In around 500BC, the renowned Greek Philosopher and Mathematician, Pythagoras, was attributed with saying “do not say a little in many words but a great deal in few”. A message that today’s business professionals can relate to when listening to long-winded, directionless communication in the workplace.
In the 17th century, French Philosopher Rene Descartes shared his wisdom on effective communication in a book called ‘Discourse on Method’. Descartes identified three characteristics of excellent communication:
1.Analysis – get to the core of the subject you are about to talk about. This will help you stay clear and concise.
2.Separation – clearly separating one idea from another, your listener can easily digest one point before moving onto another.
3.Movement - arrange your ideas in a logical sequence, so each idea builds on the other – this adds energy, impact and persuasion to what you are saying.
Fast forward to 2012 and on the Think on Your Feet® workshop you learn simple and easy-to remember methods for putting the theory into practice. The most powerful communicators really do find a way to get across their message without saying too much.
Indigo is thrilled to partner with the thirteenth annual Learning Technologies Conference on 25 January Creativity expert and author, Dr Edward de Bono, will open with a keynote speech on one of the fundamental issues facing business: how we think!
The Learning Technologies Conference attracts the L&D sector’s foremost speakers: fifty different speakers will present at the forthcoming event in January. The conference will opened by Dr Edward de Bono who will deliver a keynote speech, ‘Meeting the L&D challenge with smart, creative and innovative thinking,’ challenging L&D professionals to assess how they think and how to tap their creativity to improve business performance.
Conference Chair Donald Taylor, looking ahead to the opening keynote by de Bono, said: “With economies in turmoil and companies bewildered, the world is realising that it can no longer look to the past to predict the future. There has never been a stronger need for a different approach to business and this opening keynote by Dr Edward de Bono get’s to the core human skill that makes all the difference: Thinking!”
Indigo’s Managing Director Robert Fisher, commented on the partnership and this unique conference: “The Learning & Skills Conference provides a wonderful opportunity for learning professionals from all aspects of the industry to review and assess new changes and think about the way forward for Learning and Development. We are particularly thrilled to work in partnership with the conference this year, making Dr de Bono available for this keynote, and exhibiting too.”
Dr Edward de Bono is one of the very few people in history who can be said to have had a major impact on the way we think. In many ways he could be said to be the best known thinker internationally. For many thousands, indeed millions, of people world-wide, Edward de Bono’s name has become a symbol of creativity and new thinking. He has written numerous books with translations into 34 languages and has been invited to lecture in 52 countries around the world. Edward de Bono’s special contribution has been to take the mystical subject of creativity and, for the first time in history, to put the subject on a solid basis.
In these cost conscious times, and with travel budgets being cut, we appreciate that it is often difficult to get approval to attend a workshop without a full understanding of how it will meet your training requirements, and link to your companies strategic plan. For this reason we have created a number of free webinars to help you gain a clear understanding of our events, before you decide which one to attend.
Similarly, if you have attended a public workshop, and are looking to have us deliver a workshop for your team on an in-house basis, why not use these webinars to help others gain an understanding of your preferred course?
THE INDIGO WEBINAR SCHEDULE:
THE DE BONO THINKING SKILLS - 2nd November, 3-4pm GMT: The Master Practitioner Webinar - FREE - REGISTER HERE
THINK ON YOUR FEET® - 17th November, 3-4pm GMT: Mastering the art of Clarity, Brevity & Impact - FREE - REGISTER HERE
PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT - 25th November, 11am - Noon GMT: Steer your organisation clear of initiative overload - FREE - REGISTER HERE
If you would like any of these webinars delivered exclusively for your team or organisation, simply call us on +44 (0)20 7924 8760.
In an interview released yesterday on the Times of Malta, Edward de Bono demonstrates his passion for better thinking in Governments.
An excerpt of the interview reads:
“The motivation of politicians is to survive,” he points out as he recounts an anecdote later about when he told British Prime Minister David Cameron in a letter to appoint a Minister of Thinking. “They’re always cautious about taking an initiative which could expose them to criticism.”
If you want to learn more about the de Bono Thinking methods, and why so many companies, business leaders, creatives, 3rd sector organisations, schools and government organisations use these techniques for improving innovation and the ways teams work; simply drop us a line on:
We all run projects at some time. It is highly likely that, during your career, you will be given a project to manage. Whether it’s a short, low risk project, or a more strategic, longer and often more dangerous project.
Why dangerous? Wellprojects are dangerous. They are high risk/high return ventures that can revolutionise the way organisations operate in an increasingly dynamic and changing world. Project success often leads to praise and promotion but project failure can be expensive and embarrassing.
“Project Management can be a fast track to the top or a gateway to career oblivion.”
To give you an overview of our Project Management Survival Guide™ workshop, we are running a free webinar. You can watch the webinar from the comfort of your desk onthe19thOctober 2011between2pmand3pm GMT.
The webinar will focus on three areas:
1. Some common pitfalls with projects
2. Outline some ‘blockers’ to running successful teams
3. Give you an overview of the Project Management Survival Guide™ workshop
What to do now: Booking your free place at this webinar is simple. Follow these three simple steps:
After a crazy night of destruction and devastation here in Clapham, I am pleased to announce that our team, our office and more importantly our surrounding community is OK. Mercifully no-one appears to be hurt in last nights riots, and the local community feeling around our headquarters is one of defiance against the troubles and that we ‘keep calm and carry on’.
