Monday, October 30, 2006

Kemin Industries use of Six Thinking Hats

An article appeared in the Sunday paper of the Des Moines Register that discussed Kemin Industries' recent Six Thinking Hats training. Lifetime Master de Bono Trainer, Barbara Stennes, trained over 20 research and development employees at Kemin earlier this year.

Kemin is a global corporation that specializes in human health, food products, and animal and pet food ingredients. Kemin recently used Six Thinking Hats for two major research and development projects: one long-term project that took them in a completely different direction than they had planned, and one that involved a nutritional supplement being marketed in Europe. Six Thinking Hats allowed Kemin to lower production costs on the later project.

To read the full article, visit: http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061029/BUSINESS04/610290302/1033



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Thursday, October 12, 2006

Edward de Bono to Host Certification on Simplicity

A Certification on Simplicity, Dr. Edward de Bono's newest course, is currently being held in London. The inaugural Certification event was in 2005. For anyone who could not attend, this opportunity offers a second chance to be certified by Dr. de Bono himself. The first two days of the event are open to those who wish to attend the end user course, but do not wish to certify.

Barbara Stennes, Lifetime Certified Master Trainer of the de Bono Thinking Methods, is currently in attendance. She also attended the Simplicity Certification in 2005.

Though it is too late to register for this event, please call us at 800.278.1292 to find out about future Simplicity courses.




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Thursday, October 05, 2006

Webinar: Imagine What Six Thinking Hats Training Can Do For Your Organization

Today was our second day of hosting a Webinar focused on Six Thinking Hats and how you can bring Six Hats to your organization. We had three speakers on the call: Barbara Stennes, Certified Lifetime Master Trainer of Edward de Bono's Thinking Methods; Amy Hoey, Business Development Manager of de Bono Consulting; and Jim Atkinson, Six Sigma Master Black Belt with Pioneer Hi-Bred Int'l, which is a DuPont Company.

Agenda:
  • Origin of Six Thinking Hats
  • Client Applications
  • Jim Atkinson, Pioneer Hi-Bred, International
  • Explanation of the Six Modes of Thinking
  • Demonstration of Parallel Thinking
  • Opportunities for In-depth Learning

15 people attended each Webinar, many of them from Fortune 500 companies. Barbara used the state of US airline travel as an example as she went through a demonstration of of Six Thinking Hats. Her sequence was Blue Hat, Yellow Hat, Black Hat, White Hat, Green Hat, Red Hat, Blue Hat.

Jim Atkinson was asked to speak at this event because he has facilitated many meetings in a wide range of venues using Six Hats. Jim brought a broad background of hands-on experience to our Webinars.

Visit the de Bono Events page on our website to view our upcoming Edward de Bono Training events.

Comments and Questions from participants:

"Focus is positive, it was quick, flowed very well. Even though I never tried this process before.. easy to learn."

"Would you please speak to the application of Six Thinking Hats in leadership development?"

"Thank you for this overview. I look forward to becoming certified. I plan on attending a Six Thinking Hats Certification program in the spring."



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Monday, October 02, 2006

Criticism: The Innovation Killer


From Seth Godin's new book "Small Is The New Big":

"Three curses of criticism that make companies put the brakes on innovation (and worse, put their best employees-the innovators-on the defensive):

  • Successful companies fear external criticism
  • Successful innovators are more subject to harsh criticism
  • Less innovative employees have carte blanche to criticize the innovators unfairly"

With these in mind, how can you help your company be more innovative and overcome the fear of criticism?

1) Teach your employees to be innovative. Give employees a process to better generate new ideas and employees will become less fearful of innovation. Once people understand the process of innovation, and realize with success comes the possibility of failure, the more willing they are to create new ideas and help harness the ideas of others.

2) Create an environment that is accepting of innovation. Help your employees understand they don't need a box of crayons to be creative. Start asking for creative ideas in your business meetings. In the business world, creativity provides a means of solving problems and generating alternatives. With global competition, the Internet, and demand for quick results, today innovation is even more necessary for an organization's survival and prosperity into the future.

Lateral Thinking: Dr. Edward de Bono’s Lateral Thinking methods provide a deliberate, systematic process resulting in innovative thinking. Lateral Thinking will teach you how to think creatively, turn problems into opportunities, find alternative solutions, & dramatically increase your number of new and practical ideas using unconventional thinking techniques normally untapped by our usual ways of thinking.

Creative thinking is not a talent; it’s a skill that can be learned. It empowers people by adding strength to their natural abilities, which improves creativity and innovation, which leads to increased productivity and profit. Today, better quality and better service are essential, but they are not enough. Creativity and innovation are the only engines that will drive lasting, global success.

Learn how you can bring Lateral Thinking to your organization.

Questions? Call us at 800.278.1292.



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