Letral Thinking from MsnEncarta

Letral Thinking (Overview):

Edward de Bono has written extensively about the process of lateral thinking -- the generation of novel solutions to problems. The point of lateral thinking is that many problems require a different perspective to solve successfully.

De Bono identifies four critical factors associated with lateral thinking: (1) recognize dominant ideas that polarize perception of a problem, (2) searching for different ways of looking at things, (3) relaxation of rigid control of thinking, and (4) use of chance to encourage other ideas. This last factor has to do with the fact that lateral thinking involves low-probability ideas which are unlikely to occur in the normal course of events.

Although De Bono does not acknowledge any theoretical antecedents for lateral thinking, it seems closely related to the Gestalt theory of Wertheimer . His work is also highly relevant to the concept of creativity . Visit the De Bono web site for up-to-date information on his work.

Scope/Application:

Lateral thinking applies to human problem-solving. DeBono (1971a) discusses the application of lateral thinking to management development and DeBono (1971b) provides an interesting study of lateral thinking in children. Some of his recent work has focused on schools (e.g., DeBono, 1991).

Example:

The following anecdote is provided by DeBono (1967). A merchant who owes money to a money lender agrees to settle the debt based upon the choice of two stones (one black, one white) from a money bag. If his daughter chooses the white stone, the debt is canceled; if she picks the black stone, the moneylender gets the merchant's daughter. However, the moneylender "fixes" the outcome by putting two black stones in the bag. The daughter sees this and when she picks a stone out of the bag, immediately drops it onto the path full of other stones. She then points out that the stone she picked must have been the opposite color of the one remaining in the bag. Unwilling to be unveiled as dishonest, the moneylender must agree and cancel the debt. The daughter has solved an intractable problem through the use of lateral thinking.

Ref: MsnEncarta, http://tip.psychology.org/debono.html,

Company Culture and creativity

I think company culture can influence to creativity of people. We need to move traditional corporate communities to the community which is full of tolerant, diverse and open to new ideas. If our environment can’t support, we need to create that environment to be able to support creativity. To create good company culture

• Top management must welcome new ideas from everyone within the company

• The person who can give good ideas should be rewarded

• The negative criticism should not be allowed.

• Family spirit should be adopted within the company.

Increasing the learning skills of a team

To enhance the learning skill of a team, we can use some methods such as

• breathing
  
• relaxation
• music
• expectation
  
• constructive play
  
• repetition without boredom.

Those methods will make all team members to learn things more quickly, remember longer, and recall more easily.

TRIZ

The 4 Is of Innovation

• Imagery - using five senses freely (seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling)

• Intuition - bringing into conscious focus the subconscious mind's combination of experiences, memory, logic, and the contributions from other sources which the conscious mind can't explore on its own

• Incubation -Moments of insight and clarity

• Implementation - the essential step of action and accomplishment, of organizational movement and approval

Ref: http://www.winstonbrill.com/bril001/html/article_index/articles/51-100/article96_body.html

Factors to be creative

Three days ago, I and my friends play a game to list the factors that will make us creative. We can find many factors. Hey…I won in that game. :-D Here are the factors in our lists.

curiosity
rebellion
collaboration
suspect
change
courage
creating excitement every day!
Doing at least one new thing per a day
Brainstorming
Reading
Making discussion
Listening good music
Watching movies in active way
Making competition
Challenging ourselves
Love, romantic thoughts [of course, Love is the most powerful tool to be creative. I think :-) ]

Some innovative ideas that applied TRIZ

• Using the sound of a burglar alarm that produces the voices of barking dog, without

the barking dog.

• Using many microprocessors in a parallel processor computer
• Electronic microchips mounted on both sides of circuit board
  
• A Handle of a toothbrush contains toothpaste
  
• Inventing the lunch box with special compartments for liquids and for hot and cold solid foods

Ref: Wikipedia

Advantages of Triz

TRIZ

TRIZ is a popular problem solving process. It is based on universal principles of invention that are the basis for innovations. TRIZ is widely used today to improve products, services, and systems. It greatly reduces the time to produce breakthrough ideas and inventions.

