How to make “Time for Thinking” in large organisations?

One very effective way to make time for thinking is to produce a Creative Hitlist.  This should be a mix of opportunities and issues e.g. 10 opportunities and 5 issues.  These are subjects on which you need to do some creative thinking and this approach brings the need for thinking to the forefront of your mind.

It is also important that there is clearly an expectation in the organisation that new ideas will be generated. This starts to make “Time for Thinking” a part of the culture.

Another way this can be encouraged is by asking for people to send back their feedback and thinking on a topic using Six Thinking Hats® as a structure.  This increases the probability of people actually thinking things through more objectively rather than responding with their predetermined ideas on a subject.