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The Tools of Change

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How to improve collaboration, problem-solving, innovation, and decision making.

People outlive ideas

In the past, ideas have lived longer than people. Once they were established, ideas would be changed only slowly and over several generations. Technology and science have accelerated the rate of change and now the pandemic has collapsed decades of transition into months. People will now outlive many generations of ideas. This means that we need to improve our ability to change ideas. Unfortunately the way we have been taught to think makes changing ideas very hard to do.

Establish, not change

Our whole thinking system has been designed to establish and prove the truth of ideas. We have neglected the development of tools for changing ideas. Some dominant ideas have recently been challenged by necessity, for example the idea of office work was dominant over home working. Another dominant idea was that everyone in a team has to be present at the same time. Dominant ideas get locked in and it should not need a pandemic to change them. We believe that the ideas we hold at the moment must be right, otherwise we should not hold them. The whole basis of our approach to thinking is that you progress from the right ideas you hold to a refinement of these as you get closer and closer to a perfect perception of reality. The whole YES/NO system is designed to preserve and defend ideas and to reject any attempt to change them.

Change through rejection

With the YES/NO system change can come about only if the current idea is rejected. An idea must definitely be shown to be wrong before there can be any question of changing it or even considering the need to change it. What if the idea is not wrong but becoming less relevant and less valuable? Our approach is binary – yes or no, right or wrong.

Confrontation and clash

Since change can be achieved only by rejecting the current idea, any new idea must take the form of an attack on the dominant idea. The defenders of the existing idea hasten to resist and to reject the threatening new idea because it does not fit into the dominant way of looking at things. So the dominant idea becomes strengthened in defence and the new idea becomes more forceful in attack. In the end there is a head-on clash between the new idea and the dominant idea. This process was shown beautifully when naval designers started to put forward the ‘ridiculous’ idea of ships driven by screws instead of paddle-wheels. In the end the clash between the new idea and the old idea was settled by an actual tug of war. A screw-driven ship towed a much more powerful paddle steamer backwards through the water. Rarely is the clash so neat or the outcome so decisive. Too often ideas meet head on in conflict. For practical purposes one or the other idea triumphs and the remaining idea is subdued – but neither one is changed.

This is the ‘swap’ system that has been our chief method for change. In this swap system two opposing ideas grow ever more rigid and fierce until they meet in a head-on clash.

Scientific method

It is only in science that the clash system of change works tolerably well. In science you reinforce the new idea with so much evidence that it triumphs over the old one. Even so the defence of the dominant idea is fierce, and many new scientific ideas have been accepted only long after they were first suggested. The clash method in science works only because the new evidence can be assessed by objective and repeatable measurement.

Outside science

Outside the empirical world of science the clash method is very wasteful, because evidence is rare and incomplete so new ideas have to be looked at and assessed through the dominant ideas. Looking through these dominant ideas you can see only material which agrees with those ideas or disagrees. The material which disagrees is by definition wrong. Without objective measurement you have no choice except to judge subjectively; and you can judge subjectively only by using the only available framework for judgement – dominant ideas. Thus even an idea which is so right that it will eventually create a new framework must at first be rejected when looked at through the existing framework.

Even more difficult

Often it is impossible to change an idea that can be faulted. This is because ideas are affirmed not simply on logical grounds but also on emotional grounds. This means that the YES which affirms them is not simply the absence of NO but satisfies some emotional need. A person who is determined to believe in flying saucers travels to Norway to examine the wreck of a saucer that is said to have crashed there. If he finds nothing, then clearly the wreckage has been removed by the government in order to pretend it never happened. If he finds the wreckage of an ordinary. plane, then clearly the government has substituted the plane deliberately to mislead the investigators. So lack of actual evidence for the flying saucer is actually evidence of the conspiracy to hush it up and hence evidence for the saucers, since you do not hush up something which is not true. The idea becomes an impregnable myth which resists all evidence to destroy it.

Necessity is here now

Quite apart from its dangers and waste, the clash system of change is very, very slow. It is slow because you have to wait until ideas are obviously wrong and falling apart before you even try to look for new ideas. It is slow because you do not actually set out to look for new ideas but wait for them to happen. It is slow because the old idea sets about defending itself and rejecting the new idea for as long as possible.