Advantages of TRIZ

Achievement of inventive design depends on how fast the needed knowledge can be found. TRIZ can help us to organize the fast search for required knowledge. TRIZ can give a systematic access to the previous experience of many generations of inventors. In some cases, it might be clear what function is needed but unclear what physical principle can be used to deliver the function. To organize and guide the search for proper physical principles, TRIZ pointers to natural phenomena and effects are used. All design products evolve over the time according to the same domain-independent trends. These trends are used for effective problem solving as well as for forecasting the further evolution of a specific design product. TRIZ does not replace human creativity. TRIZ restructures the thinking process of a designer and provides fast access to the needed knowledge, but it does not solve problems independently of the designer. No previous inventor's skills are needed to effectively solve new inventive problems.

Another E-card from friend

Birthday Messages for me :-)

Before the clock strikes twelve let me take the opportunity to let you know that you have grown a year more...
Happy birthday...

Somebody up there Loves you
Somebody down here cares for you
Happy Birthday!!!

How do you expect me to remember your birthday, when you never look any older? Happy Birthday!!!

Its a nice feeling when you know that someone likes you, someone thinks about you, someone needs you;but it feels much better when you know that someone never ever forgets your birthday."HAPPY BIRTHDAY".

Sending birthday blessings
Filled with love and peace and joy
Wishing sweetest things happen
Right before your eyes !

My brother sent me those birthday messages to me via email. I was very happy. :-)

Today

Today, Today,

I like today.

No other day's

quite like today,

Not tomorrow

or yesterday.

I like today

In every way.

Today, today,

Today,

My birthday!

by John Archambault

Six Value Medals

Six value medals (The latest model of Debono)

Six value medals is the latest invention of Debono. It is intended to exmine values, prioritise which are the most important, and then ensure that best values are prioritized first and maximized every step of the process.

The following is the definitions of the medals by Debono.

GOLD MEDAL: Gold is precious, and so are people. The gold medal asks, what matters to people? Achievement, pride, a sense of belonging, hope, trust and growth.

SILVER MEDAL: Silver impacts the organisation. What matters to the organisation – what are its goals and how would a action help or hinder in the pursuit of those goals?

STEEL MEDAL: Steel must be as strong as possible. What are the implications for quality and how will the decision at hand impact the quality of what we do?

GLASS MEDAL: Glass can take the shape of many functional, often beautiful and colourful objects. The glass medal covers change, innovation, simplicity and creativity.

WOOD MEDAL: Wood spotlights ecological values in the broadest sense. Is ther a positive or negative impact on the environment if we take this route?

BRASS MEDAL: Brass looks like gold but is not. Brass medal values examine appearances and perception. How will this action be interpreted?Until now there has not been a concrete way to assess the impact that a decision may have on our attempts to create and protect value. When employees can scan, identify and prioritise values they become vital partners in growing the business

My opinion on six value medals method

Today, we have many things to do. The competition is very high. We have to work under time- pressure. We have time-limit. We can't do all things in detail. So, we need to know what we should focus on. We must know which things are the most important. To define value of things, this six value medals method will be helpful.

Ref: www.debonofoundation.co.uk

Habits of creative people

I love to read biographies of great people. I thought about them again and made a list to be creative. In biographies of very creative people, I noticed that

1. They just do what they love to do (for eg, Einstein just took care of the subjects he loved, and very bad in some subjects.
2. They want to be different. (for eg, Vicient Vangoh always try to be different with others)
3. They just follow their dream (for eg, Right brothers)
4. They do their best in their work(Every genius give too much time and effort to their work, some artists take 7 years to draw famous paintings)
5. They don’t care to the negative criticisms (for eg, Right Brothers)
6. And some use strange methods(for eg, Einstein used to think himself as Isac Newton sometimes while he was thinking)
7. They love their work. (I heard that a saying “love your work as your sweetheart”). But for me, work is not invisible, so, it’s difficult to make my mind according to the saying. That’s why I didn’t become genius. :-D
8. They try hard so much. (for eg, Thomas Edison just sleep 4 hours per a day.)
9. They just see failure as challenge. (for eg, Thomas Edison tried thousand times to invent a bulb)

