Join us for an interactive day of learning and the practical application of 10 thinking tools at Melbourne’s most prestigious training venue.

People and organisations are seeking improvement and quality across many areas except that which is the most important – the quality of the way they think. If we improve the quality of our thinking the quality of the actions that follow will improve.

The Six Thinking Hats are designed to dramatically improve the way individuals and groups think. The methods are used to look at issues from multiple perspectives and help teams to move beyond their habitual thinking styles to achieve a more rounded and thorough view of a given situation. In this full day session participants will develop:

• a sound understanding of multiple thinking styles,
  

• the ability to design and lay out a thinking process,
  

• The ability to better navigate complex and difficult issues,

• the ability to design and facilitate effective, outcome oriented meetings,     

• the ability to generate genuinely new ideas using lateral thinking methods,     

• and become more thorough and objective thinkers.

The session will be held at Melbourne’s premier training venue and all participants will be provided with an optional work-based assessment with which to immediately start to apply and embed the methods and practice back in the workplace. Successful completion of this assessment provides the “Blue Hat Facilitator” Pin.  Email & telephone coaching will be provided to assist with this at no additional cost.

Course Brochure: Six Thinking Hats ALDC May 29, 2012

To Register: Click Here

For more information, contact Frank at Think Quick on 0400 109727, or think.quick@me.com

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“A huge thanks for what was hands down the best and most practical training I have ever done.  As a mediator I loved the close parallels between the hats and the various stages and foci of mediation, but even apart from that I pretty much started using the training as soon as I walked out the door. ” (March 18 participant)

Join us for a highly interactive day of learning and practical application of 12 thinking tools at Melbourne’s most prestigious training venue.

People and organisations are seeking improvement and quality across many areas except that which is the most important – the quality of the way we think.

If we improve the quality of our thinking the quality of the actions that follow correspondingly improve.

The Six Thinking Hats are designed to dramatically improve the way we think. The methods are used to look at issues from multiple perspectives and help us to move beyond our habitual thinking styles to achieve a more rounded and thorough view of a given situation.

In this full day session participants will develop:

• a sound understanding of multiple thinking styles,
• the ability to design and facilitate effective, outcome oriented meetings,
• the ability to generate new ideas using lateral thinking methods,
• the ability to design and lay out a thinking process, and
• become a more thorough and objective thinker.

The session will be held at Melbourne’s premier training venue and all participants will be provided with an optional work-based assessment with which to immediately start to apply the methods back in the workplace. Successful completion of this assessment provides the “Blue Hat Facilitator” Pin.  Email & telephone coaching will be provided to assist with this at no additional cost.

Date & Time : 8:30am – 4:30pm, Friday May 27, 2011

Where: The Airlie Leadership Development Centre, 260 Domain Rd South Yarra

Value: $499/person with an early rate of $449/person up until May 13

Other: Participants from all sectors are welcome. Coffee/Tea will be provided upon arrival by qualified Baristas and the highest quality morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea will be provided. (If you’ve been to Airlie before you’ll know what this means!)

Course Brochure: Hats training ALDC May 27

To Register: Click Here

For more information, contact Frank at Think Quick on 0400 109727, or think.quick@me.com

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People and organisations are seeking improvement and quality across many areas except that which is the most important – the quality of the way we think.

If we improve the quality of our thinking the quality of the actions that follow correspondingly improve.

The Six Thinking Hats are designed to dramatically improve the way we think. The methods are used to look at issues from multiple perspectives and help us to move beyond our habitual thinking styles to achieve a more rounded and thorough view of a given situation.

In this full day session participants will develop:

• a sound understanding of multiple thinking styles,
• the ability to design and facilitate effective, outcome oriented meetings,
• the ability to generate new ideas using lateral thinking methods,
• the ability to design and lay out a thinking process, and
• become a more thorough and objective thinker.

The session will be held at Melbourne’s premier training venue and all participants will be provided with an optional work-based assessment with which to immediately start to apply the methods back in the workplace. Successful completion of this assessment provides the “Blue Hat Facilitator” Pin.  Email & telephone coaching will be provided to assist with this at no additional cost.

Date & Time : 8:30am – 4:30pm, Friday March 18, 2011

Where: The Airlie Leadership Development Centre, 260 Domain Rd South Yarra

Value: $490/person with an early rate of $440/person up until Feb 25

Other: Participants from all sectors are welcome. Coffee/Tea will be provided upon arrival by qualified Baristas and the highest quality morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea will be provided. (If you’ve been to Airlie before you’ll know what this means!)

Many thanks for your response to this. The session is now fully subscribed and we look forward to a big day on the 18th!

We will be scheduling another session within the week so please watch this space!

Flyer: Six Thinking Hats training ALDC Mar 18

Any enquires may be directed to Frank at think.quick@me.com / 0400 109727 or Laurel on 0417 321296

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At Think Quick we don’t simply assist with your issues, we help build your capacity to solve your own.

We provide new perspectives and new means of looking at your organisational issues so that appropriate and sustainable action can be designed in-house to address them.

In every instance we use accredited and experienced practitioners and practice a range of contemporary techniques designed to address the thinking of participants so that the focus leads to tangible and improved design and action.

The world is highly complex and rapidly shifting, so to be able to act with impact we must first be able to make sense of what is happening around us. The methods we use are designed to do this. Sessions are designed to replicate the way people behave in real life, as opposed to the way we “expect” them to behave in organisational settings.

Amongst the methods we use are those developed by Edward de Bono and include Lateral Thinking, Direct Attention Thinking Tools and the Six Thinking Hats. We also focus strongly on the Cognitive Edge methods which enable the emergence of fresh ideas, insights, new design and solutions derived form the multiple and diverse perspectives present in the room. The cognitive Edge methods are based on participation and discovery, as apposed to more traditional linear and prescriptive group methods that are common.

