Leadership Horizons

The Fourth Pillar of Resilience: Why Leaders Must Master Flexible Thinking

• Lois Burton • Episode 26

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Navigating uncertainty demands more than resilience—it requires cognitive flexibility that transforms challenges into opportunities. After six months of podcasting, I'm diving deep into the fourth pillar of resilience: flexible thinking, the leadership capability that separates those who merely survive change from those who harness it to create something better.

The neuroscience is fascinating. When stress hits, our brains default to rigid "system one" thinking exactly when we most need creative "system two" processing. This explains why many talented teams get stuck in tunnel vision under pressure. The leaders thriving today have mastered what I call "adaptive intelligence"—creating the mental space to generate multiple solutions and reframe challenges even when everything feels urgent.

Through my work with executive teams over two decades, I've developed practical frameworks that build this cognitive muscle. The Three Lens Approach helps teams examine challenges through problem, opportunity, and systems perspectives. Meanwhile, thinking protocols like the Five Solution Rule and the Failure Pre-mortem transform how teams approach complexity. I share the remarkable story of a healthcare organization that turned a devastating 30% funding cut into a revolutionary service model that became their competitive advantage—all through cognitive reframing.

Ready to strengthen your team's flexible thinking? Start with my four-step action plan: honestly assess your current capabilities, implement the five solution challenge, practice deliberate reframing, and map challenges through systems thinking. 

The future belongs to leaders who think as flexibly as the world is changing—those who don't just bounce back from setbacks but grow stronger because of them. How will you use flexible thinking to create something better than what existed before?

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Speaker 1:

Well, hello and welcome back to Leadership Horizons. I'm Lois Burton, and before we start today, I just wanted to say wow, this is episode 26,. Which means we just hit six months of this podcast journey together, and the response has been absolutely incredible To everyone who's downloaded, listened, shared and engaged with these conversations. Thank you. You're not just listeners, you're the vanguard of the next chapter in the evolution of leadership, and we're all helping to create it together. That means the world to me. So, my vanguards.

Speaker 1:

Today we are continuing our resilience series and I want to dive deep into something that's become absolutely critical in our rapidly changing world flexible thinking. It's the fourth pillar of resilience and, honestly, without it, leaders and teams can find themselves stuck, frustrated and completely overwhelmed when the unexpected hits. So grab a coffee, settle in and let's explore how flexible thinking can transform not just how you lead, but how your entire team navigates complexity and uncertainty. Let me start with a question that is really important to ask yourself when was the last time you or your team got completely blindsided by a situation and, instead of adapting quickly, you found yourself stuck doing the same old things, hoping they'd somehow work better this time? I've been coaching senior leaders for over two decades and I can tell you that rigid thinking is one of the biggest leadership killers. I see Teams that can't pivot, can't reframe, can't generate multiple solutions. They don't just struggle with the immediate problem, they create a culture where innovation dies and people stop bringing forward creative ideas. So here's the thing Flexible thinking isn't just a nice-to-have leadership skill anymore. It's become absolutely fundamental. The leaders and teams who are thriving right now they're the ones who've mastered what I call adaptive intelligence, which I have talked about several times in these episodes. And adaptive intelligence means that you have the ability to shift perspectives, generate multiple solutions and reframe challenges as opportunities, even when everything around them feels chaotic.

Speaker 1:

So what exactly do I mean by flexible thinking? It's not about being wishy-washy or changing your mind every five minutes. Flexible thinking is actually about having the cognitive strength and agility to, first of all, generate multiple solutions to complex problems and, instead of getting into tunnel vision and fixating on one approach, flexible thinkers naturally explore alternatives. They ask what else could we try, rather than why isn't this working? Secondly, adjusting strategies effectively when new information emerges and, let's be honest, new information is emerging constantly these days. Flexible thinkers don't see changing courses failure. They see it as intelligent adaptation. Thirdly, demonstrating adaptive intelligence under pressure, and this is the big one. It's easier to be flexible when everything's going smoothly. The real test is what happens when the pressure's on deadlines are looming and stakeholders are demanding answers. Fourthly, successfully reframing challenges as opportunities. This isn't just, you know, that kind of Pollyanna positive thinking. This is about genuinely being able to look at a setback and ask what does this make possible that wasn't possible before? And finally, maintain creative thinking during stressful periods, because stress is the enemy of creativity, and yet that's exactly when we need our creative thinking the most.

Speaker 1:

There's some fascinating neuroscience behind why some people and teams are naturally more cognitively flexible than others. When we're stressed or under pressure, our brains default to what neuroscientists call system one thinking Fast, automatic but quite rigid patterns. Flexible thinking requires us to engage system two, the slower, more deliberate, more creative part of our brain. But here's the challenge. System two thinking requires mental energy, and when we're overwhelmed, that's exactly what we don't have. The leaders I work with who've mastered flexible thinking have learned to create the pause. I also talked about this in a previous episode. This is deliberate practices that help them and their team step back from the immediate pressure and engage their more creative, adaptive thinking.

