How do you and your team make decisions? Do you: Jump on the most likely-looking solution, because you’re pushed for time? Listen to the person with the most experience? Look to the past and see what worked and whether it … Continue reading
Create a culture of dynamic meetings
Most meetings don’t work hard enough. Don’t take our word for it: A 2016 study estimates that inefficient meetings cost the UK economy £582m per week, with one in three people reporting that many of their meetings are unnecessary. 95% … Continue reading
Getting stronger outputs from innovation
A common challenge in innovation was summed up succinctly by one of our clients: “We’re pretty good at idea generation. But at the end of the session we have 300 post-its and no idea what to do next. Someone takes … Continue reading
Master the knowledge economy with rigorous, dynamic group thinking
Intelligence is a commodity. Expertise is valuable. The worlds of industry and commerce are moving ever faster thanks to advances in technology. There are many advantages to this. Revolutions in remote working and quick communication mean that we never need … Continue reading
Thinking for success
Stephanie Butland – de Bono Master Facilitator and Trainer: Six Thinking Hats®, Lateral Thinking and Focus On Facilitation™ The business world moves quickly, and however much we plan, we can never be ready for everything. Changes in legislation, budget cuts, … Continue reading
Engaging stakeholders
The skills required to understand, engage, manage and communicate with stakeholders. By Trish Thurley, Indigo Master Trainer and Richard Evans Stakeholder management can be the difference between success and failure for anyone who has to deal with other people. Who … Continue reading
Ever wanted to just get up and walk out of a meeting?
By Ragini Krishnadas Meetings consume huge amounts of time for most of us, our customers tell us that these are often the least productive elements of their day. “That was so worthwhile!” When was the last time you walked out of … Continue reading
Eco bottle caps double as Lego blocks. Classic Lateral Thinking in action.
Brazil-based innovative packaging developer Clever Caps offer an environmentally friendly solution to the production of bottle caps – while also adding value to the objects to encourage consumers to re-use them. We like this classic use of Lateral Thinking and Provocation that Edward de Bono would be proud of. Continue reading
Creativity for graduates
I’m Olivia, you may have read my other blog ‘The graduate: a day in the life’. I was lucky enough to attend two of Edward de Bono’s most popular techniques Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats® and Lateral Thinking™. This … Continue reading
The Graduate: A day in the life
Being a graduate is scary. This year’s cohort of freshly graduated newbies to the workplace are the second year group to leave university lumbered with higher debt than ever, with more pressure than ever to perform and succeed. I am … Continue reading
My day is just meetings, meetings, meetings…
Does this sound like a familiar problem? Too many of us find ourselves spending many hours a day in meeting after meeting, which all too often fail to reach any sort of positive outcome, even after hours of debate. The … Continue reading
Will your idea work?
So, ‘innovation is a part of your culture’ and you have accepted that ‘change is inevitable…’ You have set your focus and generated fresh, fast and on-demand ideas, so what next? Do you just pop them in a box somewhere … Continue reading
Where do you do your best thinking?
In the shower… Driving in the car… Lying in bed… Exercising… Gardening… Dancing… We ask this question at our Six Thinking Hats® training sessions. If you are like 95% of people we’ve surveyed… your answer is doing something alone that … Continue reading
Ideas on-demand: fresh ideas, fast = competitive advantage
Our article ‘Is innovation a part of your culture?’ looks at how many organisations want to be innovative or creative, yet the people at the top of the organisation cannot often elaborate on how or if this happens. In this article we … Continue reading
Is innovation a part of your culture?
Many organisations have mission or vision statements that suggest they are an innovative or creative organisation, yet the people at the top of the organisation can often not elaborate on how, or if this happens. Often just putting people in … Continue reading
Change – is inevitable…
Change in business is constant. The 2016 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, in Davos, focused on ‘employment, skills and human capital’. It found that successful organisations need to ensure their employees have the skills to be able to innovate, evaluate … Continue reading
Before starting a project…
We’ve heard from our clients that no matter what the individual’s role, they will have projects to look after. Large or small, simple or complex, these individuals are often not project management qualified. This is presenting a challenge for organisations … Continue reading
A typical day?
