What's wrong with this De Bono picture?
(Pam) My team and I paid a small fee to attend an overview of De Bono techniques with an experienced De Bono trainer from the US. We had been told to expect a 3 hour workshop with these techniques, but what we got was a 1 hour formal powerpoint presentation giving the names of the techniques with no details whatsoever - a thinly disguised sales pitch that we paid to attend! What made it all the more galling were several details that totally compromised everything I've learned in the last years working in enhancing the creativity of groups.
The presenter/trainer/facilitators were wearing sharp, blue suits with ties, the "workshop" was a formal powerpoint presentation with no participation or interaction, set up like a lecture theatre. The presenter asked the audience for some creative responses at one point, then proceeded to say that most were wrong and one was correct! I believe that divergent thinking is one of the main principles of creativing good ideas...
Finally he ended his presentation by summing up the following "trends":
- technology is changing the way we work and making innovation happen faster
- people's lives are faster these days
- the population is getting older
If those count as trends then "consumers want value for money" is an insight!!!!
He also mentioned that it's relatively easy running workshops in an organisation - but harder to change the actual culture - without giving any points on how to change the culture. I felt so patronised at the end, and angry for wasting our time. To make matters worse, when I complained, in a polite yet strongly worded email, they responded by asking if their sales person could come and see us to discuss our needs! We don't have needs! We are already 7 years ahead of these people, if not more.
Anyhow - just a rant from me. And to give you the same test he gave us:
What's wrong with this picture (of a lightbulb moment).
Our answers:
It's a man
He's in a suit
He's alone
This is a powerpoint presentation
There are only white people on the slide (there were 3 pictures like this).
But he said no - what's wrong with this picture is that the lightbulb has no powersource (to an analogy of creativity needing a power source to feed it). We all know - all of those answers are right - and if he was clever enough, all of the answers would have proved his point as well.
The presenter/trainer/facilitators were wearing sharp, blue suits with ties, the "workshop" was a formal powerpoint presentation with no participation or interaction, set up like a lecture theatre. The presenter asked the audience for some creative responses at one point, then proceeded to say that most were wrong and one was correct! I believe that divergent thinking is one of the main principles of creativing good ideas...
Finally he ended his presentation by summing up the following "trends":
- technology is changing the way we work and making innovation happen faster
- people's lives are faster these days
- the population is getting older
If those count as trends then "consumers want value for money" is an insight!!!!
He also mentioned that it's relatively easy running workshops in an organisation - but harder to change the actual culture - without giving any points on how to change the culture. I felt so patronised at the end, and angry for wasting our time. To make matters worse, when I complained, in a polite yet strongly worded email, they responded by asking if their sales person could come and see us to discuss our needs! We don't have needs! We are already 7 years ahead of these people, if not more.
Anyhow - just a rant from me. And to give you the same test he gave us:
What's wrong with this picture (of a lightbulb moment).Our answers:
It's a man
He's in a suit
He's alone
This is a powerpoint presentation
There are only white people on the slide (there were 3 pictures like this).
But he said no - what's wrong with this picture is that the lightbulb has no powersource (to an analogy of creativity needing a power source to feed it). We all know - all of those answers are right - and if he was clever enough, all of the answers would have proved his point as well.
posted by ROInnovation at 12:21 PM
3 Comments:
Holy crap! I'm both dumbfounded and yet not-in-the-least surprised. I am continually disappointed by "Innovation facilitators" and the bad name that they give the profession of innovation consulting / ideation.
In the same vein, I just returned from the PSFK Conference, which was very much focused on innovation. The "Creative Directors" of agency after agency stumbled through their presentations - it was appalling. The worst example through, was the head of Fahrenheit 212, an innovation consultancy, who for 30 minutes simply read his presentation from a script! How ironic that the head of an innovation agency has to script his presentation because he can't think on his feet! The bar in this space is so low - it is begging for more experienced and informed entrants.
I would love to know the name of the de Bono expert whose overview you attended. Our company is responsible for both certifying trainers in de Bono methods and making sure that our representatives are up to our clients' high standards. Please see www.debonothinkingsystems.com to check for yourself the names of authorized de Bono trainers.
Kathy Myers, President, de Bono Thinking Systems
Hi there Kate
Sorry I'm so late in replying - the trainer's name was Chuck Dymer, and he is an accredited and very experienced trainer. It made it all the more disappointing, to be honest. Perhaps you can get his perspective.
Pam
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