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Ignite Your Creativity, Engage Your Highest Potential.
To be human is to be creative.
Communication: It’s the Emotional Undercurrents that Can Put a Ceiling on Creative Problem Solving
Management practices have advanced enormously over the past few decades. Yet, one area that remains hidden from public view is the emotional undercurrent that accompanies communication, which can be negative and destructive to performance. There is a long history of corporate culture to overcome, which has worked to keep negative emotions from seeing the light of day.
While pure expression of anger, sadness, hurt and fear is of little constructive value, leaders need to be aware of how emotions get in the way of creativity and identifying solutions to challenging problems.
One important issue to understand is that the meaning extracted from one person communicating with another does not come in the message content. Meaning is ascribed by the receiver of communication based on that individual’s life experience, spanning all the way back to childhood.
We each have a bank of memories that has led us to draw conclusions about ourselves and the world we live in, including the corporation. And these conclusions have crystalized into beliefs (e.g., I am creative and smart, I am not good enough, the world is a safe place, I have no control of these situations, I am defective, I have to try harder than others). The beliefs we hold act as filters for the information we take in, and sometimes an interaction in the present triggers an old experience, and we become angry or frightened, for example, for reasons we may not even be consciously aware of. Conversely, the memory banks of employees contain a wealth of positive, solution-oriented material that can be tapped for creativity and innovation.
Leaders who understand that each employee has their own mental map of the world through which they interpret communication and events can use this knowledge to improve outcomes in meetings, enable groups to generate more creative solutions and, overall, enable employees to feel comfortable enough to make use of their total self. Each and every employee has been solving problems throughout life and effective leaders know how to tap into the creativity of all.
So there are tremendous individual differences between the mental maps of employees, which serve to filter all of the data they take in through their five senses (i.e., vision, hearing, touch, taste and smell). That’s one critical level. But another is the commonalities. When employees gather in problem-solving groups, there is a natural tendency for members to habitually find the flaws in ideas shared by others (e.g., We tried that before and it didn’t work; That won’t work because…, etc.). And when an idea is shot down, the team member who share it definitely has an emotional reaction. That person is likely to feel defensive, angry or frustrated, resulting in a high likelihood that he or she will shut down. And do you think they are likely to listen to the next idea raised by the person who shut their idea down? Probably not.
Even very self-confident people come into meetings with a need to be heard, and to have their ideas received with ‘open-ears.’ Without training in areas of listening and constructive response, companies all over the world are shutting down creative, original thinking before germs of great ideas can be built, through teamwork, into great innovations and solutions to problems.
One easy place to start is to build in a communication process that shapes team behavior to give positive feedback to an idea that has been expressed before citing concerns or perceived limitations (e.g., What I like about that idea is…,I like that idea because…). And when constructive criticism is given, it can be followed with a question about how the team could work to resolve the challenge (e.g., Can we work together to find a solution to this obstacle?) Training people to build on the ideas of others—instead of reverting to what is frequently the old habit of picking out the holes or flaws first—is smart business. Over time, employees will engage in more risk taking around sharing their ideas and experience greater work satisfaction. And the company will benefit from greatly enhanced creativity.
#4 of 4: Four Core Brain Networks that Leaders Should Know About
Unlike the other 3 brain networks discussed (Default, Reward and Affect) by Waytz and Mason in their HBR article, the Control Network operates at a conscious level. The authors point out that the Control Network is what makes us distinctly human. Unlike animals that operate at purely instinctive levels, we have the capacity to reflect on ourselves, our actions and the world, and to make conscious choices about actions that counter what is instinctively driven at an unconscious level. We can decide whether or not to stay at a job, to pursue a goal, and even to break an unwanted habit.
As a consulting hypnotist, and from the perspective of vast study and practice in the field, the author’s discussion of the Control Network seemed to be least aligned with my experience. They describe the Default Network and the Control Network as “bookends,” because, “they are essentially countervailing forces.” According to the authors, “The more engaged the control network is in distributing resources to achieve goals rooted in the real world, the less engaged the default network is in detaching from the real world and imagining alternatives, and vice versa.”
My experience has taught me that the Control Network (which is commonly called the Executive Function) is indeed the part of mind that sets goals, plans, prioritizes and makes decisions. But, very importantly, the Default Network (i.e., part of the unconscious mind) is the part of mind that follows through on, and executes those goals and decisions. The Default part of mind does not make decisions, but it is THE powerhouse of resources that can offer creative solutions and innovations in response to a decision made by the Control Network. People have far more power than they may have ever imagined when the Default (i.e., unconscious) part of mind is aligned with the Control (i.e., conscious) part of mind.
