We've all heard the line think outside the box when looking for different solutions to the same problems. Many companies and organizations have been extremely successful by thinking outside of the box. Would you ever thought 20 years ago you would be taking a picture with your cell phone, had a voice inside your car giving you step by step directions to your destination or taking a virtual room-by-room tour on your computer of houses for sale all over the world? These were created because someone was thinking a bit differently than others. Ideas brought us here today and they will take us to tomorrow. If this type of thinking is so successful for the business world why can't it be just as successful for the police world?
Policing organizations and the type of person attracted to the profession of often have systemic and personal attributes that stand in the way of creative thinking and problem solving. First of all with our militaristic rank and file, chain of command type of organization we are structured too tightly to allow for creativity, especially from the bottom up. Secondly people who are attracted to policing are usually more black and white thinkers; laws and policies are to be followed and step by step thinking is important for things like file management and court testimony. I've always thought I was in the wrong profession because I am not a linear thinker. I am extremely creative and there have been very few opportunities in this profession to utilize such creativity. In fact it is almost frowned upon. But there is hope. Despite our roadblocks, police organizations are recognizing the importance of new ideas. They are becoming more business-like in their strategies and are uttering the words "outside the box" at meetings. In some organizations they have gone beyond that and rewarded ideas and creativity.
Everyone in policing knows it is difficult being the low man on the totem pole while trying to get a great idea heard and implemented, especially if it costs money or uses resources. It's like pushing a rope uphill. After three or four attempts you basically say "screw it" and give up. And when someone else has a great idea you tell them they might as well not even bother. Some persevere and end up creating enemies and burning bridges just to get their idea accepted. In the 16th century Galileo used a telescope to support the theory that the earth revolved around the sun and that it was not the other way around. The world was not ready to accept that; to them it was ludicrous. Earth was the center of the universe - not the other way around. Everything revolved around it. He was threatened with torture to retract his statement and lived under house arrest until he died. You think you have it rough?
So, to know what the outside of the box looks like, we must look at what inside the box looks like so we know the difference. Thinking inside the box means accepting the status quo. Have you ever heard someone in your organization say, "Well that's the way we have always done it"? Ed Bernacki of CanadaOne stated it perfectly on their website: "In-the-box thinkers find it difficult to recognize the quality of an idea. An idea is an idea. A solution is a solution. In fact, they can be quite pigheaded when it comes to valuing an idea. They rarely invest time to turn a mediocre solution into a great solution.
More importantly, in-the-box thinkers are skillful at killing ideas. They are masters of the creativity killer attitude such as "that'll never work" or "it's too risky." The best in-the-box thinkers are unaware that they drain the enthusiasm and passion of innovative thinkers while they kill their innovative ideas.
They also believe that every problem needs only one solution; therefore, finding more than one possible solution is a waste of time. They often say, "There is no time for creative solutions. We just need THE solution."
Even great creative people can become in-the-box thinkers when they stop trying. Apathy and indifference can turn an innovator into an in-the-box thinker." So, how can we bring our police organizations into the real world? In a management course I recently attended by Life Role Development, they talked about a concept called the "Paradigm effect". In a nutshell it tells us that we all see our world through our own paradigm and actually filter data through our paradigm of what is right and what is not. How many times have we created opinions through our thoughts that were completely wrong? We used to say that Cable TV won't catch on, or Japanese cars were junk. The first thing our organizations need to do is recognize that we have these automatic filters and choose to go beyond them. If we think there is only one way to do something we have paradigm paralysis that gets us stuck. For example in the 1970s Swiss Watches capitalized the market. They made the exact same watches for years and it was very successful for them. Until what? The digital watch. And who created the first digital watch? You may be thinking the Japanese, and you will be partly right. They introduced the digital watch and overtook the market by leaps and bounds from the Swiss. But it was the Swiss that actually invented the digital watch, but the idea was rejected. They thought no one would use a digital watch. Bet they are rethinking that decision about now!
You have to admit that trying to solve the same problems with the same solutions will likely bring us the same results. What we need in our organizations is new thinking and new, more positive results in reducing crime in our cities and concluding more investigations successfully.
What can we do to get out of our paradigm paralysis and into some creative thinking?
- Be a paradigm pioneer - have faith and trust in new ideas
- Don't invest yourself too much in the old way; it is harder to let go of it
- Choose to make change and encourage others to do so
- Discourage resistance to change
- Encourage spontaneity and out of the box thinking
- Start with yourself and get others thinking that way too
- Listen to others - sometimes we are not listening, we are just waiting to speak - know the difference
