I first encountered the term “paradigm shift” when I read the “Structure of Scientific Revolutions” by Thomas S. Kuhn. This book was written almost fifty years ago and strange as it may sound, it caused a shift of the paradigm about the shift of paradigms within the realm of science. Paradigms are solutions to the “puzzles” of the world – as Kuhn puts it. A paradigm is a world view that almost all scientists hold to be true (self-evident). Paradigm shifts take place when such anomalies occur that cannot be explained by that well-known solution. Then new theories emerge that can explain the anomalies. That is not the end of the story in Kuhn’s book – I suggest that you read it; it really is a fascinating and intellectually challenging book.
A new dimension of looking at a manager is to look at a manager’s way of thinking as a paradigm. The manager have assumptions of how to solve the problem, what works the best, how to manage certain type of people. There are many situations when the assumptions of the methods fail to function well — or worse. Do not get me wrong. It is of great importance for a manager to get things done fast, and he or she has to be really persuasive and focused with great energy involved. However, if things do not work out well, those alarms in your head should go off and you should stop for a while.
A manager has to be open for paradigm shifts and this is not an easy thing to do – I know by experience. The difficulty emerges from the fact managerial skills require skills that in a way strengthen the “inflexibility” of managers. It is not always well-grounded, but certainly, there are situations where showing flexibility would cause the loss of integrity of the manager. In addition to that those that seem strong and decisive are more likely to find themselves in a managerial position than those without these traits.
How flexible is your thinking? How many successful shifts can you make from one paradigm into another? Asking many “why”-s is not enough, it will just uncover some problems. The best solutions have to come from various experience from your life. Why? Because your brain is an associating machine – and this comes handy when ever complex situations present themselves. It does not matter whether you learned something while swimming, skating, driving, writing or reading poetry, analysing philosophy etc. If you can apply it to creating an excellent solution, you have it all.
I do not want to suggest that the “values” are similar, and here is the point. Some activities are much more helpful for managers. For example, I truly believe that my interest in philosophy (analytic) and in sociology of knowledge (strong programme). The former intensified my rational approach as a leader, the latter helped me to understand and accept different point of views much more easily taking the “human-factor” into consideration. The president-to-be of BME Management Association of Students (MSZK) is a really talented and was a celebrated sportswoman. She was the member of the Hungarian National team for the World Synchronized Skating Championships 2004 and 8 times gold, 7 times silver and 2 times bronze medallist on the Hungarian Synchronized Skating National Championships. She has a huge experience in teamwork and dealing with people as well as other great memories that help her in an indirect way.
I used the simple terms problems and solutions just to simplify the complex situations a manager or leader has to deal with. There are human interactions, expectations, the leader’s impeccable integrity, the lobbying potential, emotional difficulties, cultural changes etc. that will instantly act as “how can I do this?” question-arising factors. The six thinking hats concept for example forces the effects of paradigm shifts to take place (in a quite interesting way).
My point is that an executive should gain their experience not just when they are in a position of leader or manager, but also when they are doing some other activities. This needs attention and acute awareness of the happenings. If we focus more on the world throughout our activities and learn and experience other ways of thinking it will surely pay out. And after all, it will cease to be a conscious activity, ideas will just emerge and they will be memorised.
By gaining ever more details of the “world”, application and use of different happenings when in a executive position will result in more creative solutions, and the avoidance of numerous problems – based on my own experience. It works in situations when you have two positions (like me in Rich World Real Estate having the position of strategy director and in MSZK having the position of president). What is more, two different positions intensity the speed and quantity of making paradigm shift. Before applying this to your life, I suggest that you read my previous article entitled “Solving problems as a leader”.
Thank you!