In a survey a few months ago by UK insurance company Norwich Union, it found that 25% of respondents say that they were planning a vacation next year. While some were intending to spend their vacation time with family, over 75% intended to spend their vacation time volunteering or mountaineering. More people are heading towards a blend of “voluntourism “, and adventure-based trips to recharge and develop new thoughts about their professional and private lives. A couple of years ago, members of PriceWaterHouseCoopers in Singapore participated in an extended community outreach project to Bhutan where partners from various practices contributed expertise to Bhutanese business and public organisations. Both parties received significant personal and professional enrichment as a result. Over here, we offer, on a custom basis, the Leaders’ Summit Academy over 5 days or 16 days on Mount Kinabalu and the Everest region respectively; with each programme completer with a risk perspective profiling assessment, on-trek coaching and leadership sessions.
What can we do when seeking fresh perspectives to old problems?
1) Seek A Different Environment: A DDB fun guide for creative blockages suggests going somewhere else to thinkabout the problem. Staying in the same room/office only helps to reinforce the same environment that might have created the problem
2) Seek to be Inspired: An extension to the point above – do you have places which inspire you? The mountains have always provided a testing ground for teams and individuals in a dramatic setting. Just recently, my acquaintance who works at Credit Suisse went to the India Himalaya for a re-charge – and what betterplace than these great places. Do some pieces of music inspire you? Again, play them, often.
3) See the problem from a totally weird or different angle: have you encountered the ho-hum example of the ‘half empty/full glass’ at corporate training sessions? Instead of a half full or half -empty glass, there are actual two more possible answers to the question ” Is the glass half empty or full?” Want to know what these refereshing answers are? Scroll down….
Answer 3: The glass is ALWAYS full. It’s half full with air, and half full with water!
Answer 4: The question is the wrong one. The question should be ” is the glass the right one for the quantity of water in it?”
In conclusion, gaining new perspectives demands a change where we are and how we look at the existing parameters and perceived constraints.
Have an inspiring October ahead solving ‘ old problems’