The “Course Topics” series from Manage Train Learn and Slide Topics is a collection of over 4000 slides that will help you master a wide range of management and personal development skills. The 202 PowerPoints in this series offer you a complete and in-depth study of each topic. This presentation is on "Blocks to Thinking".

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Blocks to Thinking
Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
Blocks to Thinking
THINKING SKILLS

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Blocks to Thinking
Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
The Course Topics series from Manage Train Learn is a large collection of topics that will help you as a learner
to quickly and easily master a range of skills in your everyday working life and life outside work. If you are a
trainer, they are perfect for adding to your classroom courses and online learning plans.
COURSE TOPICS FROM MTL
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Blocks to Thinking
Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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Blocks to Thinking
Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
INTRODUCTION
Thinking, like communicating, is one of those functions we
think we should be good at because we do it all the time, do
it without effort and have done it for all of our waking lives.
But there is a difference between just doing something like
thinking or communicating and doing it well. Just as with
communicating effectively, what stops us from thinking
effectively for much of the time are the perceptual,
emotional, cultural and environmental blocks that get in the
way.

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Blocks to Thinking
Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
PERCEPTUAL BLOCKS
There are seven common blocks which distort the way we
see, and therefore understand, things.
1. We can't see the problem.
2. We only see what we expect to see.
3. We can't get at the real problem.
4. We are limited in our thinking to old ways of seeing
things.
5. We see the same thing from different points of view.
6. We know something is wrong but don't know what.
7. We add information which we believe is missing to make
sense of what we see.
"No two people see the external world in exactly the same
way. To every separate person, a thing is what he or she
thinks it is - in other words, not a thing, but a think."
(Penelope Fitzgerald)

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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
OMISSION
One of the principal perceptual blocks to clear thinking is
the absence of a key piece of information. This can lead to
disastrous results.
As the old nursery rhyme tells it:
"For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost;
For the want of a shoe, the horse was lost;
For the want of a horse, the battle was lost;
For the want of a battle, the war was lost;
For the want of a war, the kingdom was lost;
And all for the want of a nail.“
Tom Peters says that one of the stumbling blocks in certain
business situations is thinking the way we are supposed to
think rather than how we actually do think. In negotiations,
for example, we often omit to ask "the pay-dirt questions",
even though these are crucial to the outcomes.

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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
FAMILIARITY
One of the most commonly-met blocks to effective thinking
is making incorrect assumptions about what we see based
on prejudicial patterns of thinking and familiarity.
In a renowned experiment recorded by P. R. Wilson, an
unknown college visitor was introduced to 110 students
split into five separate groups. After he had left, the
students were given different versions of his identity and
were then asked to say how tall he was. The first group were
told he was a student and estimated his height at 5'9".
When the next group were told he was a lecturer, they put
his height at 5'10". The next group were given his name as a
doctor and reckoned his height to be 5'11". The last group
were told he was a professor and said his height was 6'03".
It seems that we raise people's heights in relation to their
status.

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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
CAUSE AND EFFECT
One of the most difficult blocks to clear thinking is
distinguishing the cause of a problem from its symptoms.
1. John is absent
2. John is absent because he is sick
3. John is sick because he has a sore back
4. John has a sore back because he has to lift heavy boxes
5. John has to lift heavy boxes because there is no box-
lifting machine
6. there is no machine because the money went on a new
director's suite
7. the director's suite was built to impress visiting
customers
8. the company needs to impress customers because the
product isn't up to scratch
9. the product isn't up to scratch because of under-staffing
10. there is under-staffing because key workers like John
are absent.

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Blocks to Thinking
Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
HABIT
Habit can be a major stumbling block to clear thinking and
an example of lazy thinking. When we think along habitual
paths, we allow ourselves to stick to old ways of thinking
rather than to think creatively or innovatively. It often
occurs in organisational cultures where there is a strong
pressure to conform.
The following well-known game is a reminder of the dangers
of thinking along well-trodden lines:
Say aloud what the following three Scottish surnames are:
M-A-C-D-O-N-A-L-D
M-A-C-P-H-E-R-S-O-N
M-A-C-D-O-U-G-A-L
Now read aloud the next word:
M-A-C-H-I-N-E-R-Y
It is very likely that you will pronounce it like a Scottish
surname because we think the way we become used to.

