EDWARD DE BONO'S MESSAGE
23rd November 1997

"Parliamentary Six Hats"!

I have just returned to the UK from a long trip to Australia and South East Asia. In Sabah I addressed most of the members of the legislative assembly. Perhaps they will be the first parliament in the world to use parallel thinking of the Six Hats instead of normal argument. This would be interesting.

In most public services there is a need for two special units. The "Speed up" unit would take over responsibility for any delays that fell outside the norm. The unit would investigate such delays and put pressure on those responsible. The unit would also work to tackle the blocks, bottlenecks etc.

The "Creativity Unit" would receive innovative ideas from within the public service. These ideas would be discussed and developed. The unit would then take over responsibility for seeing whether anything could be done with the ideas. In a sense the unit would be a "friend of the innovators". In any hrierarchical organisation an individual has very little muscle and most management prefers the easy life to the innovative one. The Creativity Unit could provide a needed bypass to immediate management.

Edward de Bono
15th November 1997
Malaysia