DECEMBER 22, 2006

The Behaviour of Insight

Insights are tricky little blighters that are very difficult to catch. This is because business is a male dominated environment where male behaviours are encouraged. Male behaviours are solution focused and will tend towards action rather than reflection and will tend to create leaps to expedient solutions. Insight is a female behaviour, and one which business needs to be able to adopt at the appropriate times in order to develop long-term growth strategy.

Furthermore, the processes available to catalyse the moment of insight fail to instil the necessary behaviours in the delegates. In the same way as the rules of Monopoly do not necessarily provoke ‘Play’, the rules of a workshop do not necessarily provoke ‘Insight’. For Monopoly to be ‘Play’ the players need to adopt ‘Play’ behaviours. For business to create ‘Insight’ businesspeople need to adopt ‘Insight’ behaviours.

‘Insight’ behaviours are female.

A Candle In The Dark

An insight helps bring order and focus to a confused and chaotic world. Insights illuminate problems. They are like candles during a power outage. When everything is ticking along just fine an insight doesn’t look very impressive – just like the candle you stuff into the kitchen cupboard for emergencies.

Then one Friday night as you are watching Strictly Come Dancing there is a loud ‘Pop’ and out go the lights. There tends to be a large amount of confusion (‘what’s happened?’ ‘aaaaargh!’ ‘whose hand is that?’ etc), followed by panic as you realise that you’ll miss the result of the public vote unless power is restored, and then chaos as everyone in the room runs about in the dark colliding with children, vases and brick walls.

Just as the noise of wailing children reaches a crescendo, phosphorous fizzes as a match is struck and the gentle light of a candle brings comfort. Within moments the panic subsides, order is restored; Dad goes out into the hallway to find the fuse box, opens it and flips the trip-switch. The lights come back on just in time to hear Brucie announce the winner…

What’s the Problem?

An insight will illuminate the situation in order for action to be taken. An insight is the ability to see and understand a problem. Without insight, confusion reigns.

An insight results in action. Without action it is merely an interesting observation. Insights are a process of discovery and understanding. And a result of insight is change and adaptability.

So fundamentally insight is the ability to first understand the problem.

Most businesspeople have an aversion to problems. They encourage and are encouraged to think positive and identify opportunities, not problems. It is therefore very difficult for these organisations to innovate. So why do businesses struggle with the idea of identifying problems?

It All Comes Back To Sex

Men and women have evolved slightly different social strategies to cope with their different social roles. As hunter-gatherers we have two distinct activities. Hunting, which tends to be a male activity, and gathering, which tends to be female.

Problem Solving

Men are hunters. In order to be successful on the hunt, men have evolved appropriate social strategies. They are risk takers, competitive, and tend to hierarchical based social groups. They are target and solution driven. Communication is, for men, about exchange of information and problem solving.

Men like to solve problems.

The male dominated business environment encourages male behaviours. Sales and the bottom line will often drive a business strategy. However, business needs to be able to get in touch with its feminine side in order to create long-term sustainable business growth.

Identifying Problems

‘Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus’ – or so they say. You might like to think of it as ‘men like hunting, and women go gathering’. Female social strategies have evolved to support their day-to-day activities.

Women, as gatherers, seek safety and tend to group together. An individual is more vulnerable to attack from a predator than a group. Gathering activity seeks to avoid danger. Unlike the risk / reward return of hunting, the gatherer will find that one apple is as good as another. And they grow all over the place – so there is no need for risk-taking behaviours that might result in injury or death to the individual.

Female groups will analyse problems. This is a part of their safety mechanism. The group will discuss the pros and cons of any course of action in order to understand the level of risk involved.

Women like to understand the situation and the implications of any action.

This means that female behaviours create depth of understanding and a solid analysis of the situation. It is only from this basis that a business can create a successful and sustainable business strategy. However, in the cut and thrust of daily activity the time and patience required to adopt female behaviours and to get to grips with the issues that face a business are not encouraged or, in many business’, they are not even accepted. Male and female behaviours cannot be adopted simultaneously. Business therefore needs to create environments in which female behaviours are acknowledged and actively encouraged.

If a business commits to creating the time and space it will generate a fundamental driving insight. This will create focus and organisational alignment around a single strategy. In order to unearth that fundamental insight, the business needs to dig deep.

Digging Deeper

The more you dig, the deeper you get. And the deeper you get, the more fundamental the insight, the greater the change that is inspired. And the deeper you dig, the simpler, and more personal the insight. A superficial level of insight produces blame and limited remedial action. The deeper the insight that we develop, then the greater the personal responsibility and the greater the possibility for creating campaigns for social and behavioural change.

The deeper the insight into the problem of the power-cut during Strictly Come Dancing, the more responsibility the individual takes, and the greater the move from personal change to social campaign:

INSIGHT:

POSSIBLE SOLUTION:

The trip switch has flipped.

Locate and reset. Blame electricity board for power surge.

No change in behaviour

We are using too much power.

Turn off unused lights and machines on standby to reduce personal electricity consumption in household.

Change in personal behaviour

The local grid is over worked.

Talk to friends and neighbours to all reduce consumption.

Campaign for social change

The more fundamental the insight is, then the greater the range of possible solutions. Thus, simple business insights can drive initiatives for many years. Deep insight could drive a business indefinitely.

Male vs. Female

In summary, male behaviour is not better than female behaviour. Nor is female behaviour better than male behaviour. Each has its place.

Female behaviour results in discussion about the problem and generates insight. And male behaviour will tend towards trying to solve the problem, creating action. The deeper the insight, the greater the consequences, and the wider the impact.

Driving Business

Business is driven by male behaviours – developing strategies, creating solutions, and making deals. These are critical to business success. In order to ensure that the energies put into these activities are having the greatest possible effect, and to ensure that the organisation is working to the same end, and to inspire the greatest amount of motivation from the organisation, there needs to be a fundamental driving insight.

Insights are the product of female behaviour and result in male action. They are, if you will, the glue that binds men and women together. The business environment is dominated by male problem solving behaviour. However, it is the female insight behaviour that gives a business purpose and direction.

As they say: Behind every great man is a great woman. And behind every great business is a great insight. Male and female. Ying and yang.