"Education and Innovation are the currency of the 21^st century"  - President Barack Obama - 4^th June 2009 - The Cairo address.

Who is it for?

Creativity is something that everyone, regardless of their role or level, can be a part of and contribute to. Successful organisations ensure that their creative teams comprise a diverse range of people. This workshop is designed for all executives, managers, professionals and advisors who are concerned with making their organisation more innovative in the face of growing competition and the emergence of new business models.

Lateral Thinking for individuals – Empowers and maximises your ability to generate ideas and problem solve, invaluable to any organisation. The tools and techniques you develop can be applied across a wide range of business and personal challenges, enabling you to make a real difference.

Lateral Thinking for managers - Creativity and problem-solving are essential 21st-century management skills, as is the ability to support people's capabilities through empowerment. We often develop groups of managers from one organisation through our in-house training option. This creates a network focused on changing the processes and mindset of the organisation, as well as implementing the techniques when they return to the workplace. Innovation is not necessarily about creating new things – it's about innovating to improve existing processes.

Lateral Thinking for senior managers and leaders – Creativity is at the top of the leadership agenda, according to a study by IBM. Be seen to take ownership of leading innovation, walking the talk and understanding how your organisation works. Leaders use creativity to intellectually challenge and generate ideas from across the business and multiple disciplines, encouraging and enabling collaboration and a more engaged workforce.

What's it all about?

The challenge - With the ever-increasing pressure to provide added value in everything we do, it has become a necessity for managers and staff to be consistently innovative if modern organisations are to survive.

In an increasingly competitive world, traditional problem-solving methods can only take us so far. We need to go beyond problem-solving to generate new concepts and new ways of doing things. Indeed, we must learn to do so 'on demand', instead of just hoping we will somehow stumble upon an innovative idea.

How this workshop will help - Lateral Thinking is a systematic approach to the creative thinking process. Delegates learn to use deliberate techniques to stimulate creativity and, as a result, gain a competitive advantage.

What will you get out of it?

Lateral Thinking will equip you with solid, practical methods for challenging current thinking:

• You'll learn how to harness your creativity so that it works for you when you need it.
• You'll learn to solve problems and generate new ideas to meet the challenges of the modern business environment.
• You'll leave with skills that you have practised and can apply immediately on return to your workplace.

What will your organisation get out of it?

Dr de Bono's Lateral Thinking methods provide a deliberate, systematic process that will result in innovative thinking by anyone who takes the time to learn and practise the skills. You will learn how to:

• Address problems with more effective ideas for immediate results.
• Increase your number of new and practical ideas dramatically.
• Challenge your organisation's current thinking (constructively).
• Find alternative solutions.
• Turn problems into opportunities.

Every workshop is delivered by a fully accredited trainer, ensuring a maximum return on your training investment.

Typical workshop content

The Need for Creative Thinking

• The limits of logical thinking.
• Why creative thinking is a learnable set of skills.

The Lateral Thinking Techniques

• Alternatives - How to use 'concepts' as a breeding ground for new ideas.
• Focus - The discipline of defining your focus from the outset, and sticking to it. How to generate and use a 'creative hit list'.
• Challenge - Breaking free from the limits of the accepted ways of operating.
• Random entry - Using unconnected input to open up new lines of thinking.
• Provocation and movement - Explore the nature of perception and how it limits our creativity. Provocation techniques are designed to challenge these limitations. Movement is a new mental operation that we can use as an alternative to judgment. It allows us to develop a provocative idea into one that is workable and realistic. 

Implementation of Ideas

• Harvesting - At the end of a creative thinking session, we usually only take note of the specific ideas that seem practical and have obvious value. We need to make a deliberate effort to collect ideas and concepts that are less well-developed.
• Treatment of ideas - How to develop ideas and shape them towards their practical application in your business.

Duration and delivery methods available

2-day full Lateral Thinking workshop - Indigo is proud to be an official distributor and training partner for Edward de Bono Limited. Lateral Thinking is a practical two-day workshop available as:

• Public workshops are available online (via Zoom) and in person in the UK.
• Online learning or face-to-face training at your choice of date and location, worldwide, for groups or teams. Delivery can be split into multiple days or sessions.
• One-to-one coaching.

Individual or combined module delivery - In addition to the full 2-day workshop, each 2-hour module can be delivered individually or combined to address specific challenges or areas of your creative thinking process that require development or guidance. Please contact us to learn more.

de Bono's Course in Creativity™ - Lateral Thinking can also be combined with Six Thinking Hats® to provide a complete business thinking and creativity workshop. Find out more about de Bono's Course in Creativity™ here.

Training for trainers

Accrediting your own trainers is the most cost-effective way to offer Edward de Bono's Lateral Thinking within your organisation or to your clients. After attending the workshop as a delegate, you or your in-house trainers will be taught by some of Indigo's globally recognised Master Trainers, who have been specially authorised to train these programmes to other trainers, to the highest standard. Once successful, you will be authorised to dovetail our award-winning programmes into your organisation's training plans, at a fraction of the normal cost.

• Find out more about the public Trainer Accreditation.
• Find out more about the steps you need to take to become an Accredited Trainer.
• Enquire about training for trainers.

Indigo Business Services is proud to be a:

"Delivered exactly as advertised, practical tools, theory, guidance, and ideas on how to use when back at work."

Continuous Professional Development (CPD)

Lateral Thinking can count towards your CPD recognition with leading professional bodies and trade organisations. You can usually record your attendance in the 'organised learning' or 'self-learning' sections. Please check with your membership organisation for more information.