de bono blog

Milking the Thinking

Last week we talked about the Six Thinking Hats, this week we thought we would present a real story about how individuals and teams at Corrections Victoria are effectively using the Six Thinking Hats.

Catering staff in Victorian prisons have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars since they formed a Community of Practice called the Prison Caterers Network. By meeting regularly and using the Six Thinking Hats to organise their thinking, they have found ways to save money and apply more creativity in their jobs.

“They identified that each of the publicly managed prisons were paying a dairy industry adjustment levy,” explains Frank Connolly, Manager of Knowledge Management at Corrections Victoria, “a levy of 11 cents for every litre of milk they were purchasing.”

By working together, building insight, generating ideas and challenging why they should pay it, the group found that the prisons were entitled to an exemption. “They were rebated $150,000 and they are going to save us from paying approximately $300,000 over the next 5 or 6 years,” says Frank.

“That one initiative brought about by their collaboration and thinking will save Corrections Victoria as much as $500,000 over a six year period.”

Some thoughts about the Six Thinking Hats

Everything begins with a thought and some type of thinking, therefore if the quality of our thinking improves then the quality of those actions that follow should correspondingly improve.

Most people know about the Six Thinking Hats. It was developed by Edward de Bono and is widely used around the world, in board rooms, classrooms, prisons, meetings, jury deliberation and many more places. Some organizations and people invest in skill building in order to learn the skill correctly, others read the book and apply it well. There are times where the Six Hats is misunderstood, not used very well and blamed for not working well at all.  So to save the hats from been labeled as gimmicky, a silly concept, a tool that labels people, lets explore the concept more fully.

Kendra and Susan

We Have Ways of Making You Think

Recently, Thea O'Connor a health promotion consultant, interviewed amongst other people, Susan Mackie, CEO de Bono Institute to write her article:  "We Have Ways of Making You Think" which was published in CPA Australia's September 2005, "In The Black" Magazine.

Most managers spend less than 10 minutes a day in creative thinking time, according to Natalie McDonagh, an artist and designer who facilitates innovative thinking programs in workplaces. 'The perceived value of creative thinking is high, but many people are feeling so overloaded they believe they don’t have time,' McDonagh says.

When your diary is crammed and deadlines loom, how do you even begin to contemplate making time for focused thinking and reflection? The first step is to cultivate a mindset that convinces you the investment will be worth it.

Susan Mackie, CEO of the de Bono Institute, builds the case for taking time to think more creatively by stating we can’t afford not to. 'I ask people to reflect on the times they’ve made mistakes or bad decisions, and what their thinking was like at the time,' Mackie says.  'They invariably recognise that their minds were busy, frazzled or unfocused and their decisions were rushed. They didn’t make time to focus and think well.'

Creative thinking can also solve people’s time problem and reduce stress. When groups are given structure, focus and lateral thinking tools, they will come up with ideas and solutions much more quickly than when relying on the more common thinking styles of judgement and analysis, according to Mackie...
To read the full article visit CPA Australia.

Another Blogging Site - but we think it is different!

So everyone is into blogging! Well maybe not everyone, but many people who have something to say are! And that is many! We have too. That is, we have lots to say and that’s why we have introduced the de Bono blogging site. Oh! You don’t know what blogging is. See below to find out and then come back to the rest of our story.

You see we have lots to say about thinking, creativity and other such interesting subjects, but then you may have too! You may not agree with some of the concepts we propagate. On the other hand you may have experienced lots of successes with some of Edward de Bono’s thinking and creativity tools.

Let me first tell you something more about us, the de Bono Institute in Melbourne Australia. You may ask why is such an institute in Australia? It is way down under, isn’t it? Why is it not in New York or London?

Dr Edward de Bono

Edward de Bono was born in Malta in 1933. He attended St Edward's College, Malta, during World War II and then the University of Malta where he qualified in medicine. He proceeded, as a Rhodes Scholar, to Christ Church, Oxford, where he gained an honours degree in psychology and physiology and then a D.Phil in medicine. He also holds a Ph.D from Cambridge and an MD from the University of Malta. He has held appointments at the universities of Oxford, London, Cambridge and Harvard.

de Bono Institute Melbourne

In our last post, Susan told you how the de Bono Institute came about.  Now I would like to tell you what we do and how we do it.

We aim to help people to see the world differently through thinking. Thousands of companies, organisations and individuals, from multi-nationals to primary schools world-wide have benefited from thinking about thinking.

I am serious about it when I say thinking about thinking!

Advances in technology are transforming the way we learn, understand and do business. Our ability to think has become our most reliable, flexible and creative tool.

The de Bono Institute is dedicated to maximising thinking potential. We aim to inspire brave and creative ideas, helping people to think their way to a better future, through creativity, design and innovation.

You still think that I am not serious? Listen to what people interviewed by Radio Australia have to say.

Depending on the software on your computer click on:
Download innovation_audio_series.mp3 or Download innovation_audio_series.rm

To learn more about what we do and offer please visit our website.

Kendra Overall