The pandemic has changed this – once dominant ideas are no longer working. There is a need for new ideas to be designed, but we have not learned how to do this in a more constructive way than the battle of “I am right and you are wrong”.

We have learned the need to be right

From the earliest age there is the absolute insistence in education on the need to be right all the time. Encouragement and approval, which are emotionally necessary to young children, are used only as rewards for being right. Being wrong means being rejected by the teacher. Later on, when this.emotional support from the teacher is less important, being right is still tied directly to the child’s self-esteem. Status in the class is tied to being right. Being wrong is a matter for shame. In this way being right all the time acquires a huge importance in education, and there is this terror of being wrong. The ego is so tied to being right that later on in life you are reluctant to accept that you are ever wrong, because you are defending not the idea but your self-esteem. Since in the clash system the only way to change an idea is to admit that it is wrong, this terror of being wrong means that people have enormous difficulty in changing ideas. How many politicians or leaders admit they were wrong on some issue and change their ideas?

Tools for change

We have not been taught the tools for constructively changing ideas. Our thinking is based on the YES/NO system which is an anti-change system. Truth and untruth are pitted against each other with the usual certainty on both sides.

There are alternative thinking methods that enable individuals and groups to explore and develop ideas constructively. This is parallel thinking and is made easy to communicate and use through the Six Thinking Hats method. Teams use this to solve complex, contentious issues, effectively and quickly. It is achieved without defeating ideas or people. The approach is not about consensus and compromise but about a genuine exploration of the topic without taking sides. It is a method for creating value and encouraging people to change their own minds.

There are Lateral Thinking methods for changing perceptions and concepts. This is essential if we are to create value and solve intractable problems. No amount of excellent logic will create new ideas, as logic alone is entirely dependent on the starting point or premise that frames the situation. Lateral Thinking is a set of methods for deliberately changing our starting point and the concepts we use. What if there is more than one right answer? Lateral Thinking provides tools to escape a dominant idea without attacking it, by deliberately creating alternative concepts.

Don’t wait for the world to return to “normal”. The individuals and organisations that thrive are those that not only adapt to change but who also play an active role in designing the future.

Find out more about BRG’s de Bono training programmes, which accelerate the innovation process and help develop strategic thinking competence. Or join our upcoming public event: Virtual Collaboration with Six Thinking Hats.

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“This is an adaptation from the original which first appeared in the book ‘PO, Beyond Yes and NO’ by Edward de Bono. Republised under licence from the copyright holder deBono.com.”

Building capacity for our new virtual reality.

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Written by Kirsty Thompson

 

Never before in our recent history has the world of work changed so fundamentally, and so rapidly.  Doubtlessly, as the events and tragedies unfold around the world, we will be called to think differently.  About our humanity, about our planet and about our world of work.

Over the past several years, around the world and across all industries, training programs have seen a gradual shift away from face-to-face and toward digital training methods. However, the recent severe restrictions on travel and movement borne of the CovID-19 crisis have accelerated this shift rendering ‘Virtual’ a critical reality in doing any sort of business. 

In an effort to support clients and associates with a successful transition to virtual training and remote working BRG has committed to running a number of FREE virtual webinars and workshops. These are designed to assist with building the internal business capacity to conduct and receive virtual training and operate in a virtual environment. We invite you to register below and share the details with others you feel may benefit. These sessions are also available in-house.

FROM ZERO TO HERO ON ZOOM…. or your own platform!

Prepare your team to shoot the lights out with our Zero to Hero Video Conferencing session.  In just 45-minutes you will learn the key essentials, tools and success factors that will literally save days of your time.  You will discover how to turn an average (or awful) video meeting into a slick, interactive and memorable session. Learn the tools that will not only allow you and your teams to present on any VC platform with impact and credibility but also be able to inspire and excite.

USING SIX THINKING HATS™ IN VIRTUAL MEETINGS

This proven and powerful approach to thinking has been used around the world to address some of the world’s biggest challenges, from jury service in the USA to rescue teams in the Thailand Tsunami.  Six Hats is a method that will not only improve your meeting management but will show you how to harness the power of parallel thinking to deliver superior business results.