Speaker 1:

Let me share with you a practical framework that I use with executive teams, and it's called the three lens approach. When facing a complex challenge, instead of immediately jumping to solutions, we deliberately look at the situation through three different lenses. Lens one the problem lens what exactly is the problem we're trying to solve? And here's the key we spend time really defining the problem. Not just the obvious surface problem, but the underlying issue. Often teams can rush to solve the wrong problem entirely unless they take the time to do this. Lens two the opportunity lens. If this challenge didn't exist, what would we be missing? What does this situation make possible? What learning, innovation or transformation could emerge from this? And lens three the systems lens. How does this challenge connect to other parts of the organization, other stakeholders, longer term trends? What ripple effect might our solutions create?

Speaker 1:

I worked with a company last year that was facing massive supply chain disruptions. Through the problem lens, they saw delayed deliveries and unhappy customers. Through the opportunity lens, they realized that this was a chance to completely reimagine their relationship with local suppliers and potentially become more sustainable and resilient. Through the systems lens, they understood how this connected to their corporate values around community investment. The solution they developed wasn't just about fixing the immediate problem. It transformed their entire supply chain strategy and actually gave them a competitive advantage. Now, flexible thinking isn't just an individual skill. It's something that teams can develop collectively. One of the areas that I work on with the leaders on my Leading with Resilience program is developing what I call thinking protocols structured ways of approaching problems that naturally build in flexibility and assist resilience, problems that naturally build in flexibility and assist resilience. So these thinking protocols are.

Speaker 1:

Number one the five solution rule. Before evaluating any solution, the team must generate at least five different options. This forces them beyond their first obvious idea and into more creative territory. Developing options is fundamental to coaching, but it's not something that teams do automatically. They need to be pushed and helped to do this generation of multiple options. Number two the perspective rotation. When analyzing a challenge, different team members are asked to look at it from different stakeholder perspectives the customer, the employee, the shareholder, the community, even the competition. Again, this breaks teams out of their usual thinking patterns.

Speaker 1:

Number three this is a really powerful one the failure pre-mortem. Before implementing any major decision, the team imagines it's failed spectacularly and then works backward to understand why. This helps them to identify potential blind spots and building more flexibility from the start. It's challenging but, as well as encouraging flexible thinking, this also helps take the fear out of new projects and high-risk strategies, because people have envisaged failure and feel much more prepared and confident that they can avoid it. Number four the weekly assumption check. High-performing leaders and teams regularly examine their underlying assumptions. What are we taking for granted? What if the opposite were true? What assumptions are we making about our customers, our market, our capabilities? Try one of these out with your team and see if you feel that it improves your flexibility and your resilience.

Speaker 1:

Next, let me dive deeper into one of the most powerful aspects of flexible thinking the ability to reframe challenges as opportunities. Again, this isn't about toxic positivity or being Pollyanna or pretending that problems don't exist. It's about genuine reframing. I remember working with a healthcare organization whose funding had been cut by 30%. The leadership team was stuck in crisis mode, focused entirely on what they'd have to eliminate, who they'd have to let go, which services they'd have to cut. When we introduced reframing techniques, something shifted. They started asking different questions. What if this forces us to become more innovative than we've ever been? What if this pushes us to find entirely new ways of delivering our services? What if this makes us more efficient and focused than our competitors? The breakthrough came when one of the directors said what if our constraint becomes our competitive advantage? They ended up developing a completely new service delivery model that was not only more cost effective, but actually provided better patient outcomes. Two years later, they were being studied by other organizations who wanted to replicate what they'd done. That's the power of cognitive reframing. It literally changes what you see as possible.

Speaker 1:

Now let's talk about one of the biggest challenges maintaining creative thinking when everything feels urgent and stressful. This is where many teams can fall down. The moment pressure increases, they revert to rigid, tried and tested approaches, even when those approaches clearly aren't working. This is where another version of the pause is helpful. High-performing leaders build in deliberate pauses. When facing a crisis, instead of immediately jumping into action, they create a thinking window where the only job is to understand the situation and generate options.

Speaker 1:

As I spoke about previously no decisions, no actions. Initially, just thinking. I often remind leaders that I work with that they are paid to think, not just to do. Another thing to be really mindful of at this stage is the energy management strategy. Remember pillar one in our resilience series. You need to recognize that creative thinking requires mental energy, so being strategic about when you do your most important thinking is key. I encourage my coaches to block out specific thinking time and to do this when they're at their mental peak, not when they're exhausted at the end of long days.

