Before you read any further, stop and consider what you believe your most important business assets are.
Take a minute. I’ll wait.
Personally, Dr Edward de Bono is one of my heroes, and I’m fortunate that I had the great pleasure to work with him.
It was Dr de Bono who coined the terms ‘parallel’ and ‘lateral’ thinking, but he is perhaps better known for his ‘Six Thinking Hats’; a theory that errors in our thinking are not errors in process, but errors in perception.
Psychologists are quick to remind us that our thinking is confused and confounded by internal biases, preconceived notions, and the stories we tell ourselves about our potential. Philosophically, it could be argued that every situation we encounter is understood through our projections and expectations.
To help us to process thoughts more effectively, we can employ some simple tools to better focus our thinking.
One of Dr de Bono’s lesser known tools was the ‘Six Value Medals’. He suggested that we would do well to run any business decision through the perceptual filters of six reminders related to our stated values and attitudes, or the ‘Medals’, in de Bono’s system.
Dr de Bono would suggest that when we make a business choice, it is worth asking the question “What impact will this decision make?”, answering it through the ‘lens’ of each of the Six Medals.
Briefly, his Six Medals are:
Brass: appearances and perceptions
Wood:
ecology, sustainability
Glass:
change, innovation, simplicity, and creativity
Steel:
quality, strength
Silver: goals, aims, objectives
Now, you may note that there are only five medals in the list above; the ‘Gold Medal’ being the obvious omission.
Dr de Bono defined the Gold Medal thus:
‘Gold is precious, and so are people. The gold medal asks, what matters to the people? Human values include pride, achievement, a sense of belonging, hope, trust, and growth.’
This takes us back to the very question asked at the beginning of this article.
Are you ignoring the most important asset of your business – the people in it?
Too many businesses put their customers and their clients in this ‘gold position’ and miss the point that unless those within the business are put first, there can be no quality of service for their clients – let alone innovation, creativity, and all those other essential elements for business productivity
and success.