MANAGING VIRTUAL TEAMS – 7 STEPS TO GOING VIRTUAL

Remote working, or working from home, used to be a thing of the future but it’s now suddenly here and reality for most. Many managers, however, have not had the opportunity to develop the skill set required to manage remote teams and are struggling with the transition. Fortunately, there are some quick, relatively easy steps that managers can take to support and motivate remote team members whilst improving engagement, productivity, and motivation.  In this session you will discover seven steps to running a successful virtual team, and what it takes to ensure teams are engaged, present and committed.

Click HERE for more information or to book your spot

For more information or help with booking multiple delegates contact Boiko Lehana Boiko@brg.co.za

 

My day is just meetings, meetings, meetings…

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By Richard Evans

Does this sound like a familiar problem? Too many of us find ourselves spending many hours a day in meeting after meeting, which all too often fail to reach any sort of positive outcome, even after hours of debate.

The implications of long, unproductive meetings can be hugely detrimental, not only for the individuals involved but also for their organisation as a whole. It can create an environment where conflict and negativity reign, and those who shout the loudest, most often, are the only ones who get their opinions heard, and others fear speaking up.

Traditionally, very little new thinking is achieved in group discussion, with a lack of structure and focus, meaning attendees revert back to ideas they have had before. Each individual concentrates on their own agenda, rather than exploring all aspects of a problem to come up with a quick and effective solution.

With time being the scarcest, yet the most precious resource most of us have, shouldn’t we all be trying to make all the meetings we attend much shorter and more productive? Isn’t it much more powerful to harness the full thinking power of a group, whilst eliminating the default stance of some individuals – the defence, and attack, where possible, are how the strongest survive?

The solution is Dr Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats™. It is a very simple, yet a powerful way of improving both group and individual thinking by quickly, but fully, exploring a subject. Only by looking at each aspect of a problem, can we hope to make that step forward to a next action and positive outcome, rather than limiting the opportunity available, by just arguing around it.

This one day workshop teaches delegates how to think together in parallel. Using human energy in a much more efficient and effective way is the aim, making the best use of the most powerful asset we all have – our minds. It looks at what ‘can be’ rather than traditional thinking, often adversarial and negative in stance which lacks any constructive and creative energy, or end result.

When a group thinks all in the same way at the same time and co-operates, using the Six Thinking Hats™, the result is a fast but robust solution, where everybody participates and each of the perspectives has their place. It is about changing our behaviour and attitude to not just thinking but communicating, shifting our thoughts from negative to positive and turning disagreement into real opportunities, or actionable alternatives to examine further.

Thinking in this way is a skill, which, when given a simple but powerful framework, allows anyone to use it to look at different approaches, separate fact from opinion and stimulate creativity which can surprise everyone! Only in this way can we all evaluate ideas productively and make the right decision faster.

Original article posted by Indigo Business Services Limited.

Can your organisation afford to ignore the Six Thinking Hats™? Contact us at info@brg.co.za or visit our website to find out more.

Innovate or Die

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by Nicola Tyler 

“The entrepreneur upsets and disorganizes…his task is ‘creative disruption.” – Peter F. Drucker, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

The age of digital disruption and rapid agile development requires that we think differently.  It’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity.  It’s not an option, it’s a mandate.  So why are organisations still teetering on the brink of innovation, failing to make the leap of faith required to think differently and take action? Fear is a debilitating emotion.    

Innovate or die is a strong statement. Innovation is an option, death is not. Many companies do everything in their power to avoid death. But great companies know that for something new to be born, something has to die. In fact, the best companies know that the right time to destroy value is on the up, never on the down.  Change when you’re winning if you want to get ahead; that’s the role that innovation can play.