Dream & Imagination

I think it is powerful for creativity & innovation process. Everyone can dream FOC. Wright Brothers maybe dream to fly like a bird in air. Who Knows???? Then, they could do experiments to realize their dreams. They might encounter the several failures and suffer agony & pains for it. Anyway, because of their dreams to fly in air, nowadays, we can fly in planes (a big bird) to visit around the world.

I also had a dream. :-) I had it after watching advertisement of “Transformer” movie on TV. I really like the way that a car transforms into robot. Moreover, I also come across with a nice Nike sneaker transforms into a robot toys in net.

I got one idea to transform something like that for me. As our lecture rooms are so cold for me, I have to bring sweater or jacket everyday. I put it in my bag and have to carry it whenever I have class. I would like to have a backpack that can transform into jacket. If so, no need to worry if I forget my jacket or sweater at home. If I reach to class, I pull out my stuffs from backpack, put it onto arm table of my chair and will transform this backpack into jacket and wear it. After class, I transform it into backpack and collect my stuffs into it. How nice!!! I really want to have one. :-)

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a very useful tool that to think creatively. It will be very helpful when we need to break the habitual condition and the regular patterns of thinking. By making brainstorming, we can get new ideas. During we make brainstorming sessions, there should be no criticism of ideas and inspirations.

When existing ideas can’t give the solution we needs, we need to make brainstorming. All team members can participate in brainstorming.

We can relate Brainstroming with lateral thinking process. People can come up with ideas that seem at first to be a crazy. Then we can improve those raw ideas or may get new ideas that are totally different with the old raw ideas. Anyway, one raw idea can create many useful ideas. In brainstorming session we need to open up possibilities Judgments and analysis at this stage will block idea generation.

Ideas and thoughts should just be evaluated at the end of the brainstorming session . Then we can explore solutions further using conventional approaches.

If the team get no intuitive ideas during brainstorming, we can use lateral thinking tools such as random entry and so on.

Individual Brainstorming

In individual brainstorming, you can get a wider range of ideas than with group brainstorming because you do not need to worry about other people's opinions, and so you can be more freely creative. But, you may have some difficulties because you can’t get advices from other experiences.

Team Brainstorming

Team brainstorming is more effective than individual brainstorming because it uses the creativity of all members of the team. When individual members reach their limit of creativity, another member's creativity can take the idea to the next stage.

My Definitions for CIIE

Creativity = the power or ability to think and act for new & improvements

Innovation = the act of introducing somewhat new on something that already exists.

Invention = creating something that did not exist before

Experimentation = the process to test or implement one’s creativity in order to come true

Innovation Tips from IDEO

1. Observe people, customers and non-customers

2. Play with physical workplace in a way that sends positively body language to employees and visitors

3. Think “verbs” not “nouns” in products and services offerings for creating wonderful experiences

4. Break rules and “fail forward” so that change is part of the culture and little setback is experienced

5. Stay human, scale your organizational environment so that there’s room for hot teams to emerge and thrive.

6. Build bridges from one department to another, form your company to your prospective customers and ultimately form the present to the future.

Left Brain and Right Brain

The two different sides of the brain control two different "modes" of thinking. Experts said each of us prefers one mode over the other.

The two different sides, of the brain are responsible for different manners of thinking.

Left Brain : Logical, Sequential, Rational, Analytical, Objective, Looks at parts

Right Brain: Random, Intutive, Holistic, Subjective, Synthesizing, and Looks at wholes.

We have a distinct preference for one of these styles of thinking. Some, however, are more whole-brained and equally adept at both modes.

In order to enhance creativity we need to use both sides of our brain balance.

Here’s a good link to decide your brain type.

http://homeworktips.about.com/library/brainquiz/bl_leftrightbrain_quiz.htm

How to create innovation - my thoughts

Here are some points in my thought about how to create innovation in our lives, in our workplace, in over environment etc.