You may recall that when discussing the Default Network (i.e. part of unconscious mind), I made the point that the conscious mind and the unconscious mind can be guided to work seamlessly together. When the Default Network understands what the Control Network intends to accomplish, it sets about scanning the internal landscape for ideas, opportunities and solutions to meet the goal. And it can do this concurrently with activation of the Control Network. While the Control Network goes about its daily tasks, the Default network can be instructed to work beneath the level of conscious awareness in finding a creative idea or solution. And when it has discovered a response to a question or a solution to a challenge, for example, that answer or solution is delivered up to conscious mind, and voila, you have a Eureka! Experience.
I often describe the conscious mind as the captain of the ship. It is that part of mind that stands on high and calls out instructions through a megaphone to the crew beneath the deck. The crew beneath the deck is the part of mind that simply follows through on the instructions given by the captain, without judgment or veto power.
Hence, the idea presented by Waytz and Mason of the Control Network being tasked with “policing all the brain’s other networks,” and “suppressing” the Default Network simply doesn’t fit with my experience. I believe that the powerful alignment of both the Control Network, operating at a conscious level of mind, and the Default Network, operating at an unconscious level of mind, can work in beautiful, harmonious synergy.
# 1 of 4: Four Core Brain Networks that Business Leaders Should Know About
I really enjoyed reading the Adam Waytz and Malia Mason article called Your Brain at Work in Harvard Business Review’s special issue titled, The Brain Science Behind Business. They reviewed four networks in the brain and provided direct linkage to how their processes can be leveraged to both add value to the companies that understand their respective inner-workings, and how they can also create disadvantages, if left to function without guidance. Out of the reportedly 15 brain networks and sub-networks that have been identified by brain researchers, the following four networks have the most consistent backing by neuroscientists, as reported by Waytz and Mason:
- The Default Network: Pathway to Unlocking Breakthrough Innovation
- The Reward Network: Pathway to Structuring Incentives that Motivate
- The Affect Network: Pathway to Leveraging Gut Instinct
- The Control Network: Pathway to Creating Achievable Goals
I will address The Default Network in this post, from my vantage point as a consulting hypnotist, and move into the other three networks in subsequent posts. As a consulting hypnotist, having worked with hundreds of clients, I would refer to the Default Network, along with the Reward and Affect Networks as comprising unconscious parts of mind, and the Control Network to be the core mechanism of conscious mind.
The Default Network is the state of consciousness that the mind defaults to when one is not focused on a task, or outwardly engaged in the external world. The process that takes place in the Default part of mind is sometimes referred to as ‘mind-wandering’ in which spontaneous thoughts arise. Again, through years of practicing hypnosis, I would argue that this mind-wandering state can be directed by conscious mind to wander in the direction of one’s choosing, targeting creative input—from the inner mind—to solve a problem or meet a goal, and I will be bringing out much more on this subject as we move along. The conscious and unconscious parts of mind can work seamlessly together.
When the Default Network is highly engaged, say Waytz and Mason, “people’s brains ‘detach from the external environment, meaning they stop processing external stimuli,” which the HBR authors’ call a state of ‘transcendence.’ From my perspective as a consulting hypnotist, I would call this state of mind ‘trance.’ Anytime a person moves their focus from engagement in the external world to engagement in the internal world, that is trance. Without the scientific backing that the Default Network has today, the state of mind produced by it has had many names throughout history. John Locke (1632-1704) said that the French referred to the state of mind that can now be called ‘Default,’ as a state of reverie.
Waytz and Mason also describe the Default Network as the part of mind that is conducive to Eureka! Moments. I agree with that. As you may have experienced, a Eureka! Moment frequently occurs after you have walked away from a challenge and allowed the inner mind to continue its inner search for a solution. And sooner or later, when the unconscious mind offers up a solution to conscious mind, you say Aha, that’s it! For this reason, the Default Network has been identified as the place where innovation takes place.
In a chapter called An Exploration/Exploitation Trade-Off Between Mind-Wandering and Goal-Directed Thinking in The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought, Chandra S. Sripada refers to the workings of the Default Network as a state of ‘Exploration,’ wherein pattern recognition and creativity are the outputs. Conversely, ‘Exploitation’ utilizes that which has been discovered through “Exploration’ to seize new opportunities.
Psychologists and neuroscientists who study the cycles of human nature (i.e., Circadian and Ultradian rhythms) may refer to the Default Network as the ‘Rest’ component of the Basic Rest-Activity Cycle (BRAC). BRAC is the natural ebb and flow of Ultradian rhythms that people move through in 80 to 100 minute cycles throughout the day. We flow from a state of alert consciousness where task-focus capacities are at their peak, to a state of mind with less focus, wherein daydreams can occur, the mind wanders, and streams of spontaneous, creative thought arise.
