Strategic Thinking/Mental Toughness
Presented by
Eli Harari
The Thinking Coach
www.thethinkingcoach.com
elih@thethinkingcoach.com
Meet The Thinking Coach Eli Harari
The Thinking Coach entity has been founded by Eli Harari who is an accomplished motivator and
training specialist in thinking skills dynamics. The Thinking Coach is committed to training and
coaching people from all walks of life to help them fulfill their professional goals and potential. Eli’s
field of expertise include strategic thinking, stress management, creative thinking, charismatic
leadership, decision-making and mental toughness.
Eli has been conducting training seminars, workshops, personal coaching and speaking engagements
for over a decade in the U.S and abroad. He is known for his versatile, dynamic, hands-on style of
training, which gives people a core level learning experience that they can apply in their daily tasking.
Few among his long list of clients are organizations such as DHL, AFLAC, A.I.G, Mass Mutual
Financial Group, Florida Power & Lighting. NBAA, GE, O.G.T, Paine Webber, Petsmart, The Israeli
Government, Haifa University, I.D.F and many more.
Eli’s professional background is unique and diversified including military experience, corporate
leadership and professional sports. The Thinking Coach Training style is based upon in-depth
understanding of the difficulties that people face in trying to excel in a relentless and competitive
environment, where he integrates effectively hard core training with human soft skills. He has the
ability to facilitate a training environment that encourages the best of people to be expressed while
helping them build confidence and charisma that carries forward to their every day responsibilities.
Most importantly Eli’s seminars empower people with effective and practical thinking skills that help
them relieve stress and aggravation in handling their work load, improve their quality of service and
provide for a pleasant and productive work environment.
2
Quotes of Wise Men:
“You become what you think about, so think what you want to become, and become it”. Anonymous
“Intelligence is something we are borne with. Thinking is a skill that must be learned.” Edward de Bono
“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together”. Vincent Van Gogh
“The world we have made as a result of the level of thinking we have done thus far creates problems we cannot solve at the same
level of thinking at which we created them.” Albert Einstein
When asked what single event was most helpful in developing the theory of relativity Albert Einstein said, “Figuring out how to
think about the problem”. Albert Einstein
“To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires a creative imagination and marks the
real advances in science.” Albert Einstein
“Reality is an illusion, albeit a very persistent one”. Albert Einstein
“If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.” Albert Einstein
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination
points to all we might yet discover and create.” Albert Einstein
“ If you change the way you look at things the things you look at change”. Anonymous
“ When you think about what is, you don’t see what is, you see your own thoughts about what is” Anonymous
“ I am not ashamed to confess- I am ignorant of what I do not know”. Anonymous
“ Life is a limited engagement of a timeless collection”. Anonymous
3
The 3 Interchangeable Pillars Of
StrategicThinking
Internal Strategic Alignment
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Interpersonal Effectiveness Strategies
Critical Thinking
Developing unbiased mind
set
Personal effectiveness
strategy – time, goals and
priorities.
Mission vision strategy.
Focus and speed thinking
– being at the point.
Personal location strategy
– ABC of thinking.
Responsive vs. Reactive.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Equating expectations
The 4 characters strategy
Magnetic and electric response mechanism
Feed-back model
Think tank – “White space” strategy
Optimizing group skill and talents
5 steps problem solving strategy
g
External Strategic
Development
Note:
•White regenerates Red
•Red fortifies White
•White and Red energize Blue
External Strategic Development
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Forming strategies – FED Model
Separating facts from fiction
“Ideas factory” Workshop
Evaluation techniques - MOC
The question behind the question
Individual decision making
Increasing scope and perception, the Bigger Picture
methodology
7 Steps Task Oriented strategy
External Strategic Development
F.E.D SYSTEM
Critical thinking
Assimilation
Core change
LID, LTS
Consider all variables and options
Thinking in parameters
The question behind the question
Analyzing consequences
References, information, scope
What the case is
Depersonalizing
The bigger picture
What does it say, says to do?
Decision-Making
Execution
Evaluation & Reasoning's
Consequences &
Practical Considerations
What does it say says?
What does it say?
Facts Gathering
This is a fundamental methodology to form strategies in any desired territory.
Each one of the 3 steps of the FED requires specific training, which will help to develop a strategic state of mind.
A strategic state of mind is basic necessity of leadership development for executives who have to perform in an ever
changing global economy. “State of mind” to mean a mind that has been trained to deal with future problems before
they occur i.e.. Readiness, flexibility and creativity . This becomes the platform for strategic planning.
The FED system is designed to answer the most basic question in Strategic Thinking, which is:
What is the best most effective way to accomplish any given goal, either personal, interpersonal or project oriented?
5
5 Step Problem Solving Analysis
1.
W.I.P.-what is the problem-rephrase impersonally, objectively, concisely.
2.
Ideas - Generate as many ideas as possible without restriction
3.
Idea selection – Select top 3 ideas
4.
Analyze benefits and concerns of these ideas – select top idea
5.
