The rapid transformation of labor and education markets encourages more and more young people to choose between entrepreneurship and employment. Many people feel like creative individuals and want to come up with their own unique business as the realization of their life mission. However, they cannot do this easily due to the complex problem of self-identification, insufficient development of personal potential, as well as the lack of experience of living according to a purpose in life. Unfortunately, vocational education and training do not form these skills systematically and, consequently, are unable to respond to the increased demand just in the pandemic period when we see the closure of many businesses and growth of social distancing.
Methods of Lateral thinking development
Lateral thinking does not yet have such a wide distribution in education and training; however, this concept is used often by representatives of the business community. They use these skills in almost all areas of management. In design - to develop product innovations, in marketing - to develop a creative marketing strategy, in human resource management - to establish flexible horizontal communications with staff and partners. Recently, amid a pandemic, the need for lateral thinking among salespeople has increased dramatically. A serious challenge for them was the massive refusal of customers to interact with chat bots, which negatively affected the dynamics of sales. A new trend in 2022 is empathic, creative communication with the client, which requires the seller to be able to think laterally.
The most popular method for the development of lateral thinking is the proposal of the founder of the concept, Edward de Bono[i]. His Six Hats[ii] thinking organization system is a thinking technique that helps to look at a situation from different angles and then make an unusual but effective decision. The method is often referred to as role play. As soon as a person takes a hat of any color, he turns on the corresponding type of thinking. Thanks to this, he sees the task from different angles, so he is able to find new opportunities and benefits, use anticipation, critically analyze the problem, and generate creative ideas.
TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) created by G.S. Altshuller[iii] is used also for the development of lateral thinking. The essence of the theory lies in the ability to apply the so-called strategy of analogies, which implies finding some similarity between the main ideas of various events. The main difference between TRIZ and other methods is that it has certain ordered steps for solving any problems, following which one can solve a problem if there is a similar problem in the accumulated experience, the solution of which is already known. In comparison with the method of de Bono, TRIZ is recognized as difficult for an ordinary user; its algorithms are used by professional inventors.
Another modern method of developing lateral thinking belongs to Herbert Simon, the American scientist, Nobel Prize laureate in economics. His method of creating custom projects, products and services is called "design thinking" and is aimed at solving specific problems and interests of a potential client. When applying design thinking, a person must go beyond the existing stereotypes (thinking outside the box). This is possible through observation, questioning, interviews. Design thinking invites you to disprove customer preconceptions and rethink customer problems in order to find a better, non-obvious solution.
Art practices of Neurostyling
The art practices of Neurostyling are intended specifically to develop lateral thinking, allowing 1) to overcome a person’s narrowed perception of himself only as one who plays learned roles, 2) to get away from patterns when generating business ideas, 3) to overcome socio-cultural stereotypes when establishing bridging communications and creating collaborations.
The genesis of the art practices of Neurostyling originates in the theory of brain neuroplasticity. The main objective of these art practices is to help a person to take the role of a creator in a fictional alternative space created during the lesson aiming at lateral thinking development. The well-designed and carefully worked out art practices of Neurostyling result in the rearrangement of neural connections in the brain.
Those who aim to create their own business are also interested in the development of lateral thinking. The nontriviality and viability of business ideas directly depends on the ability to see the situation from different angles, find windows of opportunity, and apply creative behavioral strategies to realize these opportunities.
The rest of spheres of life are significantly inferior to business in terms of applying the concept of lateral thinking. For instance, formal education is focused primarily on the development of hard skills; even in higher education institutions where students pursue creative, engineering, and managerial professions, it is rare to find disciplines aimed at developing lateral thinking skills.
It is possible to develop lateral thinking skills today by studying in the system of non-formal or informal education - at specialized courses, corporate trainings, as well as independently through various online resources.
The first step to lateral thinking development is the acquisition of the skill to enter in a light trance state, when the focus of attention is transferred from objects in the external world to internal images, which switches the functioning of the brain from beta rhythms to alpha rhythms. The trance state allows a person to get rid of the habit of thinking only logically. In the state of trance, the person is able to create abstract art objects and fictional alternative spaces, even without previous experience. Further visual and emotional interaction with the fictional space provides a new perceptual experience. As a result of the art practice, the person’s perception of the world changes; interpretation of reality becomes multilateral. The person, being in the role of a creator, develops a fictional alternative space without the usual restrictions, fills it with new elements, meanings, and content. At the same time, the person’s understanding of him/herself and his/her capabilities expands as well as communicative mobility, mental flexibility and creativity develop.
The video shows how a neurocoach gives a lesson on the development of lateral thinking in Russian with English subtitles.
The research in Pro-VET project was funded by Education, Audio-visual and Culture Executive Agency, Erasmus+, ref. 598698-EPP-1-2018-1-FI-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP. The European Commission's support for the production of this presentation does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
References
[i] Edward de Bono. (1967). The Use of Lateral Thinking. London: Cape.
[ii] Edward de Bono. (1985). Six Thinking Hats. London: Penguin Books.
[iii] G.S. Altshuller. (1986). To Find an Idea: Introduction to the Theory of Inventive Problems Solving. Novosibirsk: Nauka.
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