By Stephanie Butland – Master Trainer, Six Thinking Hats® You arrive on time at your first meeting, to find that there is a clear focus and an agenda. There are no lengthy anecdotes, no arguments, and none of the jostling … Continue reading
Indigo Update – Autumn 2015
Welcome to our Autumn Indigo Update. There’s been a lot going on behind the scenes here at Indigo. We’ve been listening to your feedback, and over the next few months we’ll be bringing you some more exciting launches and offers – fulfilling our mission to … Continue reading
Clients take Indigo everywhere.
With 2015 looking like being the busiest in our 14 year history, Indigo has witnessed a major upturn in the number of international workshops we’ve been invited to run. Recent training projects have taken us to Saudi Arabia, Bangalore, New York, Sydney, Singapore (to name just a few) and many cities throughout Europe. But what has been behind this trend? We think there are a couple of fundamental reasons: Continue reading
Dr Edward de Bono’s Top 10 quotes on negativity in meetings
Meetings are hard work and unproductive when colleagues spend most of their time thinking of reasons why something won’t work. Dr Edward de Bono is the world’s leading authority on how to get the best out of people’s thinking. We … Continue reading
You can be Big, Bold, and Agile – Dr Edward de Bono
Large organisations can get bad press for being unwieldy and lacking in imagination and smaller companies tend to get good press for being nimble and innovative. But the story is not so straight forward. Big companies are in a unique … Continue reading
Lean project management – isn’t that the point?
When an organisation needs to make a strategic improvement, it needs to flex its project management muscles. Good project managers get to work defining and planning the project – identifying key deliverables. The deliverables are the benefits that will be … Continue reading
It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it
Bill Barnett – 8th May 2013 I had a fantastic day training yesterday, courtesy of my good friends at Indigo, playing on their “Stakeholder Engagement (including Simulation)™” simulator. The simulator is a great piece of kit, which actually takes participants … Continue reading
Can you laterally think?
Personally I have, until recently, considered ‘lateral thinking’ to be a buzz-phrase. Often when I hear it, my children are preparing a contrived, stupendously hard to answer question, with a blatantly obvious solution – existing only in hindsight. These playful … Continue reading
Indigo sponsor scientists through a “Dragons Den” style competition…
Indigo are thrilled to announce that, for the third successive year, we are a proud sponsor of the Environment YES (Young Entrepreneurs Scheme) competition this December 2013. This innovative scheme raises levels of entrepreneurial awareness amongst PhD students and post doctoral researchers working in the environmental sciences. Continue reading
Dr de Bono – you can be Big, Bold and Agile
Large organisations can get bad press for being unwieldy and lacking in imagination and smaller companies tend to get good press for being nimble and innovative. But the story is not so straight forward. Continue reading
Try Before You Buy – The Free Webinar Line-Up
In these cost conscious times,we appreciate that it is often difficult to get approval to attend a workshop. For this reason we have created a number of FREE webinars to help you gain a clearer understanding of our events, before you decide which one to attend. Continue reading
Edward de Bono confirmed as keynote at the Learning Technologies / Skills Conference 2012
Indigo is thrilled to partner with the thirteenth annual Learning Technologies Conference on 25th January Creativity expert and author, Dr Edward de Bono, will open with a keynote speech on one of the fundamental issues facing business: how we think! Continue reading
Free Webinars – Indigo’s “try before you buy” series.
In these cost conscious times, and with travel budgets being cut, we appreciate that it is often difficult to get approval to attend a workshop, without a full understanding of how it will meet your training requirements, and link to your companies strategic plan. For this reason we have created a number of free webinars to help you gain a clear understanding of our events, before you decide which one to attend. Continue reading
Edward de Bono Update – The Audacity of Thinking
“The motivation of politicians is to survive,” he points out as he recounts an anecdote later about when he told British Prime Minister David Cameron in a letter to appoint a Minister of Thinking. “They’re always cautious about taking an initiative which could expose them to criticism.” Continue reading
The de Bono Message: “100 Years From Now…”
If we take a hundred year perspective from now, what is going to be seen to be important? A lot of things which seem very central and important at the moment will be seen to be trivial and peripheral. Continue reading
You’re hired! Why innovation is the key to business success.
