Thinking Hats

Thinking is a natural process for human beings. We think that we think, but many times we don't think when it is required. Just having thoughts is not thinking. Thinking is a process, it requires effort and it results in some action.

To aid in thinking process Edward de Bono has designed a framework, it is called 'Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats'. These hats are imaginary; they are used to aid the thinking in one direction.

When it is used in groups, everyone wears the same hat then they will be thinking in the same direction in parallel.

The White Hat – The white hat indicates exclusive focus on information. Information like what is available, missing, required etc.

The Red Hat  - The red hat allows the free expression of feeling, intuition, hunches and emotions without apology and without explanation. The red hat asks the person to express the feeling at that point of time.

The Black Hat – The black hat is used for critical thinking. It is for caution and stops us doing things which are dangerous, damaging and unworkable. It is very useful but should not be overused in the name of being critical.

The Yellow Hat- The Yellow hat is logical positive hat. Under this hat one seeks the values and benefits. When the thinker is wearing this hat he looks to see how the idea can be made workable and put into practice.

The Green Hat – The Green hat is a creative hat, under the green hat the thinker looks at alternatives. It is action oriented and opens up new possibilities.

The Blue Hat -  The Blue hat is control hat, it is concerned with the management of the thinking process. It takes care of defining the problem and what is being thought about. "Thinking about what?"

There is no fixed sequence for using the hats, one best practice is to start with blue and end with blue and use the other hats in between.

This is a very brief overview of the Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats.

 Now the next step is observing how many times you think and how many times you are just having thoughts.  Then look at the various ideas which are not yet implemented (or problems not solved).

Start thinking about them using six hats. Go through the thinking process.  At the end you will have some action items and get into action without wasting your time.

Six hats is a tool that you can use.

The actions will you give you what you want, not just your ideas.  But what "Actions" you have to take will come from your Thinking!.   

The ‘un’ Professional – Part 2

This week, lets look at the points from Subroto Bagchi's book the  "The Professional", about what constitutes unprofessional conduct.

1.       Missing a deadline

You have given your DVD player for repair. How many times you receive it on time? If it is not ready do you get the communication?

 

2.       Non escalation of issues on time

Today is Monday; you know that your team will not complete the work by Friday to meet the dead line , when do you tell your customer that you will miss the deadline?

 

3.       Non – disclosure

How many times you disclose the conflict of interest in your business?

 

4.       Not respecting privacy of information

A famous personality might have taken a service from you. How many times you take consent from that person before sharing information about him/her?. Or son/daughter of a famous personality might be working in your team. Do you take care of their privacy?

 

5.       Not respecting "Need to know"

Do you take care of the confidentiality of information with your spouse, relatives and friends?

 

6.       Plagiarism

How many times you have come across people cut and pasting your slides and passing it as their own?

 

7.       Passing on the blame

When something goes wrong how many times you have taken responsibility? Or how many times you were blamed for others mistake?

 

8.       Overstating qualification and experience

How many times you have come across resumes stating 3 years experience when the technology itself is just 2 years old?

 

9.       Mindless job hopping                                                               

The attitude "I was OK, My organization was not"

 

10.   Unsuitable Appearance

Do you wear professional attire to suite your job? Do you maintain personal hygiene?

Look at these points from both as service provider and as consumer.

Many times we don't even expect a professional service from others, we keep on working on ourselves and try being professionals; others may be just taking your professionalism for granted, may be it is  time for you to start questioning that.

(Reference: Main points from The Professional – Subroto Bagachi )

 

The ‘un’ Professional

Yesterday I was going to a bank near my house. To avoid being guilty of adding to traffic chaos I choose to use the public transport. Within a few minutes I got into a bus. I gave 5 Rs to the conductor, he immediately gave few coins back to me and I was furious, I knew these guys cheat the public and the government, they are unprofessional. In a fraction of second all these thoughts crossed my mind. But next thing he did was took bundle of tickets from his bag and gave me a 3Rsticket and went ahead shouting "Tickets .. tickets".

  In the next stop a young man, smartly dressed came in.  When the conductor came, hegave few coins and said that he will get down at the near by stop. I could clearly see the conductor was not happy but he was not in a position to demand from the young man.

This incident made me to share few thoughts on being a Professional.

It is not enough that we behave professionally; we also should empower others to perform their duties professionally.

One way to distinguish what is being professional is to look at what is NOT professional.

Some of the traits or practices of being unprofessional I could list down are given here.

These apply to all roles, whether you are CEO or Security Guard or Sales Manager (and of course a software engineer!)

1.       Not honoring your commitments

2.       Taking-up roles for which you are not qualified/competent

3.       Not being in communication with  relevant stakeholders

4.       Not being punctual

5.       Engaging in gossip about the organization and/or co-workers

Founder of MindTree Subroto Bagchi has written book called "The Professional" covering various aspects of being a professional. We will cover some points from it in the next week's article.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Eight Sufferings

Buddha's first teaching after he got enlightened was that all life is suffering. Life is changing constantly and everything is impermanent. He distinguished these eight sufferings.

The first four are related to the physical body.

Birth, Old age, Sickness and Death

There is constant effort to avoid the suffering due to birth, old age, sickness and death. Though these are natural, people spend lot of effort and money to avoid these sufferings.

As soon as a person is born, the suffering starts with the expectation to perform well in the society.

People spend time and money in make-up, plastic surgery to avoid looking old, they think they can avoid aging.

Lot of money is spent to avoid falling sick. Finally people are not present that eventually they are going to die.  They fight for power and success as if they are going to live forever.

The other set of four sufferings are not physical they arise from mind.

Being separated from those you love – many time people go away from loved ones to create happiness, but the very act of being separated causes suffering.

Being in the presence of those you dislike

Like and dislike are the two sides of the same coin in the matter of suffering. People suffer when they are in the presence of people whom they dislike.

Not getting what you desire

There are enough things like the job, promotion, car, house and so on.  When people don't get what the desire, there is a suffering

The imbalance of five skandhas (heaps of energy)

The five skandhas are form(body), feelings,  perceptions, impulses and consciousness. When they are not in harmony like overweight (form) or being too emotional (feelings) causes suffering.

Once you see all these suffering from the context impermanence it will disappear. Nothing is permanent everything is changing and suffering is optional!  

(Source/Reference: Compass of Zen – Seung Sahn)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

200 N/O

The cricket website crickinfo reports " .. It took nearly 40 years of waiting and it was well worth it. Sachin Tendulkar chose one of the better bowling attacks doing the rounds, to eclipse the record for the highest score, before bringing up the first double-hundred in ODI history. The spectators at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium became the envy of cricket fans as they witnessed one of the country's favourite sporting heroes play a breathtaking innings which not only set up a 153-run annihilation but also the series victory."  

Yes !  It is once again Sachin Tendulkar creating a history by a scoring the first ever double century in the One Day Cricket.

Even if you are not a great follower of cricket, you can't escape the influence of this person. Watching him play is a joy and inspiration to millions of Indians.

I remember one particular incident; I think it is almost a decade ago, during world cup he lost his beloved father and he had rushed to India to attend the funeral. He missed one match in which India lost. Next match he was there and scored a century and dedicated it to his father. What a way pay tribute!

Like any other sports person when he was in his lean period, media wrote about his performance he did not say anything rather he showed it on the ground.

That is SACHIN TENDULKAR.