Malcolm Gladwell, an introspective and highly acclaimed author (whom has published several books) especially intrigued me when I read Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. The premise here is that idea of thin slicing is used where one is introduced to only a few snippets of information which lead to a series of conclusions based on moments of rapid cognition – an ability claimed to be intrinsically dormant in most humans.
Inherently, the art of thin slicing is delineated as a unique cognitive function which allows once to factor a definitive out of in-definitive range of variables in order to extrapolate actions and reasoning’s behind the information. Here, context is everything as without it you might as well be shining a light so bright to the moon that the circle it draws is out of focus and proportion! Gladwell draws metaphorical and anecdotal reference to various experiments conducted by scientists, theorists and engineers. One particular one for citation is where a group of scientists at the University of Iowa wanted to encapsulate this by outlaying four decks of cards of two colours, red and blue. The red cards were ‘minefields’ and the blue awarded a steady $50. Gladwell challenges the preconceived theory of learning by showing that when a gambler was hooked up to a machine that measures activities of the sweat glands these gamblers started generating stress responses to the red decks by the tenth cards, forty cards before they were able to consciously realise the pattern. The preconceived theory of learning was challenged here; by showing that when a gambler was hooked up to a machine that measures activities of the sweat glands these gamblers started generating stress responses to the red decks by the tenth cards, forty cards before they were able to consciously realise the pattern.
This undoubtedly revealed that the human conscious uses two distinct strategies to evaluate and synthesize information. One is what could be called the ‘conscious strategy’ which is logically and definitely derived from an abundance of information. The other refers to the ‘adaptive unconscious’, a fragment of the human brain that lies entirely below the surface of consciousness which relies on ‘fast and frugal’ calculations.
Transplanted to the current age where everyone is battling the constant stream of information flows and interruption advertising; it is important that in order to be effective at this art – context is everything! For example, an actuary might be looking at the term deposit rates across several economic countries when evaluating a specific investment appraisal as it enables wider contextual appreciation of what I would call the global yield curve (an integration and substitution of multi variable inputs and throughput to deduce an acceptable hurdle rate for investments)
Whilst thin slicing is something purported to be more of an art than science, its possible to put in place some simple principals in organisational settings to nurture this type of intuitive repulsion. When you for example, implement an Enterprise Resource Planning system – which is software designed to integrate the information systems that support a firms most important processes; you want to ensure it does not plague the entity with complex, difficult to learn and install systems or extols best practice principals ostensibly. The fundamental requirement here is to ensure that as Philip Andersen says (Seven Levers for Guiding the Evolving Enterprise) that the ERP system is vested to “institutionalise and integrate a common sense of best practices” with “positive feedback loops”, enough “inflow of energy and interconnections” so as to enable adaptability to rise naturally from the bottom up. Here, thin slicing becomes very useful, as if everyone in the organisational setting is aligned to a core set of simple principals or commandments; any perturbations (chaos theory) will have an instrumental effect by raising the overall awareness of the team as a whole.
Collectively, by thin slicing, you are inspiring solutions to be derived from the principals of self-organisation and setting forward the core levers of an evolving enterprise which are rooted via variation, selection and retention. This is important, as self-organisation in its own right, being such a dense and interesting concept, often appears to be chaotic, constantly disrupted and difficult to control. Order always arises spontaneously and by creating contextual frameworks and personas even, you will be able to catalyse complexity and let order arise naturally from the evolution of vast aggregates of simple sub-units. For some practical tips on how to set this in your team, check out the article on Group Messaging Instincts: How To Recover Them.
The book is highly recommended by thealphaswarmer! Click for more information on Malcolm Gladwell