Interview Transcript--July 1010
Recently, Natalie Jenkins, Vice President & Director of Sales for de Bono training materials in the United States,
interviewed Lynda Curtin, one of only 37 de Bono Master Trainers worldwide and the product development manager on the
highly acclaimed Focus on Facilitation workshop, regarding her upcoming involvement with the Health Work & Wellness
Conference, Thinking Organization's Succeed!
The Health Work & Wellness
Conference was established in 1997 to bring together a community of like-minded
individuals interested in creating positive, healthy change in their
organizations.
Lynda, your keynote "Power-Up Your Organization's Thinking"
is opening the Health Work & Wellness Conference September 30th in
Vancouver, Canada. One does not normally make the connection between
Thinking and Health Work & Wellness, what can you tell us about the
connection?
Natalie, I was thrilled when Deb Connors,
President of Health Work & Wellness contacted me to discuss
keynoting this conference. She set the theme of the conference to be
"Thinking Organizations SUCCEED!" As de Bono practitioners this is our
main focus--equipping people to become excellent lifelong thinkers.
Organizations are made of people. People think. What could be more
rewarding than to work with a group of people emphasizing thinking
quality as a working concept for organizational health?
I
see that you are also conducting a breakout session titled "Strengthen
Your Innovation Instinct with Six Thinking HatsŪ" on October 1st. Why do
you feel it is important to learn new tools that promote effective
thinking skill development like the Six Thinking Hats for organizational
health?
Healthy organizations depend upon the ability
of their employees to be effective thinkers. This means employees are
able to think broadly, clearly, thoroughly, creatively, and critically
about any challenge they are faced with. It means employees are able to
suspend their biases and explore each challenge with an open-mind before
deciding on a solution or course of action. It means they are not
locked into one way of doing things. It means they are willing to listen
to and include the thinking of others not just their own thinking.
de Bono's Six Thinking
Hats is one thinking tool that encourages effective thinking. It's been
around for 25 years. I suppose this classifies it as a new tool in the
area of leadership and management development. As time moves forward we
learn what we didn't know and this often leads to the development of new
tools and the improvement of old tools. If we aren't learning new tools
how do we expect to continue to be successful and satisfied?
What do you say to people that say they
already know how to think?
Natalie,
it's interesting--no one has ever confessed that to me. But, if they
did, I would likely ask them: "How do you know?" "Where did you learn to
think?" "What thinking tools do you use?"
Two of your de
Bono colleagues are presenting case studies at the conference. Michael
Campbell is presenting Optimal Decision Making With Six Value Medals and
Stuart Morgan Symmetrical Thinking: Achieving Innovative Collaboration
Through Maps, Models and Stories. What do you find most exciting about
these particular case studies?
I am particularly excited about Michael Campbell's case study application
of the Six Value Medals tool.
tool. Searching for value is a huge challenge in most organizations
today--and finding new value that no one else is leveraging is one of
the key factors in the search for value--competitive edge. Everyone is
asking, "What's the value?" It's such a big question and it's vague. It
can be difficult to answer. de Bono's value screen with the Six Value Medals tool is
enormously helpful in directing thinking attention to help find value from a variety of angles.
Stuart
Morgan is doing great work in industrial design. I am very interested
to learn more about how he has integrated Focus on Facilitation and Six
Thinking Hats into his overall process. I think this is one of the
strengths of de Bono Thinking Systems tools.
They easily compliment and strengthen current processes and approaches.
His team won an innovation 2009 award which I am sure was very
satisfying for them.
Lynda, you have been involved in
teaching and applying thinking skills to business since 1992, which
makes you a real pioneer in the innovation skills arena. What are the
biggest changes you have seen over the years regarding innovation in
business, and where do you see it heading in the future?
When
I started out in 1992 businesses, for the most part, weren't focusing
on creativity and innovation as a key driver of business success. There
was a huge emphasis on Quality. Well, as de Bono practitioners we knew
that Quality was impossible without creativity and innovation. Most
businesses have now caught up with this thinking. There is a tremendous
focus on innovation today for a wide variety of reasons. The challenge
in many companies continues to be the "how." How do we become more
innovative? The intention is there. The tools are lacking. So, this is a
big change. de Bono Thinking Systems methods certainly help move
innovation along.
In the future I think we will see a shift to
Robust Thinking which encompasses all aspects of thinking, not just
critical and creative thinking. Deb Connors has recognized the need to
explore, learn about, and discuss this shift with her conference focus
on organization health requiring effective thinkers--Thinking
Organizations SUCCEED!
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