Thanks you to all clients, suppliers and friends who have sent the many texts, emails and calls this morning to check we are OK. The whole team here has been touched by your messages - thank you.
Finally I would like to personally thank the emergency services - the Police, Ambulances and Fire service who worked hard last night, and who are continuing to do so this morning here in Clapham.
If we take a hundred year perspective from now, what is going to be seen to be important?
A lot of things which seem very central and important at the moment will be seen to be trivial and peripheral.
In the days of the railroad barons (and later oil barons) in the U.S.A. there were powerful figures on the landscape. Today they are quaint notes in history. The dominant Bill Gates’ of today will also be quaint notes in history in a hundred years time.
What will really matter are the fundamental shifts in human beliefs, human thinking, human behaviour and human organisation. There is not much happening in these areas. And what is happening is totally swamped by the very transient matters that abound in entertainment, politics and elsewhere.
So can you email me, EdwarddeBono@indigobusiness.co.uk, with what you think would be in a speculative book looking back from a hundred years ahead?
Every year I say I am not going to get hooked on the BBC’s hit show‘The Apprentice’, and then it draws me in and I am there to the bitter end! But at least, this year’s record viewing figures for the show prove that I was not the only one!
What struck me with this year’s change of circumstances – with the candidates vying to become business partners with Lord Sugar - was that, as well as the ‘nice guy’ coming first; this was a triumph for innovation too.
The winner, Tom Pellereauis not the average back-stabbing, hard-nosed business apprentice that Sugar usually looks for.In fact he is, by his own admission, not great at selling and could be more organised.But there is one thing that Tom is very capable of doing – having ideas.
In fact it was when Tom outlined he had invented a new type of Nail File, and had managed to sell this into Walmart and Boots in the UK and US, that Lord Sugar realised this innovator was a worthy asset to his business empire.
We all recognise that it is the modern organisation’s ability to continually innovate, change and adapt to its environment that makes it successful.Tom says he “sees designs for new products in his head”, which is great for him, but leaves the rest of us with a skills gap; how can we all get ‘on-demand innovation’ tools for great ideas?
Dr Edward de Bono’s Lateral Thinking™ tools are a great start for both individuals and teams.So if you would like a copy of ourImplementing Innovationwebinar held recently, drop me an email to RobertF@indigobusiness.co.uk , and I would be happy to share our innovation road map with you.
Occasionally you will be asked to lead enormous projects of epic proportions.
The problem is the bigger the project; the more complex they become, in every possible way.From the number of intended deliverables to the budget, to the breadth and importance of stakeholders; these are what I call ‘Elephant Sized Projects.’
So, what do you do when you find yourself in this position?Options include:
a)Call a meeting and spend vast amounts of time debating the importance of the elephant to the business.
b)Do nothing.Hopefully people will forget the elephant is in the room!
c)Delegate the care of the elephant to someone else.Their problem now, phew.
d)Eat the elephant in small bites.
As appealing as Options A to C are, they are not a tried and tested formula for long-term career progression.
On Indigo’s Project Management Survival Guide, we teach you to break the most daunting of ‘elephants’ into manageable chunks using a Work Breakdown Structure.These smaller chunks reduce your stress levels and increase your ability to recognise and reward each step on the way to project success.
According to the a recent Standish Group Project Management report entitled “10 Laws of Chaos”, there is only one way to ‘eat an elephant’ – one bite at a time.
James.
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For more information about this or any other of our workshops, simply call me on 020 7924 8760, or email JamesAW@indigobusiness.co.uk
Organisations are desperately searching for proven, practical tools to ramp-up the creative thinking capacity of their workforce. Yet we frequently hear clients saying “We know we need to be more creative, but we don’t know how”.
What’s the Problem? Increased amounts of uncertainly brought on by rapid change, global competition, virtual teams, instability in the world financial markets – to name a few. Information and talent are readily available but the excellent critical thinking skills that have worked so well in the past are falling short in this new ‘normal’ business world of today.
So how can you manage this?
Edward de Bono is a globally recognised business thinker and, as his UK distributors, we are thrilled to offer our official Trainer Accreditation workshops - train your trainers, or yourself, to teach these practical and proven techniques.
Free Webinar: Here’s your Opportunity to be part of the Solution
We are delivering a free webinar on June 1st 2011 at 2pm – 3pm GMT. During this session, you will learn more about the de Bono Thinking methods, learn how they are implemented strategically throughout organisations, and we will explain the process for becoming an official de Bono Thinking Trainer.
1. The Six Thinking Hats® Trainer Accreditation: In this foundation course you learn how to teach your participants to ‘de-clutter’ their thinking and gather the best thinking a team has to offer on a topic. Read more
2. Lateral Thinking™ & Serious Creativity Trainer Accreditation: In this advanced course you learn how to teach your participants to break-out of their routine thinking patterns and develop bold, novel and never thought of before ideas to move the business forward. Read more.
These are high quality, in demand skills needed to address TODAY’s most pressing issues. Register today on the free webinar, or on a workshop above, to begin your application process for acceptance onto an accreditation event.
Do feel free to call me if you have any further questions. My direct line is 020 8123 3585, and I would be delighted to talk through the many training options with you.
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In around 500BC, the renowned Greek Philosopher and Mathematician, Pythagoras, was attributed with saying “do not say a little in many words but a great deal in few”. A message that today’s business professionals can relate to when listening to long-winded, directionless communication in the workplace.
