Goggles Let Us See All Around

Thinking tools allow us to ‘catch a cloud’…put borders or frameworks on intangible, often fleeting thoughts, in the shape of the functionality of the tool. Goggles Frame is one of these tools.

In the same way a child will learn what a hammer DOES (bangs nails or other protruding bits) when he learns what it IS, we can learn what thinking tools do, what their function is in handling information, when we learn what the tool is.

I had the great good fortune to work for many years with Dr. Edward DeBono, the world leader in teaching thinking as a skill and creator of the concept of lateral thinking. (That’s his brain-based version of creativity, which we’ll get to another day.) I continue to be a student studying the deeper & wider issues of cognition and human potential, and was also the first Accredited Master Trainer of DeBono in Education worldwide. I have since trained successors, as I left the UK to return home to the US.

The DeBono method of thinking contains several batteries of tools, including DATT- Direct Attention Thinking Tools, Six Thinking Hats- a systems approach to thinking, Lateral Thinking- for creativity and innovation on demand, and some others. The tools are simple, and given names so it’s easy to remember them and connect their function with the name. Some have hand motions first used in the noisy, dark coal mines of South Africa when multiple tribes spoke various languages, and the tools became one of the first means of communication with each other. Each is designed to assist in expanding perception in order to gain a wide range of insights and perspectives from which to think more broadly and  make more informed decisions.

One of the most useful tools, sometimes referred to as the Swiss Army knife thinking tool, is what DeBono calls: PMI- Plus, Minus, Interesting. I refer to it as the Goggles Frame, because goggles allow you to see clearly all around you in a variety of environments and conditions.  Using this tool requires you to leave your emotions at the door and explore all three directions with equal voracity, especially when targeted at a clearly defined thinking focus issue. You have to role play each aspect, as honestly and rigorously as you can, pulling out points AS IF you supported that view.

What are all the plus-points or positives about the issue you are focusing on? Set either a time limit (1-5 minutes, depending on the complexity of the issue), or a specific number- say, 5. Write them down.

Then, regardless of your views plus or minus, you look at as many minus points or downsides as you can think of and write those down using the same time frame or number limit.

And finally, you consider all the interesting points on the issue- these include wider related issues, long term impact, ancillary things that will inpact on or be impacted on by the issue. Use the full time or go for at least as many ideas here too. In fact, the more the better to choose from in the next phase of thinking.

With this 360 degree view, if you have been rigorous, you should have a fair assessment of the issue from which to make decisions, take next steps, take it further or let it be…. in any case you will be better, more comprehensively, informed on that specific thinking issue.

Tomorrow I’ll demonstrate an example so you can see and try out this simple yet powerful Goggles Frame in action.