Most organisations want more creative thinking, but far fewer train their people to do it. Which leads to faimilar results: the same few people supply the ideas, the first workable suggestion wins, and decisions can end up being shaped by … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Decision-Making
Six Thinking Hats® and Lateral Thinking: Why they work best together
Six Thinking Hats® and Lateral Thinking are two of Dr Edward de Bono’s best-known tools, and people often treat them as alternatives. Combined, they cover both halves of a good decision: generating ideas worth considering and deciding which ones to … Continue reading
Stop arguing. Start Parallel Thinking®.
A good argument feels like progress. Voices get raised, points get scored, someone “wins”. It looks like a team that cares. But, Parallel Thinking®, where everyone looks in the same direction at once, usually leads teams to better decisions. Yet … Continue reading
What is Six Thinking Hats®? A plain-English guide
Six Thinking Hats® isn’t about putting people into boxes. It’s about stopping everyone from thinking in different directions at once. Some assume it’s an icebreaker. Others assume it’s a way of assigning personality types to a team. Neither is right. Six … Continue reading
The loudest person in the room isn’t always right
We’ve all been in a meeting where someone states their view with total confidence. Nobody pushes back, not because they agree, but because pushing back feels like more effort than it’s worth. The conversation moves on and a decision is … Continue reading
What is Lateral Thinking? A plain-English guide
“Lateral Thinking”, usually said to mean something vague like “thinking outside the box” or “being creative”. That’s not wrong, exactly. But it doesn’t tell you what to actually do differently. Lateral Thinking is a structured approach to generating alternatives and finding … Continue reading
AI can give you lots of ideas. Challenge, develop and pick the right one with Lateral Thinking
Ask most AI tools for a plan, a campaign idea or a solution to a problem, and you’ll get something usable within seconds. It reads well, sounds confident and it may even look finished. And for a lot of teams, … Continue reading
Stop waiting for creative people, build the skill.
Most businesses can tell you exactly who on the team is “creative”. It’s usually the same two or three people with everyone else being quietly opted out. That’s a problem, because demand for creative thinking isn’t holding steady while businesses wait … Continue reading
Question. Challenge. Evaluate. Decide. AI can’t do that.
Ask a business leader whether AI matters right now and you’ll get an answer before you finish the question. Ask them whether their people are equipped to judge what AI actually produces, and the answer comes much more slowly. That … Continue reading
Creative thinking skills training: Why every business needs a creative thinking strategy – not just a skills wishlist
Creative thinking is becoming one of the most important workplace skills for businesses to develop, but many organisations still treat it as an innate ability rather than something employees can learn. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report identifies … Continue reading
Why your meetings keep going in circles (and how to fix it)
Too many meetings. Too much conflict. Nothing moves forward. If that sentence made you think of a specific meeting, you’re not alone. Ask most leaders what gets in the way of good decision-making and the answers come quickly: conversations that … Continue reading
When seniority derails a meeting – how to get thinking back on track
A senior colleague raises an objection. The room changes. The idea being explored suddenly feels too risky to discuss. The person who suggested it goes quiet. Others who were about to contribute decide it is safer not to. The meeting … Continue reading
How many bad decisions are hiding in your meetings?
Not every bad decision looks bad when it’s made. Some are nodded through because the meeting is running out of time. Some happen because the most confident person in the room sounds more certain than everyone else. Others are agreed … Continue reading
Why some people never seem to freeze under pressure
The three seconds that decide how you’re remembered Someone asks you a question in a meeting that you didn’t see coming. For a moment, nothing comes out. You fill the silence with “um…”, start talking before you’ve decided what you’re trying … Continue reading
Ineffective meetings are expensive, so is explaining decisions badly.
The problem: this is costing you real money, right now For a 100-employee organisation, unproductive meetings cost an estimated $2.9 million a year. At 5,000 employees, that climbs to roughly $145 million (Business Insider, via Flowtrace’s 2026 meeting data). Zoom … Continue reading
Use Six Thinking Hats® to transform meetings from a drag to a driving force
The meeting that never ends Picture the scene: a project is behind schedule, the room is tense, and everyone has an opinion. One person is worried about the budget. Another is convinced there’s a better way to do it. A … Continue reading
Six Thinking Hats®: the meeting method that changes everything
Think about the last difficult decision your team had to make together. How did the meeting go? Did everyone contribute? Did you explore the risks thoroughly, without getting stuck in them? Did someone come up with a genuinely new idea … Continue reading
Change programmes have a 70% failure rate
Change programmes have a 70% failure rate. McKinsey has been saying this for two decades, and the number hasn’t moved. The plan gets signed off, the town hall goes well, and then six months later, everyone’s back to the old … Continue reading
Creative thinking: your secret weapon for AI adoption
Six in ten FTSE350 employers reckon they need more creative thinkers, yet almost none are training for it. A Universities UK survey found 61% of senior leaders say creative thinkers are essential to getting the most from AI. Another 63% … Continue reading
Change Management starts with good ideas
Change initiatives frequently fail due to unclear thinking, emotional resistance, poor communication and a lack of creative problem-solving. Traditional change models (e.g., Kotter or ADKAR) provide structure, but they don’t always equip individuals with how to think during change. The … Continue reading
From drift to delivery – the real reason projects miss deadlines
tMost projects don’t fail overnight. They drift, they overrun, they take more time and resources than planned. Deadlines slip. Scope expands. Confidence erodes. By the time a project lands on the ‘at risk’ list, the warning signs have often been … Continue reading
When strong voices dominate the room: why HR leaders are turning to Six Thinking Hats®
If you’ve ever sat in on a senior team meeting and thought, “This isn’t a talent issue – it’s a thinking issue,” you’re not alone. HR and L&D leaders across industries are telling us the same thing: their leadership teams … Continue reading
Lateral Thinking: Your secret weapon in the ChatGPT era
I get it. We’re all a bit freaked out by how good AI is getting at doing our jobs. I recently heard that a client generated an entire business plan in under a minute. My first thought? ‘Well, there goes … Continue reading
Enhancing stakeholder engagement with AI-powered training
In today’s dynamic business environment, effectively engaging and managing stakeholders is crucial for success. AI is revolutionising how you can develop these skills, blending technology with expert-led training to provide a cutting-edge learning experience. Our Stakeholder Engagement™ workshop integrates advanced … Continue reading
Are you ready to revolutionise the way you tackle meetings?
