics? Age, income levels, education levels, spending habits, leisure activities are all key components in knowing how to compete and excel in your particular area. Don’t become a ‘me too’ practice; use the information to differentiate how your practice addresses these key components. Brainstorm these ideas with your staff and with colleagues in non-competing markets with similar demographics.
In the iconic “The Book of Five Rings”, Miyamoto Musashi writes, “Of two ways of perception, observing and seeing, the observing eye is stronger, perceiving the heart and mind of the adversary, seeing the state of the situation, focusing the eyes broadly, perceiving the conditions for battle, perceiving the strength and weakness of the occasion, concentrating on seizing victory with precision..there is no narrow focus of the vision…by finicky narrowness of focus, you forget about bigger things and get confused, thus letting certain victory escape you. This principle demands careful reflection and thorough practice.”
Welcome, entertain and encourage critical thinking. It may be very uncomfortable at first, even down-right scary, but the more you practice it, the better and more comfortable you’ll become with it.
Never, ever stop asking “Why?”
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