KEY TERMS
Thinking creatively - Coming up with new and unique ideas
Competitive advantage - An advantage a business has that enables it to perform better than its rivals in a market and which is both distinctive and defensible.
Deliberate creativity - The intentional creation of new ideas through recognized and accepted techniques
Lateral thinking - Thinking differently to try and find new and unexpected ideas
EXAMPLES OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
•Better product
•Better production methods, lower costs and better quality
•Better customer service
•Unique product or idea
•Use of technology
LATERAL THINKING
This is thinking differently to try and find new and un-expectant ideas
Examples:
•Blue skies thinking
•Six thinking hats
BLUE SKIES THINKING
•This is a technique of creative thinking where participants are encouraged to think of as many ideas as possible about an issue or a problem
How many words can you think about when talking about a bag?
THINKING HATS
You can use Six Thinking Hats in meetings or on your own. In meetings it has the benefit of blocking the confrontations that happen when people with different thinking styles discuss the same problem.
Each 'Thinking Hat' is a different style of thinking. These are explained below:
Thinking creatively - Coming up with new and unique ideas
Competitive advantage - An advantage a business has that enables it to perform better than its rivals in a market and which is both distinctive and defensible.
Deliberate creativity - The intentional creation of new ideas through recognized and accepted techniques
Lateral thinking - Thinking differently to try and find new and unexpected ideas
EXAMPLES OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
•Better product
•Better production methods, lower costs and better quality
•Better customer service
•Unique product or idea
•Use of technology
LATERAL THINKING
This is thinking differently to try and find new and un-expectant ideas
Examples:
•Blue skies thinking
•Six thinking hats
BLUE SKIES THINKING
•This is a technique of creative thinking where participants are encouraged to think of as many ideas as possible about an issue or a problem
How many words can you think about when talking about a bag?
THINKING HATS
You can use Six Thinking Hats in meetings or on your own. In meetings it has the benefit of blocking the confrontations that happen when people with different thinking styles discuss the same problem.
Each 'Thinking Hat' is a different style of thinking. These are explained below:
- White Hat:
With this thinking hat you focus on the data available. Look at the information you have, and see what you can learn from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and either try to fill them or take account of them. - This is where you analyze past trends, and try to extrapolate from historical data.
- Red Hat:
'Wearing' the red hat, you look at problems using intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. Also try to think how other people will react emotionally. Try to understand the responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning. - Black Hat:
Using black hat thinking, look at all the bad points of the decision. Look at it cautiously and defensively. Try to see why it might not work. This is important because it highlights the weak points in a plan. It allows you to eliminate them, alter them, or prepare contingency plans to counter them. - Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans 'tougher' and more resilient. It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark on a course of action. Black Hat thinking is one of the real benefits of this technique, as many successful people get so used to thinking positively that often they cannot see problems in advance. This leaves them under-prepared for difficulties.
- Yellow Hat:
The yellow hat helps you to think positively. It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it. Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult. - Green Hat:
The Green Hat stands for creativity. This is where you can develop creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. - Blue hat stands for process control. This is the hat worn by people chairing meetings. When running into difficulties because ideas are running dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat thinking. When contingency plans are needed, they will ask for Black Hat thinking, etc.