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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
VIEWPOINT
How we think often depends of the information we need to
form a judgment. Some people make up their own
viewpoint without the need to see the context or the big
picture; others need to see where the information fits in
before they can decide what they think.
Ernst Schachtel says we see things either from objective or
subjective points of reference.
One visitor to an art gallery will come across a picture and
look at it, absorbing what it means to her personally. She
has a subjective point of view. Another visitor will come
across the same picture and will need to read the title and
find out the painter's name and biography as well as what
the painting is about before knowing what it means to him.
He has an objective point of view.

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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
PICASSO’S PICTURE
The story is told of how Pablo Picasso was travelling by train
on a journey across Spain when he was recognized by a
businessman who was used to getting his own way.
The businessman introduced himself and, after exchanging
pleasantries, told Picasso that, while he admired his success,
felt his paintings could be improved.
“How so?” replied a bemused Picasso.
“Well,” the businessman began. “Your paintings are too
abstract. You should paint things as they really are.”
“Could you be more specific?” asked Picasso politely.
“Certainly!” replied the businessman and took out a small
photo of his wife from his wallet.
“Take my wife. This is how she is, not a silly stylised
representation.”
Picasso took the photograph, studied it for a few moments
and asked: “This is how your wife actually looks?”
The businessman nodded proudly.
“She’s very small,” observed Picasso wryly.
Moral: We all see the world in different ways.

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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
THINKING AND DOING
It is part of Western intellectual tradition that the thinking
part of a decision is separate from the implementation part
of the decision, as if the decision was one thing and the
implementation something quite different. Hence the gulf
between those who take decisions, often in positions of
authority, and those who carry them out: thinkers and
doers.
In Oriental philosophy, which has a much longer tradition
than Western philosophy, the gap is not understood. Here
there is no gulf between thinking and doing. There is only
process. A decision and its implementation are part and
parcel of the same thing. This means that the decision can
be changed as the implementation proceeds, just as the
method of implementation can be changed if the decision is
reviewed in the light of new information.

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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
BRAIN AGEING
The weight of the brain declines with age but its mental
capacity doesn't. The average weight of a 20-year old man's
brain is 1.4kg; and that of an 80-year old man is 1.2kg.
Yet, despite this, studies of people in the 60 to 80 age range
have found that there is only a very small decrease in
mental capacity as we get older: 1% annually rising to 2% in
someone's 80's. This is thought to be due not so much to a
decline in the brain's power as to a lack of stimulation.
In a 10-year study in Australia of 389 people ranging in age
from 60 to 93, subjects were asked to learn German or the
recorder, or both, according to whether they had any
knowledge of either of these. Those who started in their
70's and persevered showed a 5% annual increase in their
ability to accept new information, whereas those who gave
up showed large decreases in mental powers.

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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
THE MYTH OF AGE
Recent research has disproved the myth that our thinking
ability declines with age. It doesn't. What tends to decline is
our belief in our ability to make good decisions and solve
problems.
Dr Marian Diamond used rats to disprove the theory of
brain decline with age since rats have similar behavioural
patterns to humans. Dr Diamond was able to show that
when rats live in an enriched environment - one where they
receive positive attention and frequent stimuli by way of
new play objects - their ability to learn increases. Older rats
performed just as well as younger ones. No such
improvement was found with rats that were given no toys to
play with or rats that were allowed just to sit and watch the
others.

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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
CULTURAL BLOCKS
In the West, we equate thinking with rationality, logic and
science. The best thinkers are those who are demonstrably
clever. We sometimes frown on the simple approaches to
problem-solving of other cultures.
This is a story of a Taoist master in China as told by Benjamin
Hoff in "The Tao of Pooh".
A horse was tied outside a shop in a narrow village street.
Whenever anyone tried to pass by, the horse gave a mighty
kick. Soon the village was in turmoil as nobody was able to
go about their business for fear of being kicked by the
obstinate horse. A large crowd gathered. Just then someone
shouted, "Here comes the Master! He'll know what to do.“
The crowd waited eagerly to see what the Master would do.
The old man turned the corner, took one look at the
recalcitrant horse and rode down another street.

