Having weathered the turbu-
lent economy for the last
one year or so, as we enter the new phase with the hope that
it will present opportunities never seen before, it gives us a reason
for cheer and to look at the environment with optimism. At the
same, time, we are witnessing a lack of industrial harmony, due to which,
industries are facing lot of challenges to keep their business running. If
we take a look around us, we find that a number of industries have not
only put their growth plans on hold, but are also fighting for their very
survival due to industrial unrest. Do we have an appropriate strategy
to tackle the menace and, more importantly, are we prepared to turn
these challenges into opportunities? So, the need of the hour is to take a
proactive approach. Having faced turbulent times, some of the
emerging companies took the path of innovating their human force for
facing any eventualities in future. This became evident in one of the
Mumbai-based media firms, which wanted to reinvent themselves in the light
of new thought processes to cope with the rising expectations from the
client base. It is very apt to describe the backdrop of `Green Shoots', an
Ad-agency of Mumbai, in terms of its increasing work demands and
complexities that prove to be a fitting context for the proposed line
of thinking on creative lines.
This is not a typical scenario and must have been repeated
thousands of times, may be in several organizations in recent times.
Green Shoots has been facing a big problem. A decision made on the
business expansion path months ago has now caused sharply declining
results. A big meeting was called, and all the staff entered the
conference room with something different on their mind. The research wing
had an armful of charts, research, and data depicting the path of
the project. The creative department sketched up a new campaign
that could improve the visibility of the firm. The marketing manager
was unsure, if she would be around after the meeting. And the office
manager arrogantly recalled how she suggested it was a bad idea to begin
with. The meeting quickly turned into a discussion that even more
quickly become an argument about whose perspective had more merit
and sense of application. Each person's emotional attachment to
his/her point of view and the verbal commitment to the position
made considering other options difficult, leading to a stalemate. The
team `leader' knew that the way out of the impasse was to consider a wide
range of options to resolve the problem. These were some problems
which led to the origin of `Six Thinking Hats' at Green Shoots, which
are presented here. Each hat represents a different point of view, while
reading a situation. The Green Shoots context provides a lead for the
proposed `Six Thinking Hats' as a solution for meeting the scenario
of business dilemmas emanating in recent times. It also highlights
how the current workplaces demand new patterns of management. |