Nothing New

This isn’t anything new.  Like many concepts in business, this message has been around for years. Clayton Christensen from Harvard speaks about it in his book The Innovators Dilemma.  Edward de Bono wrote about it in 1968, when he first exposed us to the concept of lateral thinking – suggesting that there was a scientific and mathematical need for creativity. Alvin Toffler, who has made a Harry Potter-esque comeback, wrote about it in Future Shock, way back in 1970. Charles Handy wrote about it in the 1980s in The Age of Unreason.  Jack Matson wrote about it in 1996, in Innovate or Die. How much more evidence do we need? How many more thinkers do we need to ask? We cannot create new value if we are not prepared to destroy some value in the process. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, something has to die to give birth to something new. It’s the same in relationships, it’s the same in business, it’s the same in life.  

The Sigmoid Curve Says It Best

In the book The Age of Unreason, Charles Handy talks about the Sigmoid Curve.  The premise is that organisations have a life-cycle, moving from Inception through Growth to Maturity and then Decline.  The theory suggests that you need to destroy value to create value, and that you have two primary opportunities to do that.  You can change at Point A (during the Growth phase) or at Point B (in the Decline phase).  Both points represent change and pain.  But it hurts more to change at point B, than it does to change at Point A.  Changing at Point B can also be catastrophic – it requires more energy to change in decline, and sometimes the momentum of the change around you is greater than the energy or the will you have in the business to execute on the change.  Changing at Point B can be too late – ask Kodak, I’m sure they will tell you.

Think Differently | Act Differently

Wherever you are in your organization’s life-cycle, take innovation seriously.  Innovation is not only about thinking but about thinking in action. Innovation is the successful exploitation of a new idea. If you haven’t made the investment yet, make it now. If you haven’t taken that leap of faith, take it now. If you are debilitated by fear, go for therapy. Innovation isn’t an option – in fact, it’s the life force of your organisation.

Nicola Tyler, is a highly respected strategic thinker. With over 20 years of experience in Strategy, Consulting, Leadership, Development and Coaching, she is an Associate of the Gordon Institute of Business, a Master Trainer in a full range of de Bono Thinking tools. Working both locally and internationally, she delivers her own “Strategic Conversation” methodology to senior teams committed to innovation and driving sustainable results.

Nicola has shared the stage with world renowned thought leaders such as Tom Peters, Robert Kaplan, Ricardo Semler, Edward de Bono, Dave Ulrich, Martin Seligman, Richard Koch and Martin Lindstrom. 

 

Serious About Simplicity

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Ron Ashkenas, author of Simply Effective, suggests that complexity in business has emerged due to a combination of product mitosis, product proliferation, process evolution and poor managerial habits. These factors combine to land many businesses in a world of complexity and silo thinking and complicated work processes.  Ashkenas also suggests that one of the biggest, and often hidden, causes of complexity is the individual. Yes, that’s right – you!  It’s all your fault.  You did this!  But the great thing is that if you created the problem, then you surely have the talent to solve it.  Cue ‘Simplicity.’

If you’re ready to take the topic of simplicity seriously, and consider adopting it as a core business strategy (not a “we really should” but a deliberate, strategic focus for your business), then read on.

Ashkenas suggests you start with these four areas, which he believes to be primed for delivering value.  

  1. Streamline the organisation, or as Norman Kobert once said ‘Cut the fat, not the muscle”.  Companies are often resource heavy, process burdened, and policy proliferate.  Cut out what you don’t need, and make a deliberate effort to combine products, reduce lines, stick to the core.  
  2. Prune products, services and features to focus on those that are profitable and have the biggest growth potential.  Get rid of dead weight “stuff” that isn’t bringing in value.  Can you really turn 2% of revenue business into your biggest opportunity, or can you cull those things that don’t deliver, and get focused back on your core?
  3. Process – disciplined process.  Build pragmatic processes into your business that drive the right behaviours for your leadership and your teams.  Make what you capture relevant, useful and support fact-based, informed decision making.  Take a rigorous look at your processes and ask the question: is this necessary?  Do we really need this or could we do without it?
  4. Improve managerial habits.  Life would certainly be simpler (but so much sadder) were it not for other people. For the value of simplicity to realize benefits, it’s important to drive it home in behaviour. Ritualistic repetition, and supporting the value through consistent change and communication, are the factors most likely to reap rewards.  In short, consider making simplicity a cult if you want to make it part of your culture.  The gift is that everyone wins as the benefits reap rewards for both the business and the people who live in it.