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MTL Course Topics
SEEING WHAT'S THERE
Organisations which have become used to one way of
thinking about themselves and their environment
sometimes need to be shocked out of their ruts.
Hans Christian Anderson's story "The Emperor's New
Clothes" is an amusing story of the dangers of blinkered
cultural thinking. The story tells of the new emperor who is
offered a set of splendid new clothes for his coronation by
some unscrupulous tailors. The vain emperor is told that the
clothes are so fine that they are practically invisible to the
naked eye. Soon everyone is convinced that the clothes are
the most splendid ever seen even though there is nothing
there. Only a small child who has been ill and not party to
the cultural brainwashing sees the truth. As the naked
emperor rides by in his coronation procession, the child
cries out: "Look, everyone, the Emperor is wearing no
clothes!"

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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
THE ELEPHANT AND THE BLIND
MEN
The story of the blind men and an elephant
originated in India and is used to demonstrate the
inexpressible nature of what we call "reality".
Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a
village. One day the villagers told them, "Hey,
there is an elephant in the village today.“
They had no idea what an elephant was. They
decided that, even though they wouldn't be able
to see it, they could still experience it by touch.
The first blind man went first. He touched its leg
and said, "Hey, the elephant is a pillar".
“No! It is like a rope," said the second man who
touched the tail. “No! It is like a thick branch of a
tree," said the third man who touched the trunk
of the elephant. "It is like a big hand fan" said the
fourth man who touched the ear of the elephant.
"It is like a huge wall," said the fifth man who
touched the belly of the elephant. "It is like a solid
pipe," Said the sixth man who touched the tusk of
the elephant.
They began to argue about the elephant and every
one of them insisted that he was right. It looked
like a fight was about to break out when a wise
man came by. He stopped and asked them, "What
is the matter?" They said, "We cannot agree what
the elephant is like." Each one of them told him
what he thought the elephant was like. The wise
man calmly explained to them, "All of you are
right. The reason every one of you is telling it
differently is because each one of you touched a
different part of the elephant. So, actually the
elephant has all those features and you are all
right.“
The blind men stopped their arguing and realised
that by listening to each other they could learn
more about the elephant than by working on their
own.

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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
ENVIRONMENTAL BLOCKS
Taking time out to think can still be frowned on in some
working environments which equate work with how busy
you are and thinking with doing nothing.
Environmental blocks to thinking include the following:
1. people are not given any time in their working day to
think
2. people are not allowed to just sit and think
3. there is nowhere to be alone
4. there is no chance for the group to get together and
brainstorm, plan or just think as a group
5. silence is frowned upon
6. when people suggest new ideas, they are immediately
put down or ridiculed
7. there are continuous distractions
8. the culture of the workplace encourages activity and
production and discourages non-activity and thinking
9. nobody can be spared long enough away from the
workplace to take a broader view.

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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
TIME TO THINK
The car-maker Henry Ford hired an efficiency expert to go
through his plant. He said: “Find the unproductive people.
Tell me who they are and I'll fire them!”
The expert made his rounds with his clipboard in hand and
finally returned to Henry Ford's office with his report. “I've
found a problem with one of your managers,” he said.
“Every time I walked past his office, he was sitting with his
feet propped on the desk doing nothing. I definitely think
you should consider getting rid of him.”
When Ford asked who the man was, he shook his head and
said: “I can't fire him. I pay that man to do nothing but think.
And that's what he's doing.”

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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
FAVOURITE THINKING PLACES
The great thinkers of history often report having a favourite
place and a favourite time in which to think.
1. the German dramatist Schiller, filled his desk with
rotting apples to create the right smell for thinking
2. the writer, Marcel Proust, worked in a cork-lined room
3. Mozart liked to think while exercising in the fresh air
4. philosopher Emmanuel Kant liked to look at a tower
through his study window and even complained to the
authorities when some trees grew to hide his view. The
trees were quickly cut down.
As well as having favourite surroundings, effective thinkers
may also have a favourite time. For some it is early morning,
for others late at night. When you know your best time for
thinking, you can reserve it for your personal thinking slot.

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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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Thinking Skills
MTL Course Topics
THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn