Thinkers v/s Doers

1. Thinkers v/s Doers An insight required for all of us A loud thinking by Dr. Bala

2. Thinkers versus Doers • There is, I think, an interesting balancing act in many firms regarding innovation. There are at least two "camps" of people in any business, and keeping these folks working together and in the appropriate proportion is challenge and an opportunity.

3. I'm identifying the two camps as "Thinkers" and "Doers". Thinkers are the people who are open to new ideas, new concepts and are constantly trying to improve or change the way things are done. They are the creative types, always experimenting. Their strengths are their willingness to experiment and change and try new things, new processes, invent new products or services. The weakness of many "Thinkers" is that they don't understand the processes and issues required to bring these new concepts to market.

4. Contrast the "Thinkers" with the "Doers". Frankly, the Doers are the people who get things done. They recognize an efficient, optimized process and don't appreciate tinkering with the process or with people who introduce a lot of change. Doers don't really like change all that much, since change is disruptive to the existing norms and processes.

5. Clearly, a firm needs both "Thinkers" and "Doers" and people who can be the bridge between the two camps. What's interesting is that a firm composed completely of Thinkers is basically a research lab or a think tank, while a firm comprised completely of "Doers" would eventually run itself, very efficiently, right out of business because it never changed or created new products or services. We need both of these skill sets to be effective in any business.

6. The trick to understand:1) the appropriate proportion of each skill set in every product group or team2) the different approaches to compensating and motivating these very different people within the same teams3) how to bridge between them and make both kinds of people successful in an organization

7. There are five or six creative directors in a company, who are free to generate ideas and early concepts. These folks are seen as gods in the firm. What the creative directors don't recognize is that behind each creative director there are eight to ten people responsible for taking those ideas and implementing them effectively for a client. Many of the people responsible for the execution of the work feel somewhat slighted that their work is not held in high esteem - and it would not get done if some of these "Doers" weren't there.

8. Since most businesses are built on the backs of "Doers", the people who reinforce efficiency, process, cost cutting and the like, the "Thinkers" are often looked at with some skepticism in many businesses, or shuttled off to skunk works or R&D labs. Here's something that will shake up your organization and improve the productivity: insert a "thinker" into each product group or business process, with the appropriate compensation and senior management backing. The thinker will create some (hopefully) creative tension within the process or product, but if incorporated into the team, will create real results.

9. What's the proportion of "Thinkers" and "Doers" in your organization? Do most of the "Thinkers" reside only in organizations like "design" or "R&D"?