Speaker 1:

Flexible thinking ultimately leads to a much more innovative mindset, a way of approaching leadership where change isn't seen as a threat to be managed, but as raw material for creating something better. Leaders with an innovation mindset ask different questions. Instead of how do we get back to normal, they ask what new normal do we want to create? Instead of how do we minimize this problem, they ask how do we maximize what this situation teaches us? Instead of how do we protect what we have, they ask how do we build what we need? Again, this isn't just about being optimistic. It's about being strategically creative. It's about developing the cognitive muscles that allow you to see multiple possibilities, even in difficult situations.

Speaker 1:

Perhaps the most important application of flexible thinking is leading through uncertainty, because, let's face it, uncertainty isn't going away. The leaders who are thriving in our current environment have learned to be comfortable with ambiguity while still providing clear direction. Let's go right back to episode one of this podcast series, when I talked about how important it is to be crystal clear about your values, purpose and ultimate destination. This gives people confidence. But the second thing is to remain completely flexible about the path you take to get there. So when leaders and teams develop collective, flexible thinking, the transformation can be remarkable. Instead of being reactive and defensive when challenges arise, they become proactive and opportunistic. Instead of seeing change as defensive when challenges arise, they become proactive and opportunistic. Instead of seeing change as something that happens to them, they start seeing it as something they can shape and influence. These teams develop sustainably. They don't just bounce back from setbacks, they actually get stronger because of them. Every challenge becomes data about how to be more effective. Every failure becomes a learning laboratory. Every constraint becomes a creativity catalyst.

Speaker 1:

So let me leave you with a specific action plan you can implement with your team starting this week. First of all, assessment Use those questions I mentioned at the beginning. How well does your team generate multiple solutions I mentioned at the beginning. How well does your team generate multiple solutions? How effectively do you adjust strategies when new information emerges? And how well do you maintain creativity under pressure? Be honest about where you are now with these things.

Speaker 1:

Secondly, the five solution challenge. As I've said, this is something that I do with many of the teams I work with, for every significant decision or problem that comes up. Require your team to generate five different options before choosing one. It will feel slow at first, but it builds the muscle of seeing multiple possibilities. Thirdly, the reframing practice. Take one significant challenge your team is currently facing and spend 30 minutes exploring it through different frames. What if this challenge is actually pointing toward an opportunity? You haven't seen. What would this look like? If you were grateful it happened. And then, finally, systems thinking. Map out how your current challenges connect with the parts of your organization and to external trends. Look for unexpected connections and possibilities that emerge when you zoom out to the bigger picture.

Speaker 1:

Here's what I've learned over my two decades of coaching senior leaders. The organizations that will thrive in the next decade won't be the ones with the best initial strategies. They'll be the ones with the most adaptive thinking capabilities. They'll be the ones who can pivot quickly, reframe effectively and maintain creativity under pressure. Most importantly, when you, as the leader, model flexible thinking, you give your team permission to be creative, to experiment, to see challenges as puzzles to be solved rather than threats to be endured.

Speaker 1:

As I wrap up this deep dive into flexible thinking, I want to come back to why this matters so much right now. I've said it so many times we're living through a period of unprecedented change and uncertainty. The old playbooks aren't working, the traditional approaches are falling short. But here's what gives me tremendous hope I'm seeing leaders and teams all around the world developing these cognitive muscles. They're learning to dance with uncertainty rather than fight it. They're discovering that constraints can spark creativity, that challenges can reveal opportunities and that the most powerful question isn't how do we get back to where we were, but how do we create something even better.

Speaker 1:

You are all part of this leadership evolution. Your flexible thinking capabilities, both individual and collective, are exactly what your organization, your team and your community need right now. So here's my challenge for you this week don't just solve problems the way you always have. Push yourself and your team to see those multiple possibilities. Practice reframing challenges as opportunities, building thinking time even when everything feels urgent, because the future belongs to leaders who can think as flexibly as the world is changing.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for joining me for this exploration of flexible thinking. If this resonated with you, I'd love to hear about your experiences. Share your stories with me on social media and if you found value in this episode, please share it with other leaders who might benefit. Next week, I'm delighted to be welcoming a special guest my friend, colleague and fellow executive and team coach, lynn scott. Lynn is also an international best-selling author and will be sharing insights from her recently published book leader unlocked. This will be a special session, so don't miss it. Also, look out for the information on my free masterclasses running 27th of august and 3rd of september to help you with your september reset and moving forward confidently into quarter four. Anyone who's missed the emails and wants more information, drop me a message on LinkedIn or email me at loisburtononlinecom. Until then, keep pushing those boundaries, keep expanding your thinking and remember the future of leadership knows no bounds. This is Leadership Horizons. I'm Lois Burton. Thank you again so much for being part of this journey.