• Take risks. Don’t play with safe

(Risk taking is challenging in life. It speed us to going forward to beat the competitions in life. It will improve our abilities and enhace our characters. It encourage changes in our lives)

• Make mistakes. Don’t try to avoid them

( Failure is the seed of success in some case. Great success may come across at the end of failure. So, dont be afraid to be mistaken. It will teach us how to do problem solving and how to steel ourselves against all odds)

• Take initiative. Don’t wait for instructions

(Instructions & procedures are not useful in some case. Seek our own ways to reach our goal. Follow our dreams to smell success in life)

• Welcome destruction. It is the first step to success in the creative process.

(Dont accept things easily. Everything can be changed in our hands & in our thoughts. Everything needs improvements. We all have equal chances to change it. Nobody will blame!)

• Focus on opportunities, not only on problem

( Because of existing problems, we have chance to find out solutions. However, we should also focus on opportunities how to implement the our abilities, established technology, etc. into current problem solving situatition. It will be noticeable changes and encourage innovations)

• Experiment

(I think experiment is a testing and a kind of preparation. We need prepareness to face the changes. Furthermore, luck is prepareness(experiment) meets opportunity.)

• Take personal responsibility for fixing things. Don’t blame others and Stay calm

(Noone is perfect in all time. Accept failure and try to solve it out. Dont blame on others to cover the loosing face of yours. Take personal responsibitiy and accept the result. Failure is not totally failure if you can't accept it.)

• Smile

(Smiles are effective and cheerful language of human beings. It is a sign of affectionate on someone. Create a perfect and live smile to build a friendship to strangers. It really works for me!)

• Have fun

(Do fun stuffs when you are bored. It will give ways to refresh your brain to create something new. Your will feel happiness and have a break from tension of work while doing fun.)

Ten faces of innovation: what kind of persons can drive the creativity into organization?

I come across the book named "Ten faces of innovation" in Amazon a few days ago. The Authors are Tom Kelly and Jonathan Littman. I have been read "The art of innvation" by Tom kelly and I like it. I couldn't help the desire of reading the book and surfed NUS libriaries portal to borrow this book. Unluckily, it is on borrowing and 3 persons hold it. Therefore, I read book reviews of others and tried to be happy with it. Here are some knowledge I found out from it.

Anthropologist – person who observe people, processes and interactions “with a fresh eye” and discover ways to help them.

Experimenter - person who is willing to take a chance and to explore alternatives and test concepts through prototyping, trial-and-error and applied science.

Cross-pollinator – person who enjoy connecting different cultures, like a bee flitting between the private parts of flowers, the cross-pollinator spreads good ideas and techniques between specialism, breaking down silos and sharing good practice

Hurdler – person who knows that the path to innovation is full with obstacles but never give it up to overcome or outsmart those roadblocks and able to leap tall buildings (well project hurdles anyway) in a single bound.

Collaborator – person who can persuade people and teams together to perform collaboration by finding common interests and objectives among them.

Director – person who can gather talented crews together and help them to spark their creative talents under his/ her coaching to innovate.

Experience architect - person who can put himself in the customer’s shoes and visualize products and services that can meet at a deeper level with customer’s latent or expressed needs.

Set designer - person who can create a stage on which innovation team members can do their best work by transforming physical environment into powerful tools to influence behavior and attitude of innovation.

Caregiver – person who support their colleagues, providing a sympathetic sounding board and gentle encouragement when times are tough and motivating and inspiring people by care giving to them.

Storyteller – person who can tell the stories about people, products, process and services in creative and interesting ways using his/ her excellent narrative or communication skills.

The above persons are who contribute different ways of creativity and innovation to teams. These individuals can fuel innovation inside the organization and should company hire these kinds of people to adopt innovation in their orgainization.

I wonder what kind of person should I be? What kind of person I would like to be? I strongly would like to be Anthropologist. I love this kind of study!