Fresh Thinking

Freshness of thinking is a key component of driving new ideas and innovation. Remember it is vital that we maintain competitive advantage through continuously exploring new ways of doing things. To avoid getting into a personal “rut” regularly view things from different angles.

Some thoughts on how to practice "Fresh Thinking":

• Think about things in your life or career that you believe need to change - are you getting stale?

• Write down the things you think need to change and prioritise them. Develop a plan of action that will drive change and a new approach.

• Review colleagues' performances and ask yourself - what are they doing that I should be doing?

• Simple but effective - try a new route into work, vary it every day - this will help to break established patterns and foster new thinking.

• Keep your antenne out looking for new thinking and ideas - other markets, other sectors. For example if you are in an industrial market and you want to learn about customer service - go and have a look at the Ritz Carlton Hotel Gold Standards https://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/about/gold-standards

• If it’s not broken, don’t fix it but remember - keep one eye on today and one on tomorrow - things can sometimes become too cushy.

• Don’t allow complacency to set in - this is a danger zone - what follows complacency is poor performance.

• Speak to your mentor, role model or colleagues and gain feedback on what they think you should change.

• Innovation and differentiation are driven by fresh thinking - when we do something different we get a different outcome.

• A fresh approach can be invigorating and rewarding - it introduces new possibilities and when it is regularly practiced it delivers amazing breakthroughs in performance.