lateral thinking for rgcms 6 1 12

7/27/2019 Lateral Thinking for Rgcms 6 1 12

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LATERAL THINKING


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A man lives on the twelfth floor of an apartment building.

Every morning he takes the elevator down to the lobby and leaves the

building.

In the evening, he gets into the elevator, and, if there is someone else

in the elevator -- or if it was raining that day -- he goes back to his

floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the tenth floor and walks up two

flights of stairs to his apartment.

The man is a dwarf. He can't reach the upper elevator buttons, but

he can ask people to push them for him. He can also push themwith his umbrella.


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Lesson in Lateral Thinking: The Tale Of Two Pebbles

Many years ago in a small Indian village, a farmer had the misfortune of

owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender. The moneylender,who was old and ugly, fancied the farmer's beautiful daughter. So he

proposed a bargain.

He said he would forgo the farmer's debt if he could marry his daughter. Both

the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the proposal. So the cunning

money-lender suggested that they let providence decide the matter. He told

them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty

money bag. Then the girl would have to pick one pebble from the bag.

1. If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her

father's debt would be forgiven.2. If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father's

debt would still be forgiven.

3. If she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.


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They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the farmer's field. As they

talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked

them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black

pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble

from the bag.

Now, imagine that you were standing in the field. What would you have done

if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you have told her?

Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.

2. The girl should know that there were two black pebbles in the bag and

expose the money-lender as a cheat.

3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save

her father from his debt and imprisonment.


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Take a moment to ponder this.

The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference

between Lateral Thinking and logical thinking.

The girl's dilemma cannot be solved with traditional logical thinking. Think of the

consequences if she chooses the above logical answers.

What would you recommend that the girl do?


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The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble.

Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path

where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles.

"Oh, how clumsy of me!" she said. "But never mind, if you look into the bagfor the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.

Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had

picked the white one.

And since the money-lender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl

changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely

advantageous one.

The girl looked beyond the obvious to find a solution in a way that wouldn't

initially come to mind.

This is just one example of the power of Lateral Thinking.


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There are several ways of defining lateral thinking

1) "You cannot dig a hole in a different place by digging the same hole

deeper" This means that trying harder in the same direction may not be as

useful as changing direction. Effort in the same direction (approach) will not

necessarily succeed.

2) Lateral Thinking is for changing concepts and perceptions Lateral

thinking is concerned not with playing with the existing pieces but with

seeking to change those very pieces.

Indian Example of empty package


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Six Thinking HatsLooking at a decision from all points of view

'Six Thinking Hats' is an important and powerful technique.

It is used to look at decisions from a number of important perspectives.

This forces you to move outside your habitual thinking style, and helps you

to get a more rounded view of a situation.

This tool was created by Edward de Bono in his book '6 Thinking Hats'.


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How to Use the Tool:

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.

.


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White Hat Thinking: Information That We Have

We can often find more information by taking a close look at what is known than we

might expect. Its like detective work: each known fact can be examined for its

significance.

Example:

The dates of employment for each position on this applicants resume shows that

she has never held a job for more than 18 months. (Note: we dont jump to

conclusions, we just note the fact.)

White Hat Thinking: Information That We Would Like to Have

Here we include everything that comes to mind, without deciding whether there is a

way to get the information or how urgently it is needed. Sometimes there are ways

of getting information that at first seems unattainable.

Example:It would be nice to know how this applicant would cope if George retires early and

she is left to sort out his recruiting system on her own.


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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 tounderstand the responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning


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Red Hat Thinking: Signaling feelings

Red Hat Thinking is very valuable because it makes clear that intuition, feelings, and

emotions are going to be expressed as such. There is no need to pretend that they

are something else. If feelings are indeed present, it is helpful to know what these

feelings are. We can then see what we are dealing with.

Example

My Red Hat feeling is that I resent the email that was sent out. (Notice that no

reasons are given. It is difficult but important not to explain the reasons.)

Red Hat Thinking: Considering Feelings in Decision MakingFeelings and intuition cannot be checked out, so it is unwise to use the Red Hat

alone for decision making. However, Intuition, hunches, feelings, and emotions have

a high value as ingredients in the thinking that leads up to a decision.

Example

The facts do not support going ahead with the plan, but my Red Hat feeling is thatwe should explore it further.


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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.


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Black Hat Thinking: Looking at faults

The Black Hat helps us improve on an idea by drawing attention to the faults in the

idea. Once we see the faults, we may be able to think of ways to overcome them.

Note: We think of ways to overcome them later, when were using Green Hat

Thinking.

Example

If we order these items in larger quantities to take advantage of the volume

discount, we will have the expense of renting more storage space to warehouse the

inventory.

Black Hat Thinking: Scanning for Potential Problems

Black Hat Thinking can discover potential problems that might arise. Then we can

either design ways to avoid the problems or be prepared to address the problems if

they do come up.

Example

If we describe our product in detail on the website, it may be an open invitation for

others to copy our design.


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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.


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Yellow Hat Thinking: Values and Benefits

Values are more abstract than benefits. We may sense a value in an idea and then

need to look around to see how the value can be enjoyed. Benefits are more

specific. Who will reap the benefits? How are the benefits going to be enjoyed?

Examples

Could we implement this idea in such a way that it improves customer

satisfaction?

Awarding a bonus for employees at their five-year anniversary may reduce our

turn-over.

Yellow Hat Thinking: Reasons for Optimism

In Yellow Hat Thinking, there must be reasons to support the benefits that are

claimed. In Green Hat Thinking ,we note possibilities even if they are vague and

unlikely. With the Yellow Hat, we must have reasons why something has value or

might work.

Example

If we include home dcor along with our outdoor sporting equipment, we could

attract people who dont actually get out much, but who like to feel that they lead a

healthy, active lifestyle.

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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. A whole range of creativity tools can help youhere.


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Green Hat Thinking: Adopting a Creative Attitude

What if youre in a Green Hat session and cant think of any ideas? The simplest

form of creative effort is to look for alternatives. Even if these are well-known, its a

creative effort to recall and list them. The minimum creative effort during Green Hat

Thinking is to think of alternatives.

Example

Heres one alternative: We could bundle some of the slower selling items in with

more popular ones and sell the combination as a package. What are other

options?


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Blue Hat:

The Blue Hat stands for process control. This is the hat worn by people chairing

meetings.


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Blue Hat Thinking: Defining the Focus

In defining the focus, Blue Hat questions include these kinds of things:

What is the subject?

What are we thinking about?

What is our goal?

Example

We agreed to hold this meeting to target the customers most likely to keep

buying our products during an economic downturn.

Blue Hat Thinking: Setting out the AgendaHere were referring to making a plan for using the hats as well as for how and

when were going to handle any other activity during the meeting.

Example

Okay, Blue Hat, everyone. We have the conference room for one hour. What hat

sequence would make the most of our time?


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Thank you

lateral thinking for rgcms 6 1 12

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