Researchers have zeroed in on the Default Network from many perspectives, all pointing to the tremendous resources for creativity and innovation it offers. Hence, it is becoming increasingly clear that creating the right conditions for employees to leverage the benefits of the unfocused, ‘default’ state of mind is a critical advantage for innovation.
So the question is, how can companies create the right environment to tap the creative resources of The Default Network?
As described in their HBR article, Waytz and Mason cite several companies that are already on the path: Google, Intuit, Maddock Douglas, Brighthouse and Twitter. It is the HBR authors’ contention, however that while the leading-edge programs at these companies appear to offer some benefits, their initiatives do not go far enough. Their reasoning is that because the ‘default tapping’ initiatives of these companies are designed to unearth solutions to problems, this means that employee default networks do not detach from external stimuli, a condition they deem essential. Further, after a brief review of the various approaches used at these companies, Waytz and Mason suggest that better approaches would focus programs on the ‘quality of detachment’ created, not on the ‘quantity of time’ offered for internal focus.
Waytz and Mason elaborate, saying that companies could ‘detach’ employees from email, calendars, phones, job duties and other employees, sending them away on trips. While they do mention meditation as an effective way to detach, I would go one step further and say that all of the HBR authors’ ‘detachment’ recommendations can be accomplished through the use of hypnosis, by guiding employees to focus inward to access the creative and innovative resources of their deep inner minds. Employees can be guided inward and taught to use self-hypnosis to travel to any remote, uninterrupted destination of their choosing—in the mind’s eye—and allow the unconscious mind (i.e., default network) to explore solutions, innovations and creative resolution to business challenges. This has a multitude of advantages, not the least of which is less travel costs!
How Insights and Intuitions Arise and How to Access Them
The mind is a powerhouse of creative and innovative resources that most people have barely tapped into. While it is true that most people have had an intuitive sense or thought arise out of seemingly nowhere at some point in time that provided guidance in their life, or a flash of insight that solved a problem or enhanced a good product or idea. But science and business have not, until recently, begun to embrace the study and application of methods to access and leverage the creative resources that flow from the deep inner mind. In contrast to mind activities such as compiling and analyzing data, and using logic—actions of the conscious mind which are readily accepted and readily embraced—intuition and insight emanate from the unconscious mind.
The unconscious part of mind is the source of insights and intuition that spur creativity and innovation; the lifeblood of successful companies and organizations of all types. Yet, until recently, as precision brain-scanning technologies have become available, science has avoided the study of consciousness and all of its outputs. We have been conditioned by a culture of ‘hard science’ to mistrust any inspirations that do not lend themselves to research and the scientific method.
While there are still considerable unknowns regarding the workings of brain and mind, technologies such as fMRI, EEG, have enabled researchers to identify the parts of the brain that are active in the process of receiving intuitive inputs and eureka moments, and the conditions that promote creative inspirations and insights. They have also been able to identify the brain wave cycles that are active just before (Alpha brain waves) and at the point of emergence of creative insights (Gamma brain waves), which provides further understanding about how to optimize the chances for receiving insights and intuitions from the unconscious mind.
According the a research summary (How Insight Happens: Learning from the Brain) provided by Dr. Mark Jung-Beeman, Dr. Azurii Collier and Dr. John Kounios in the handbook of NeuroLeadership the following are conditions that contribute to the emergence of insights and intuitions:
- Access a relaxed state of mind.
- Create conditions that encourage people to attend to their own quiet thoughts.
- Access a positive mood.
- Facilitate a sudden shift of attention from one aspect of a challenge, for example, where one may have been stuck, to another.
- Facilitate right brain activity where “weak associations” can be detected, in contrast to the “close associations” characteristic of the left brain.
Jung-Beeman, Collier and Kounios describe the process of “mind wandering,” which is somewhat similar to daydreaming. They say, “it occurs when an individual begins to attend to internal thoughts rather than externally driven tasks or events. It’s what happens when you are driving on the highway and after a while realize that you are thinking deeply about something else and barely attending to the road.” From my experience as a hypnotist, I believe this mind wandering experience is a state of hypnotic trance, and in the case of daydreaming on the road, I refer to that as highway trance. And you can rest assured that even when your conscious mind has drifted away and your thoughts are internally focused, that you will snap back to a conscious focus on the road when needed. The reason you can mind wander while driving is because you have learned how to drive. And by definition, that means you have transferred the awkward and disjointed, conscious process of learning to drive (e.g., pressing down on gas and brake, merging into traffic, using turn signals and rear view mirror, reading road signs, etc.) into a seamless process maintained by the unconscious mind.
Both labels, mind wandering and trance, are fine, in my opinion. But for me it is important to recognize that this creative, receptive state of mind can be achieved using hypnosis, either self-administered or guided by a professional hypnotist.
