1. De Bono’s Thinkard Game Dan Feliciano Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt Dan@DanFeliciano.com www.DanFeliciano.com

2. Why Bother with Thinkards To facilitate Thinking Your brain is the most important thing you have. Many organizations’ market value is a function of their ability to think –…Every employees ability to think Thinkard games is about Thinking and learning to think

3. Why Don’t We Like Thinking? Thinking is hard work Thinking is boring Thinking is someone else’s job –I don’t get paid to think, therefore I don’t get paid much!

4. Thinkard Games Memory Judgment – similar to Goldfish Alternative stories - draw four cards and construct a story using the four cards in the order they where drawn Logical Sequence – draw five cards and place them in a logical sequence, explain the logic Design a Tourist Attraction – five cards are drawn, design a tourist attraction based on the five cards. Your scored on the number of cards used. Problem-solving – And tens more, if not hundreds

5. Using Thinkards to Demonstrate Problem-Solving As you know, there are many solutions to a problem –If you can only think of one solution for a problem, shame on you Many managers and people get hung-up on a specific solution to solve a problem. Why is that?

6. Problem-Solver Game Using de Bono’s Thinkards Using the five cards you receive –Solve the following problem –A person has fallen into a river and is being carried downstream. Create a story using the cards you have about how could you rescue the person. –The more cards you use the more points your receive. You have 10 minutes to write your story on the Poster board. –Select a person to explain how your team would rescue this person Do Not write on the cards! Each team has a different set of cards to solve the same problem The Thinkards will be rotated to most of the teams

7. Problem-Solver Rules Create a story, using the five cards, telling how you would rescue a person who has fallen into a stream Write it on the poster board Use as many cards as possible Don’t let the other teams hear your solution. You have 10 minutes Don’t Write on the Thinkards

8. Present Your Results Explain why your story / solution is different than another team’s Is your solution better than the other team’s?

9. Don’t Accept One Solution When problem-solving; –Don’t allow your teams or employees to present one solution –There are multiple solutions to every problem –Have your team’s present 3 or more solutions / alternatives and present the pros and cons to each solution

10. Summary Your brain is a muscle and like all other muscles, it requires exercise to maintain its strength Playing games with your teams such as Thinkards will keep your team thinking –Thinkards is also a simple way of getting people to realize there are multiple solutions to a problem, not one… theirs

11. Questions