Description: This seminar was designed to explore the philosophies of a variety of management theorists; (including but not limited to) Russell Ackoff, W. Edwards Deming, Edward de Bono, Genichi Taguchi, and Tom Johnson; as they apply to the performance of products, processes, and the delivery of services.  Among the topics of discussion will be the concepts of “better thinking about thinking” and “thinking together.”  A deeper understanding of these ideas and examples of their everyday use will provide direction for organizations to learn together and work together in new ways.  The seminar will introduce you to these ideas through a series of questions that are specially selected to create awareness of a new approach to working together, learning together, and thinking together. 

Target Audience: Anyone who is concerned about improving the effectiveness of individuals and organizations will gain from this seminar and leave with a new and deeper knowledge of the organizational environment, and connect to a growing network of participants across the U.S. and around the world.  Past participants include individual contributors, teams, senior managers, managing directors, managers, engineers, designers, artists, graduate and undergraduate students, human resource professionals, secretaries, office administrators, purchasing agents, accountants, health care professionals, civic leaders, university deans, and professors.

Organizational Issues: Individual and group proficiency in the principles and examples of "thinking together” is fundamental to organizations that “work together, learn together, and think together.”   In the new economy, the proficient utilization of thinking will be a necessary condition; fundamental to business competitiveness.  The aim of this seminar is to elevate the consciousness of individual and collective thinking about sub-systems, variation, knowledge, numbers, interactions and thinking patterns. 

Objectives: At the completion of the seminar the participants should have the ability to better identify, characterize, and interpret the vision of seamless organizations, wherein working together follows from the ability to better learn together and think together.   The objective of the seinar is to explore the potential of "InThinking" organizations and to reveal the practices and strategies of such environments. 

Cost: None

Pre-work: None

Materials Needed: None

Handouts: Available only to session attendees

Biography: Bill Bellows is an Associate Fellow in the InThinking Network at Aerojet Rocketdyne in Canoga Park, California, where he is known for his efforts to provide insights to the advantages of thinking together, learning together, and working together. Audiences for his classes have also reached after-school program in elementary schools, graduate students at Northwestern University, as well as corporate, university, and public classes across the United Kingdom. Bill earned his BS, MS, and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

Away from work, Bill serves as president of the In2:InThinking Network, and as a board member of the W. Edwards Deming Institute, and the Volunteers of America – Los Angeles chapter. He also serves on the editorial board, as well as a columnist, for the Lean Management Journal. He lives in Valencia, California, with wife, Monica.

Contact: Bill can be reached by e-mail at william.bellows@rocket.com for additional information about this Pre-Conference session

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/pub/bill-bellows/0/435/218/