Transcript De Bono's Thinkard Game - VT-ASQ

De Bono’s Thinkard Game
Dan Feliciano
Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt
[email protected]
www.DanFeliciano.com
Why Bother with Thinkards
• To facilitate Thinking
• Your brain is the most important thing you
have.
• Many organizations’ market value is a
function of their ability to think
– …Every employees ability to think
• Thinkard games is about Thinking and
learning to think
Why Don’t We Like Thinking?
• Thinking is hard work
• Thinking is boring
• Thinking is someone else’s job
– I don’t get paid to think, therefore I don’t get
paid much!
Thinkard Games
• Memory Judgment – similar to Goldfish
• Alternative stories - draw four cards and construct
a story using the four cards in the order they where
drawn
• Logical Sequence – draw five cards and place
them in a logical sequence, explain the logic
• Design a Tourist Attraction – five cards are drawn,
design a tourist attraction based on the five cards.
Your scored on the number of cards used.
• Problem-solving –
• And tens more, if not hundreds
Using Thinkards to Demonstrate
Problem-Solving
• As you know, there are many solutions to a
problem
– If you can only think of one solution for a
problem, shame on you
• Many managers and people get hung-up on
a specific solution to solve a problem.
• Why is that?
Problem-Solver Game Using
de Bono’s Thinkards
• Using the five cards you receive
– Solve the following problem
– A person has fallen into a river and is being carried
downstream. Create a story using the cards you have about
how could you rescue the person.
– The more cards you use the more points your receive.
• You have 10 minutes to write your story on the Poster
board.
– Select a person to explain how your team would rescue this
person
• Do Not write on the cards!
• Each team has a different set of cards to solve the same
problem
• The Thinkards will be rotated to most of the teams
Problem-Solver Rules
• Create a story, using the five cards, telling how
you would rescue a person who has fallen into a
stream
• Write it on the poster board
• Use as many cards as possible
• Don’t let the other teams hear your solution.
• You have 10 minutes
• Don’t Write on the Thinkards
Present Your Results
• Explain why your story / solution is
different than another team’s
• Is your solution better than the other
team’s?
Don’t Accept One Solution
• When problem-solving;
– Don’t allow your teams or employees to present
one solution
– There are multiple solutions to every problem
– Have your team’s present 3 or more solutions /
alternatives and present the pros and cons to
each solution
Summary
• Your brain is a muscle and like all other
muscles, it requires exercise to maintain its
strength
• Playing games with your teams such as
Thinkards will keep your team thinking
– Thinkards is also a simple way of getting
people to realize there are multiple solutions to
a problem, not one… theirs
Questions