25 May 2001

PUT ON YOUR THINKING HATS - CALL TO TOP MANAGERS

Business leaders and senior managers in Northern Ireland were urged today to put on 'Six Thinking Hats' to help their companies beat business competitors in international markets.

The advice came from Dr Sean Farren, Minister for Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment, who said: "Today's business environment is changing faster than ever before. Creative thinking by top managers is, therefore, essential if they are to ensure their companies succeed, perhaps even survive.

"Local managers can learn how to become more efficient and competitive from internationally renowned experts such as Dr Edward de Bono who is coming to Northern Ireland early next month," he said.

Dr de Bono is holding a Masterclass on ‘Creative Thinking’ at the Hilton Hotel in Templepatrick on 6 June, at which will many of his techniques including parallel thinking and his ‘Six Thinking Hats’ technique will be examined.

The event is being organised by the Beeches Management Centre in partnership with the Department of Higher and Further Education, Training & Employment.

There has been an excellent response to the Masterclass but a few places are still available.

Those attending will be exposed to different management techniques, such as parallel thinking - a practical tool designed to encourage co-operation, exploration and innovation within a team. They will be required to identify a task or problem using the same style and in a co-ordinated and co-operative way.

Dr Farren added: "If Northern Ireland is to compete successfully in the global economy, business leaders and company managers need to be constantly reviewing their systems and processes in the search of continuous improvement."

Dr Bono’s "Six Thinking Hats" is now recognised worldwide as a means of producing efficiency measures. This approach has been used by blue chip organisations such as IBM, NASA, Texas Instruments and Prudential and has been shown to result in shorter meetings and more effective outcomes.

The aim of the Masterclass is to refine and develop skills in systematic analysis; creative thinking; conflict reduction; productivity and generation of better quality solutions that go far beyond the obvious.

Those interested in seeking further information on the Masterclasses and booking arrangements should make contact with Creative Events (NI) Ltd at telephone (028) 9023 5001 or by e-mail at ascendants@creativeevents.co.uk.

NOTE TO EDITORS:

The Creative Thinking masterclass is the third in the series of six, each of which has proved immensely popular with managers and business leaders. A limited number of places remain at the other planned Ascendants masterclass events which will feature Gerard Egan (Strategic Performance Management), Richard Boyatzis (Emotional Intelligence) and Cary L Cooper (Working In The Future).