Transcript How to use the Six Thinking Hats

Enterprising Project
Management and Team Work
Ali Riley
Enterprise Learning Development Officer
University of Sheffield Enterprise
www.sheffield.ac.uk/enterprise
TASK – what is the point?
• I am going to be giving you a team challenge
to complete.
• You will need to UNDERSTAND the task first
• Consider your role within the team – what are
you best at?
• The task has a time limit – how are you going
to tackle the task so you get it done on time?
• How will you tackle any disagreements?
Deadline 30 minutes!
• Teams of 5/6
• In your teams, you will each have a brief (if your team has 6
people, two people will have brief 5). You cannot show
anyone what is on your brief but you can share the
information verbally.
• Your briefs explain the task you are faced with as a team.
• You have enough tokens to complete the task
• The only thing I will tell you is that you have a deadline of 30
minutes
…Starting now!!!!
Reflection
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Did you complete the task correctly?
Did you get going straight away?
Did you have a clear leader?
Were tasks divided up/delegated?
Was there any conflict in your team? If so,
how did you resolve it?
Is group work enterprising?
• Entrepreneurs and successful people rarely
work completely alone
• Those who are successful at working within an
organisation and drive it forward will
inevitably have to work within a group.
• If you enter employment there will be many
occasions when you have to work as a team.
What makes a good team?
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Roles?
Leaders/Followers?
Motivators/critical thinkers?
Dividing tasks?
Clear plan?
Buy-in?
Six Thinking Hats (De Bono)
Information
Positive thinking,
benefits
Feelings,
emotions,
intuition
Caution and critical
judgment
Creativity and
exploration
Process control
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Six Thinking Hats (De Bono)
Purposes
I. To simplify thinking by allowing a thinker to deal with one thing
at a time.
II. To allow a switch in thinking (if a person is persistently negative,
he/she can be asked to take off “the black thinking hat” and
switch to another colour).
Benefits
I. Helps looking at important decisions from a number of different
perspectives.
II. Helps making better decisions by pushing people to move
outside of their habitual ways of thinking.
III. Helps understanding the full complexity of a decision and spot
issues and opportunities.
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How to use the Six Thinking Hats
 When solving a problem or making a decision,
everyone must wear the same colour hat at the
same time
Example: The directors of a property company are looking
at whether they should construct a new office building. The
economy is going well and the amount of vacant office
space is reducing sharply.
During a planning meeting they decide to use the Six
Thinking Hats.
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How to use the Six Thinking Hats
They analyse data. They examine the trend in vacant office space
and it shows a sharp reduction. They anticipate a severe shortage
of office space by the time the office block was completed. Current
government projections show steady economic growth for at least
the construction period.
Some of the directors think the proposed building looks quite
ugly. While it would be highly cost-effective, they worry that
people would not like to work in it.
They worry that government projections may be wrong. The
economy may be about to enter a 'cyclical downturn', in which
case, the office building may be empty for a long time. If the
building is not attractive, then companies will choose to work
in another better-looking building at the same rent.
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How to use the Six Thinking Hats
But if the economy holds up and the projections are correct,
the company stands to make a great deal of money. If they
are lucky, maybe they could sell the building before the next
downturn, or rent to tenants on long-term leases that will last
through any recession.
They consider whether they should change the design to
make the building more pleasant. Perhaps they could build
prestige offices that people would want to rent in any
economic climate. Alternatively, maybe they should invest the
money in the short term to buy up property at a low cost when
a recession comes.
Has been used by the meeting's Chair to move between the
different thinking styles. He or she may have needed to keep
other members of the team from switching styles, or from
criticizing other peoples' points.
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Team roles
 The Shaper: self-elected task leader, lots of energy
 The Plant : creative, imaginative and unorthodox
 The Coordinator: natural chairman, confident and calm
 The Resource Investigator: the fixer with wealth of contacts
 The Monitor Evaluators: logical eye, deep analyst
 The Team-Worker: counsellor or conciliator
 The Implementer: practical, efficient, conservative
 The Completer-Finisher: makes sure things get finished
 The Specialist: source of technical knowledge
Dr. Meredith Belbin (1981)
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Project management process
• Agree precise specification for the project - 'Terms of Reference'
• Plan the project - time, team, activities, resources, financials - using
suitable project management tools.
• Communicate the project plan to your project team - and to any other
interested people and groups.
• Agree and delegate project actions.
• Manage and motivate - inform, encourage, enable the project team.
• Check, measure, monitor, review project progress - adjust project plans,
and inform the project team and others.
• Complete project - review and report on project performance; give praise
and thanks to the project team.
• Project follow-up - train, support, measure and report results and
benefits.
Project management tools
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Brainstorming
Gantt charts
Critical path analysis flow diagrams
Budget spreadsheets
Setting milestones
Quality checks
Contingency plans
CPA example
Gantt chart example
USE
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VyWJ4l8
hxY&feature=player_embedded
www.shef.ac.uk/enterprise
Thank you very much!
Ali Riley
[email protected]