Every year I say I am not going to get hooked on the BBC’s hit show ‘The Apprentice’, and then it draws me in and I am there to the bitter end! But at least, this year’s record viewing figures for the show prove that I was not the only one! But what struck me with this year’s change of circumstances – with the candidates vying to become business partners with Lord Sugar – was that, as well as the ‘nice guy’ coming first; this was a triumph for innovation too. Continue reading
Calling all trainers – Free Webinar: 2pm, 1st June 2011
Organisations are desperately searching for proven, practical tools to ramp-up the creative thinking capacity of their workforce. Yet we frequently hear clients saying “We know we need to be more creative, but we don’t know how”. What’s the Problem? Increased … Continue reading
The de Bono Message – Comfort for Defeat
How often do we deliberately design comfort for others? In an argument do we seek to design a comfortable way for the other party to accept defeat? Continue reading
Six Hats = Smart Business – nothing silly about it!
Recently, while keeping an eye on the virtual market place, we noticed that someone had taken our YouTube clip of Dr. Edward de Bono describing the Six Thinking Hats®, and added Arabic sub-titles to it! Continue reading
Indigo client is University of the Year
A small blog entry to say HUGE congratulations to the University of York; one of our premium clients recently recognised as the Times Higher Education University of the Year! (See full article at http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=414419) Continue reading
What’s keeping the CEO’s of global businesses up at night?
In this new era of perpetual change, rapid innovation and global competition, it may come as no surprise to learn that recent surveys indicate CEO’s worry most about… wait for it …UNCERTAINTY! Continue reading
YES! Indigo help science and commerce mix at London’s County Hall
Indigo sponsor Environment YES 2010 – An innovative competition harnessing the best science brains with commercial know-how. Continue reading
Six Thinking Hats® in action at mark-making*
At Indigo we are always eager to hear from our clients after their training. The key measure of Indigo’s success is how our customers benefit from the practical use of our Creativity, Communication and Project Management training. Here is a … Continue reading
The de Bono Weekly Message – Do you recognise this problem?
The human brain is designed to recognise. I described in detail how the brain does this in my book “Mechanism of the Mind”. The leading physicist in the world liked my book and commissioned a team of computer experts to… Continue reading
Mastering Skills
Skill, innovation, Edward de Bono, communication, Project Management Continue reading
Lean thinking and creative thinking comes to life with Simplicity
Leaders in the public and private sector are being driven to do more with less. On the surface this does not seem to be rational. Surely the best we can hope for is doing the same with less? Since its … Continue reading
De Bono Update – All governments need a minister of thinking
New Delhi: Sell them to Playboy,” said the amiable 77-year-old guru of lateral thinking, Edward de Bono, after posing for pictures against a colourful backdrop at a Gurgaon hotel recently. The veteran creative thinker (and qualified physician), who believes that “thinking” must be taught as a subject in schools, was in India and spoke about his big idea for India in this interview. Continue reading
Mission Impossible?
You don’t need to look at many company websites before you realise that most organisations claim to be creative. Their bold mission statements are very clear – being ‘creative’ and ‘innovative’ is what sets them apart from their competitors. But … Continue reading
The de Bono Weekly Message – “We need to add”
Complacent, adequate, sufficient all imply that something is not wrong or bad. Our normal language and thinking behaviour does not have a convenient way of saying: “That is excellent but not enough”. Or we might need to say “That is excellent but that is only part of the picture”. Dr Edward de Bono Continue reading
Turn up the air con: this organisational ‘heat’ is stifling my thinking
On a recent business trip to Humberside I travelled from London’s Kings Cross to Hull. A train journey I have happily completed on a number of occasions. Apart from this time: the carriages were sweltering for the entire 2 hours … Continue reading
Can life really be made more ‘simple’?…
Yesterday in Central London, 24 delegates at Indigo’s Simplicity™ workshop were finding out. Dr Edward de Bono’s workshop follows the success of his globally-renowned Simplicity book, and helps people recognise the value and need for simplicity, teaching a range of … Continue reading
ROI with ROEye
Clients are telling us that Return On Investment (ROI) is the primary consideration when making any strategic decision. And rightly so in these turbulent times. Whether in the private, public or charitable sector competition is fierce. Each pound spent needs … Continue reading
Can’t beat Tiger Woods? Give up golf!
· Certain people are born excellent communicators. Correct. · Others are naturally creative. Correct. · I am neither, and never will be. Wrong! Vital business skills, such as communication and creativity, can be learnt practised and mastered using practical techniques. … Continue reading