Six Thinking Hats® is a game-changing tool that has transformed decision-making processes for businesses around the world. Why Six Thinking Hats®? Developed by Dr. Edward de Bono, the Six Thinking Hats® framework simplifies thinking by breaking it down into six … Continue reading
Once you’ve made your mind up… changing it can be really difficult… or can it?
In business, changing your mind can be seen as a weakness and that you have a lack of clarity or direction. People who change their minds can be considered unreliable or indifferent. Changing your mind in business, known as pivoting, … Continue reading
Collaborative Writing
Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer With the introduction of hybrid working, we are spending less time in face-to-face conversations. So when you send that business report – you may not have a chance to talk someone through it. Having great writing … Continue reading
Agile decision-making
Although the Agile model was developed with software design in mind, two of its principles have been widely adopted by businesses in all sectors: Valuing individuals and interactions over processes. Responding to change over following a plan. These are appealing, … Continue reading
Sur/petition – focus on value creation
“Sur/petition: creating value monopolies when everyone else is merely competing” Edward de Bono Competition is based on the idea of different individuals or companies striving to win a part of the same thing. Dr Edward de Bono suggests an alternative: … Continue reading
Virtual selling – the new sales disruptor
Richard Morris, Accredited Trainer The world of the sales professional has changed. Consideration needs to be given to the skills that are now needed. The COVID pandemic has meant virtual selling has become the new reality of the sales function … Continue reading
Robust and clear ideas to take forward
Now that Covid-19 has challenged us to work and think, more creatively, it would be a shame to lose this new ability of approaching life with an innovative mindset. Dr Edward de Bono’s ‘Lateral Thinking’ gives the tools to come … Continue reading
Stop talking over me! Making the most from online meetings.
This weekend I decided to attempt a family ‘Mother’s Day’ get together on Zoom – given the social distancing rules in place. We are not a particularly quiet family, but we are polite and usually observe the informal rules of conversation … Continue reading
Better, stronger, faster decisions.
How do you and your team make decisions? Do you: Jump on the most likely-looking solution, because you’re pushed for time? Listen to the person with the most experience? Look to the past and see what worked and whether it … Continue reading
Getting stronger outputs from innovation
A common challenge in innovation was summed up succinctly by one of our clients: “We’re pretty good at idea generation. But at the end of the session we have 300 post-its and no idea what to do next. Someone takes … Continue reading
Master the knowledge economy with rigorous, dynamic group thinking
Intelligence is a commodity. Expertise is valuable. The worlds of industry and commerce are moving ever faster thanks to advances in technology. There are many advantages to this. Revolutions in remote working and quick communication mean that we never need … Continue reading
Engaging stakeholders
The skills required to understand, engage, manage and communicate with stakeholders. By Trish Thurley, Indigo Master Trainer and Richard Evans Stakeholder management can be the difference between success and failure for anyone who has to deal with other people. Who … Continue reading
Ever wanted to just get up and walk out of a meeting?
By Ragini Krishnadas Meetings consume huge amounts of time for most of us, our customers tell us that these are often the least productive elements of their day. “That was so worthwhile!” When was the last time you walked out of … Continue reading
The Graduate: A day in the life
Being a graduate is scary. This year’s cohort of freshly graduated newbies to the workplace are the second year group to leave university lumbered with higher debt than ever, with more pressure than ever to perform and succeed. I am … Continue reading
My day is just meetings, meetings, meetings…
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 … Continue reading
Will your idea work?
So, ‘innovation is a part of your culture’ and you have accepted that ‘change is inevitable…’ You have set your focus and generated fresh, fast and on-demand ideas, so what next? Do you just pop them in a box somewhere … Continue reading
Is innovation a part of your culture?
Many organisations have mission or vision statements that suggest they are an innovative or creative organisation, yet the people at the top of the organisation can often not elaborate on how, or if this happens. Often just putting people in … Continue reading
A typical day?
By Stephanie Butland – Master Trainer, Six Thinking Hats® You arrive on time at your first meeting, to find that there is a clear focus and an agenda. There are no lengthy anecdotes, no arguments, and none of the jostling … Continue reading
It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it
Bill Barnett – 8th May 2013 I had a fantastic day training yesterday, courtesy of my good friends at Indigo, playing on their “Stakeholder Engagement (including Simulation)™” simulator. The simulator is a great piece of kit, which actually takes participants … Continue reading