Legend has it, according to Jung-Beeman, Collier and Kounios, that “Thomas Edison would routinely sit in a comfortable chair and rest, allowing his mind to wander as he perhaps headed toward sleep. But he would do this while balancing a spoon over a pie plate so that, should he fall asleep, the spoon would drop and the resulting clang would awaken him. He would then write down his thoughts during that period, in the belief that they were often creative.” I would add that some of the most powerful time for accessing creative insights is in the state between sleep and a fully alert waking state (i.e., moving up from the Delta Brain Waves of sleep, up through Theta Brain Waves and Alpha Brain Waves…all the way up to fully alert Beta brain waves). You can access the powerful states of Alpha and Theta on the way down to sleep as well, but I find it easier to use this hypnopompic state in the morning when moving up toward a fully alert state instead of down towards sleep.in terms of brain wave cycles per minute.
The Creativity Advantage
Have you ever stopped to wonder about the fact that everything that was ever created in the world was first an idea in the mind? The blueprint created by an architect that ultimately became a sky scraper was first an idea in mind. The innovation at a cosmetic company for a new and improved way to dispense the product was first an idea in mind. And the innovation at a consumer packaging company that upgraded the bag seal process to produce both lower manufacturing costs and improved customer satisfaction was initially an idea in the mind.
Knowledge has greatly advanced over the past few decades regarding creativity and innovation. And much of this advance is the result of improved understanding about how the mind works. The mind is a powerful asset that most businesses can leverage to far greater competitive advantage that they are presently doing.
A fundamental premise is that the mind works by association. It builds knowledge through analogy and metaphor…’this is like that’ and ‘that is like this.’ Each and every one of us has built up a knowledge base throughout life, through formal education, observation, experiences and a plethora of inputs from family, friends, authority figures, and mentors. We possess deep neural networks of associations in the mind. And so we can structure diverse groups, with diverse bodies of knowledge and expertise to use their powers of association to generate original and creative solutions in any area of business.
At least 90% of what we know and what drives our thoughts, beliefs, ideas and reside in an unconscious level of mind. That’s right, only about 10% of mind is operating at a conscious level. Imagine the possibilities of tapping into the whole mind. The fact of the matter is that the unconscious level of mind is always working, though it may not be working in the direction of your choosing. But you can change that now. People have far more control over inputs and outputs of mind than they may every have imagined.
A second fundamental premise is that conscious and unconscious psychological states are present in every creative act. Many artists and business people are naturally talented in accessing unconscious material, thereby leveraging inner creative resources and intuition. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Sir Richard Branson, Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla come to mind. But we can sense when someone has that special something, when they are deeply connected with their inner resources because we have them too, and highly creative people exist at all levels of organization. But for people for whom accessing creativity has not come so naturally, rest assured that it can be taught. It used to be thought that creativity could not be taught; it either came with ‘the package’ or was unattainable. But decades of research and structuring of training to leverage deep inner resources have proven that creative innovation can be taught…and learned.
A third fundamental premise is that the unconscious mind works on a different logic from that of the conscious mind. It is literal rather than abstract and it follows the intent and direction of the conscious mind. The conscious mind is like the captain of the ship, delivering goals, intentions and instructions through a megaphone on an upper deck, and the deep inner mind is the crew beneath the deck, receiving the orders. And when the crew beneath the deck receives orders to identify a creative solution, it follows them via access to a powerhouse of resources. It is, indeed, the powerhouse of mind. The unconscious mind simply follows directions (it does not make decisions), and delivers creative solutions. So you can give your inner mind a problem to solve and allow it to deliver a solution. And you might like to call that using your intuition.
A fourth fundamental premise is that the inner mind understands and uses imagery, far more than words. So you can give the inner mind images of a solutions state and then let it shape the path regarding how to reach the desired solution.
While businesses are using more and more knowledge about the mind to leverage creativity and innovation, they’ve had to break away from a tacit culture of belief that only the conscious mind matters, or only the conscious mind exists at all. Conscious mind is that part of you that is logical, compiles and analyzes data, speaks and uses language, and faces externally, out into the world of data absorbed by the five senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell). Through advances in technology, companies have become very good at compiling and analyzing big data, and employing insights gleaned in all aspects of business, and especially marketing.
But what are they missing? In many cases, they are indeed missing the vast creative—and one might say—infinite creative resource that lies within the deep inner mind. Whether or not you believe that human beings are connected to a unified, creative source, I’m sure you can imagine the potential of teaching employees to look inward to tap their inner creativity. Their associative learning process can be used to draw seemingly desperate, metaphorical or analogous ideas together to create original ideas from which product and service innovations spring. Everything that was ever created in the world was first created in mind. And you have the opportunity to tap that wellspring of innovative energy.