Simplicity as a Strategy

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New strategic business values emerge over time.  In the 1980s, it was all about quality. In the 1990s, it was about cost cutting. By 2000, innovation had peeked its way through the clouds. What was once new has become the norm: quality and innovation are now widely accepted as common business practice. In fact, if either is not on your business radar, then you’re a laggard, and possibly in trouble. As we witness ever-increasing levels of business complexity, where a plethora of data and information prevails, a new set of values is emerging: the theme of “simplicity” is now pushing its way onto the corporate radar.  How do we make things simpler, for ourselves, for our customers, for our people? If you’re not easy to do business with, the customer will rapidly click somewhere else.

Simplicity is emerging as the next wave of strategic thinking.  Businesses and governments are preparing to make our lives easier.  Paperless offices used to be a pipe dream, but not so today. How can we harness technology to support simplicity? How can we use technology to reduce information overload rather than increase it?  Simplicity, just like quality, will eventually find a home, it will become embedded in other business processes. We need to give it full attention. The next wave is coming, and simplicity will be key to staying on your surfboard!

 

The Paperless Panacea

Before the dawn of the internet, companies were paper prolific and the idea of the paperless office was considered a radical innovation.  Heralded by Lars Kolind of Denmark’s Oticon as a prime business strategy, the concept that businesses could operate without paper seemed like a far-off dream.  Kolind, whose turnaround strategy was coined “Mission Impossible”, created a stand-up-only office on his  building’s top floor.  Employees would review their mail, magazines, etc and then hand it in to be scanned before venturing down to their desk.  Through the center of the building was a  transparent tube through which all things paper were shredded.  Radical.  At the time, it truly was.  

Today a “paperless” world is not only a reality, but an accessible option for all. Or is it? Two recent events have told me otherwise.  Renewing my mobile phone contract was a 1.5 hour process involving no fewer than 27 pieces of paper, (multiplied by two!)  including a copy of my driver licence.  It seems strange that despite having been a customer for over 20 years, they’re still not sure who I am.  Later, an attempt to open a new facility at what I considered to be a world-class bank, involved no fewer than 12 pieces of paper. Two transactions, 66 slices of tree!  Needless to say, these transactions are the company’s way of managing risk and for dealing with the new F word in finance – FICA!  Today, fortunately, there is an opportunity to leverage our advances in technology to support simplicity as a strategy.  Forewarned is forearmed.  

 

Information Overload

There is more content on YouTube today than the history of television ever produced. There are more books written and published in a year than you could read in several lifetimes.  There is more data, and more information, but perhaps less knowledge.  Are we really informed or are we over-informed?  For the most part, my clients cite “information overload” and “too many emails” as being big issues today.  Sometimes it creates acrimony in the corporate dialogue:“Why didn’t your reply to my mail?  I sent you that?  Find out for yourself.  Google it!” are all common conversations.  

What we lack are tools for how to deal with such vast amounts of information.  We need filters so that we can pay attention to what is relevant, rather than be distracted by the shiny and the new.  If there were an addict group for “Shiny Penny Syndrome”, I would have long since been a member.  On the one hand it’s marvelous: we have access to so much new, exciting information; learning is available to us all, quite literally at the swipe of a finger.  But is life really simpler, or is the weight of information a burden on our shoulders?  Does simplicity have a role to play in helping us convert data to information, and information to knowledge?

 

Simplicity as a Strategy

In short, simplicity is emerging as the next wave of strategic thinking.  Businesses and governments are preparing to make our lives easier.  Food manufacturers are reducing their brand SKUs to reduce choice, technology companies are introducing “ease of use” departments to ensure that users don’t have to figure out their complex models, and business engineers are using simplicity as a new way of re-engineering business processes.

Other simpler businesses – your competition – may be just a click away for your customer.  While it is good to ponder on the past, think forward to the future.  The next wave is coming, and simplicity will be key to staying on your surfboard.  Enjoy the ride.

Could you be doing something more smartly, more efficiently and more profitably. We can teach you how to streamline business processes and the world of work. Click HERE for more information or contact us at info@brg.co.za to book a needs assessment.