Action, Plan – Who, How, When
6
Strategic Probability Analysis
L
I
K
E
L
y
High likelihood
Low impact
MONITOR
High, High
ACTION
Low, Low
Nothing needs
to be done
Low – High
MONITOR
IMPACT
7
Internal Strategic Alignment
Consciously Responsive Vs. Automatically Reactive
LID: Emotional-Rational
In any given situation, where we have to make a decision or give an opinion, a normal reaction is to decide either for or against an idea and then give
the reasons for that decision. The purpose of LID is to reverse this process by doing a “devil’s advocate”, conscious thinking first. If a reaction,
positive or negative, to an idea occurs then it is important to Consider All Variable Essentials {CAVE}, focusing first on the opposite side of the initial
reaction. What this effectively does is to limit the power of the emotional reaction to ideas and suggestions and help assist one to consider them more
rationally and creatively through the process of reasoning. After someone reacts emotionally to an idea or suggestion we might say, "Could you
temporarily put a LID on that idea?"
L = Like
I = Interesting
D = Dislike
Consider the following controversial issues:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
There should be a five-year renewable marriage contract.
People should wear badges stating how they feel, whether they are in a good mood or bad mood that day.
The country should be 2 presidents, male and female
All the seats should be taken out of the city buses
4-day work week should be instituted with self choice working hours
One week out of the year management works low skilled jobs.
All employees are required to participate in physical fitness one hour during work hours.
Once a month all levels of the organization should participate in free non punitive feed back session.
Benefits of Using LID:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Using LID can enhance your relationship with others because the process acknowledges their opinions and perceptions. This makes for
good communication strategy
Without LID you may reject a valuable idea that seems implausible at first because it doesn’t fit your opinion
With LID your 'gut reaction' to an idea can be substantiated
With LID you become a proficient & creative decision-maker that is able to free themselves from their own old paradigms
With LID you decrease the margin of error in your decision-making process
LID gets you to challenge your way of thinking and helps you become impersonal and unbiased
8
Question behind the question
Questions of the right kind offer scope and perceptions that very
often reveal new ways of thinking that could not be seen before. If
used correctly questions become an effective tool of decision
making process.
There are 5 distinct characteristics to useful strategic questions:
Impersonal and unbiased
Include variety of parameters to consider
Prioritize parameters
Most people have the tendency to become emotionally involved
before they consider a situation rationally and therefore they
become biased from the beginning.
It is important that the order of thinking is reversed, whereby, the
question is depersonalized by eliminating the words I or Me from the
question.
The next step is to use as many parameters as possible to offer the
process a space to expand into and grow. The next step is to
prioritize the parameters and ask the question again. You’ll find that
having gone through that process your mind is much clearer and
decision is easier. This process relates to problem definition.
For example, supposing we are in a process of trying to make a
decision about buying a house. We can ask ourselves “what house
should I buy”? Or we can ask a much better question that is
impersonal and includes many different parameters such as: “What
is the most sensible house to buy at this time given the following
considerations: personal budget, current economic conditions,
personal short and long term financial earning prospects, real estate
market, the stress or relief it may cause, buyers market or sellers
market, price analysis, school system etc.
Exercise- Choose five from the following questions that pertain to
your personal circumstance and rephrase the question in a way that
is impersonal, considers variety of parameters and prioritizes the
parameters:
1. How can I inspire and motivate my work force?
2. Why don’t I get a promotion?
3. Why doesn’t my boss listen to me?
4. How can I get my employees to stop asking stupid questions?
5. How can I get my employees to like me?
6. How can I handle the unfair demands from upper management?
7. Why don’t I get included in the bigger picture considerations?
8. How can I get my employee to take more responsibility?
9. How can I stop the internal politics in my office?
10. How can I better handle time pressures?
9
Getting a Grip Upon Reality
Understanding And Depersonalizing The Challenges That Face You
Mental toughness views challenges as spring-board for success and as opportunity to gain valuable experience. This can be
achieved through the process of mapping out the challenges in an impersonal way and getting a clear focus of what you need
to accomplish.
What are the 3 main challenges that you face in your job?
1.
2.
3.
Rephrase these challenges without the words I or Me.
1.
2.
3.
Select one challenge that you wish to overcome in the short-term!
10
What You Say NO To – Learning To Become Assertive
We all love to outwardly agree with other people, don’t we?
Agreements and friendships are great, providing they come from free choice.
There is a big difference between saying YES from real sense of choice and agreement, or feeling unable to say NO.
It is very likely that every person can relate to the aspect of saying YES to something because they either felt
threatened, afraid or lacked the courage to say NO. This is called being unwillingly compromised and is a sign of
mental weakness. If this aspect is not properly addressed it leads to back biting and negative unexpressed feelings
that build up and over time can take away from productivity and achieving one’s potential.
1.
2.
3.
List 5 issues in Interpersonal dealings that you say NO to
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
List 5 things you say YES to which stem from what you say NO to.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Introduce to the class your No’s and Your Yes’s in a decisive and assertive words, tone and body language
11
What You Say NO To – Learning To Become Assertive
We all love to outwardly agree with other people, don’t we?
Agreements and friendships are great, providing they come from free choice.
There is a big difference between saying YES from real sense of choice and agreement, or feeling unable to say NO.
It is very likely that every person can relate to the aspect of saying YES to something because they either felt
threatened, afraid or lacked the courage to say NO. This is called being unwillingly compromised and is a sign of
mental weakness. If this aspect is not properly addressed it leads to back biting and negative unexpressed feelings
that build up and over time can take away from productivity and achieving one’s potential.
1.
2.
3.
List 5 issues in Interpersonal dealings that you say NO to
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
List 5 things you say YES to which stem from what you say NO to.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Introduce to the class your No’s and Your Yes’s in a decisive and assertive words, tone and body language
12