All of the methods applied are focused on gaining new insights, navigating through complex issues thereby allowing organisations and participants to take advantage of new opportunities in conditions of uncertainty.

The strengths and benefits of these approaches are:

*    We generate means of seeing the world through the eyes of participants, rather than via the narrower interpretations of a facilitator or third party.

*   We assist organisations to develop contextually appropriate interventions to address issues rather than applying standard methods that have minimal impact when issues are complex.

*    The methods tap directly into the knowledge of the assembled group and generate new design possibilities and participant buy-in. With this buy-in, outcomes tend to be more resilient and sustainable.

*    The methods allow for the navigation of issues for a fuller exploration rather than a solution oriented approach reliant on our first pattern matches that are not always the best fit.

*    The methods encourage innovative thinking and generate a range of possible solutions by tapping into the diverse perspectives and knowledge of the assembled group.

*    We use techniques that allow for wide scanning and the identification of weak signals that potentially have economic and human costs to the organisation.

*    The methods used move participants from a static approach to addressing issues to one in which there is a strong focus on design and forward momentum without the paralysis of perceived risk.

Our accredited and experienced practitioners have successfully facilitated many sessions and projects across public and private sectors and have worked closely with clients to determine need and co-design and process to ensure the best possible outcomes.

Think Quick also assists in the design and implementation of projects where new perspectives and new approaches are required.  These include evaluations, navigating change, strategy, planning, leadership and culture related interventions.

For more information contact Frank at think.quick@me.com

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This week I had the pleasure of presenting at the annual ACT KM conference in Canberra.

The two day event was as diverse as one could have hoped with an eclectic array of presentations which is indicative I think of one of two things:

1) KM is running out of relevance and things to say, so is transmuting into different disciplines, or 2) KM is now being considered as so much a part of other business that it is relevant who matter what discipline you are involved in.

My view is certainly the latter, as each of the speakers provided evidence of the absolute necessity of knowledge management approaches in each of their subject matter areas. I found every speaker had something interesting to offer and my failure to mention all of them here is simply a product of my erratic note-taking rather than a lack of acknowledgement to all.

So many good points were made by speakers on Day 1, I felt compelled to incorporate some of their astute observation into my session on day 2. Not only does this pay homage to their efforts but it also serves to make me look a little bit clever by association. I like that.

Amanda Horne spoke of Positive Psychology and made the point that it can take take 3 or more good things happening to turn you around from a single bad occurrence. It is for this reason that we routinely think in the feasibility and benefit space before critical assessment when applying the Six Thinking Hats methodology. Due in part to the predominant brain chemistries in play during each of these functions, it is far easier to move from a positive to a negative state, than from negative to positive – try it.

Patrick Lambe, the Mephistophlian KM Sensai from Singapore discussed the roles of faith, magic and culture in KM and posed some challenging questions about how to move KM forward. (Patrick also inexplicably lost his goatee during the conference dinner.) Arthur Shelley, author and expert on animal behaviour, again stressed the importance of conversations in making sense of the world and Mark Schenk did something totally unexpected and got people telling stories. This was done in a Story slam format that elicited some truly amazing stories from the audience.

Convention and any semblance of order were cast aside on Day 2 when a futuristic hypothetical was conducted featuring a range of luminaries from the year 2050. In this session “What happened to KM – looking back at 2020 from 2050″ the panel were challenged to postulate on the future of the industry and just where we might be 40 years hence. Michelle Lambert of the KM Round Table made a significant contribution to the panel deliberation and had she not not already carved a place in KM history for herself, she certainly has now.

Many thanks to David, Nerida and the rest of the ACTKM committee for the work they put into the two days that were well summed up by Edgar Tan at the end when we expressed his appreciation not only for the diverse content, but also for the humour that the entire group brought to the sessions over the two days.

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Thinking is the ultimate human resource but how much effort do we put into developing it, nurturing it and using it to its fullest potential?

People, communities and organisations are seeking improvement and quality in most areas except in the most important of areas – the quality of our thinking. If we can improve the quality of our thinking, the actions that follow that thinking will also improve.

It is often assumed that intelligence goes hand in hand with thinking. Often however, intelligent people are in danger of becoming poor thinkers. This is what is known as the intelligence trap. That is, they use their intelligence to entrench themselves in support of one point of view. Even though you have a great sports car you may be a poor driver. Similarly those with excellent minds may use them inadequately.

The Six Thinking Hats is a thinking technique used to look at things from a number of different perspectives. It forces us to move outside our habitual thinking style and develop a more rounded view of a given situation. The Hats promote fuller input from more people and significantly reduce argument from those with divergent points of view. With this adversarial approach removed the amount of time taken to conduct a meeting can be significantly reduced. People can contribute under any Hat even though they initially support the opposite view. The Six Hats encourage co-operation, exploration and innovation by getting everyone thinking in parallel.

The methods can be effectively applied individually to improve one’s own thinking and in any community or organisational setting in which getting the most out of the collective intelligence of your people is paramount.

“Think Quick” can train your people in these thinking methods to significantly enhance your capacity to:

• Make better decisions and improve problem solving
• Improve team productivity & Communication
• Share and collaborate more freely
• Generate new and creative ideas
• Run focused, outcome oriented and shorter meetings, and
• Empower your people with a thinking toolset that adds value not only in the workplace, but in private life.

Alternatively, if you have that important meeting coming up where you simply must capitalise on the knowledge of your participants, Think Quick can facilitate such a session whether it be with 5 or 500 people.

For more information contact Frank on 0400 109727 or at think.quick@me.com

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