Seminar Title: Lateral Thinking

Length: 16 hours

Format: two 8-hour sessions, offered once per week over two weeks, presented as an in-person event

Maximum Class Size: 25 attendees

Presented by:Tim Higgins (contact info below)

Registration Fee: there is a $120 fee to attend, payable to Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne

Prerequisites: attend Enterprise Thinking and Six Thinking Hats within the past 12 to 14 months

Description: This seminar provides participants with a number of deliberate, formal tools for creative thinking followed with opportunities to practice building usable skills. Seminar content is based on the work of Edward de Bono, an international authority on creative thinking and the direct teaching of thinking skills. Edward de Bono's Lateral Thinking tools are based directly on how the brain functions as a self-organizing information system. Here are some notes from Edward de Bono on the definition of Lateral Thinking:

1. You cannot dig a hole in a different place by digging the same hole deeper.
2. Lateral Thinking is for changing concepts and perceptions instead of trying harder with the same concepts and perceptions.
3. In self-organizing information systems, asymmetric patterns are formed.

Lateral Thinking is a method for cutting across from one pattern to another. This course develops skill in the use of the Lateral Thinking tools by means of practice exercises. Skills learned will build upon concepts covered in other classes on the Thinking Roadmap, including Enterprise Thinking, Six Thinking Hats, and Kepner-Tregoe's Problem Solving and Decision Making techniques.

Target Audience: Team members and team managers who have the need to generate new ideas deliberately and systematically.

Organization Issues: If people do not know how to be creative, then exhorting them to do so is useless. In order to continuously improve and innovate, all team members must think creatively together. Once creativity tools are mastered, motivation to be creative increases sharply with new confidence in our ability to innovate.

Objectives: At the completion of the seminar, participants will be able to systematically use the Lateral Thinking tools to generate new ideas so that they can effectively innovate and improve at work and in the community.

Contact: Tim can be reached by e-mail at timothy.higgins@pwr.utc.com for additional information about this seminar.