It’s at least 6 years since I’ve read the book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (by Yuval Noah Harari). But I remember being profoundly struck by the moment in which humans (perhaps circa 150- 70K plus years ago) started to work together in teams, form communities, and utilise skills across a group for better outcomes.
This was mainly to protect each other from getting killed by threats in the wild, or other communities taking territory, but it was the start of the advancement of life beyond fight or flight. And because of this significant turning point humans developed language and the means of more significant expressions of communication beyond grunts and signing to make themselves known. It is even said that humans learned to sing before they talked, and this innate expressive component of our souls is evident.
I may not have all the above facts correct, because it was some time since I read it. But it sparked my mind from a conversation I had this week with a potential client about diversity of thinking. More minds are better than one at solving problems. And it took me back to this incredible text, where I was left dumbfounded that really through this intelligent rising of community thinking and working, we realised our higher power and started to fulfill our real potential all those thousands of years ago. And through that, we advanced our language skills with it.
It also reminded me of when I worked for Float and we used the Six Thinking Hats methodology (by Edward de Bono) for product development or problem-solving. This resonated with me as a methodology to ensure we had considered all different approaches toward a problem. Not just resting on our laurels of the ones we came to agree upon.
Thanks to mindtools - I still use this as a platform for researching - I found this clear explanation:
https://lnkd.in/ejBkBWji
And quite a neat video explaining how to use it in a facilitation session:
https://lnkd.in/eiav9Kxf
I’ve also enjoyed conversations this week with fellow agency consultants or freelancers, and it reminded me that supporting one another, and sharing in our experiences will help us not only feel less alone doing this profession, but we’ll each learn something and advance from our conversations with one another!
#workingtogether #teamwork #consultancyservices #growthstrategy