Dr Edward de Bono invented lateral contemplating. I realize this since the Oxford English Dictionary says so and because he advised me. Fairly a handful of years back now I had the beneficial lot of money to become skilled by him as I became an accredited trainer in his Six Contemplating Hats approach. I identified him to become a convivial man with an aura of genius. The training sessions were delivered in his very own, special fashion and completely riveting, littered with examples of how his operate has become utilised across the planet. His knowledge of how the human brain works is second to none and his techniques – even the insane sounding ones – just work.

“Six Hats”, as it really is affectionately named by these in the know, is a great method for organising person and, additional usefully, group pondering processes. I do not strategy to go into any detail on the technique alone on this post, though I could nicely get about to one more that does in the around potential. But there’s one element on the method that I will dwell on here. Six Hats is an instance of an essential idea that the fantastic doctor calls “Parallel Thinking”. In the nutshell, parallel considering for teams is about giving a structured emphasis towards the distinct aspects of an issue beneath discussion.

With out this kind of a approach, most staff meetings pay a lot more than passing respect towards the law from the jungle. He or she who speaks loudest carries the day. Folks go into meetings with their very own fixed agendae (ah, the positive aspects of the classical schooling). Individual A wants to tackle the issue by doing this; individual B features a completely different alternative in thoughts. Ne’er the twain shall meet, arguments ensue and the meeting goes round in circles. Sound familiar?

Parallel pondering is about aligning the considering processes of every person inside the meeting. Instead of person A being positive about his or her idea at exactly the same time as individual B is becoming destructive about this, everyone is asked to tackle the problem from the same path at the same time. Within the simplest terms, each individuals A and B are asked to believe positively about every thought in turn and then believe negatively about every single concept in turn. On this way, we get each and every individual to seek out the great in every concept and also the bad in every thought. The approach isn’t guaranteed to make one of them change their thoughts, but it is guaranteed to obtain extra out of each and every idea and to limit any disagreement until both suggestions are totally explored.

My provider makes use of the strategy both internally and, exactly where suitable, within crew constructing periods with our clients. An important ingredient in any group creating activity is its potential to offer insights into group processes, hopefully enabling teams to take back improvements that make them a lot more powerful in the workplace. Even our belly laughter generating ones offer you these insights, but we’ve got far more than a number of that really concentrate on this as a crucial ingredient with the session. Observing teams tackling these workouts frequently shows up a lack of structure in the way that they go about coping with challenging situations. Their processes are uncovered to become relatively flawed and, once in a while, even detrimental to crew spirit. At such times we can be asked for ideas on ways to strengthen. And guess what we supply up by means of a suggestion?

Parallel contemplating is a great way of harnessing all that is great within a crew and it helps retains conflict towards the constructive sort. Six Hats isn’t the only solution for taking staff building right into a parallel universe, however it is a tried and tested one with an extraordinary subsequent and a excellent pedigree. It’s a universe worth exploring.