de bono blog

Six Thinking Hats - Making it a Part of Normal Business

Sporting Events come to Life with Lateral Thinking

In 1976 Montreal, Canada, hosted the Olympic Games. Montreal incurred such large debt, that it was only able to pay it off in 1993! Thereafter the International Olympic Committee struggled to find a willing host for the Games and were forced to think differently to keep the games alive. Solutions came when one man, Peter Uberroth, adopted the techniques of lateral thinking to turn the games around - from a loss into a profit. The very next host, Barcelona, are still reaping the financial rewards today. Uberroth’s thinking was written up in an article called "Lateral Logic" in which he widely attributed Edward de Bono’s lateral thinking tools as a means of finding successful solutions to the challenging problems of large scale sporting events.

This month we will look at the versatility of lateral thinking as a skill and how it has been applied to both sport as well as in business. We also look at how why these tools are sometimes not implemented and how businesses can incorporate lateral thinking for everyday success.

Adapted from de Bono Business Solutions - South Africa.

de Bono Accreditated School

Canterbury Girls’ Secondary College (CGSC) has became the first de Bono Accreditated School.

Dr Edward de Bono accompanied by the CEO of the de Bono Institute, Ms Susan Mackie visited the college to make the formal presentation of the accreditation.

The photo is of Dr Edward de Bono and Ms Neridah Peirce, the Principal of CGSC.

For more information please e-mail: mail@debono.org

Run your own race

In his book, Sur/petition Dr Edward de Bono discusses how competition will no longer be enough in the future and why there will be a need to shift to sur/petition. The word competition means ‘seeking together.’ This means accepting that you are running in the same race as your competitors. Your behaviour is quite largely determined by the behaviour of the competitors. Sur/petition means “seeking above” or creating your own race. It means creating new “value monopolies.”

An example of sur/petition I’ve watch grow and develop is the establishment and growth of an Adelaide-based business called WOMANLY. On the surface it may seem that WOMANLY is just another retailer competing against other retailers, albeit working in the niche market of women’s designer clothing sizes sixteen to twenty two.

thinklearn

On the 30 August 2006 the cities of Joondalup and Wanneroo in Western Australia initiated thinklearn to help develop the region as an economic centre for small business innovation. thinklearn’s uniqueness is rethink, developed by the de Bono Institute for South Australian businesses. The City of Joondalup has teamed up with POWA Institute and its alliance with the institute to develop a rethink programme for thinklearn.

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.”

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.