jansport - packing creativity
JanSport revolutionizes work processes using
Dr. Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats & Lateral Thinking
The Mission
After careful analysis, JanSport decided that in order to remain the leader in their industry, they needed to implement a team approach to company projects. JanSport soon discovered, however, that their employees were not yet equipped with the thinking tools necessary to make the transition to a team-based work environment.
JanSport leaders saw both the need and the opportunity to capitalize on and nurture these newly created teams using an alternative approach to training. The first step was to evaluate and tailor JanSport's current training offerings to meet the demands of the new team-based initiative to ensure its success.
Research and analysis of the JanSport culture revealed a strong need for thinking skills training. JanSport's dilemma was not unique; recent nationwide surveys show that 40% of managers believe employees do not receive training that is designed to improve thinking skills, yet 66% of workers say they are pressured to discover new solutions to ever-changing problems.
As the Human Resource team at JanSport began investigating constructive and creative thinking skills, they decided their entire workforce needed training in these areas. As a way to create interest in the training and to foster energy throughout the company, the team decided JanSport's top executives should be among the first participants. JanSport recruited Certified Edward de Bono thinking methods Trainer, Jay Wenberg, to conduct the thinking training and to facilitate practice of the newly learned processes.
The Project
After assessing the company's current training offering, the results of focus groups, and their training needs analysis, the planning team selected a four-day series of workshops for 125 participants: one day each of Dr. Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking courses, accompanied by training on presentation skills and work process analysis.
Each of the 125 participants who attended the four-day workshops reported that they benefited most from the Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking sessions.
"In life and in work this is the most practical
and applicable training that I've had in my career--
it is changing the way we think and work at JanSport."
--Director of Product Development Brand Team
"This is the best training JanSport has EVER had."
--VP of Sales for Major Brand & Senior VP of Sales
"If I want hugs I'll go home. Training is often
warm and fuzzy, but this stuff works."
--Participant in Training Sessions
Due to this overwhelming response, the Human Resource department collaborated with the executives using Six Hats as the framework to develop and initiate a strategy for training all salaried employees in the Six Thinking Hats. Jay Wenberg, returned for an additional week of Six Thinking Hats training and conducted facilitations for several teams using the de Bono thinking tools.
Five Brand Teams and four Non-Brand Teams (work teams with non-product focuses) participated in the training. Jay was amazed at how quickly the tools were being integrated throughout the organization. Mid-week, a member of the technical team proclaimed to Jay, "This is wonderful! We have a common language around here now." Reinforcing the training with hands-on facilitation and practice was the key to success.
The Results
IDEA GENERATION WITH LATERAL THINKING
The Brand Team, a diverse group ranging from financial analysts to design coordinators, used the thinking tools effectively to develop new product ideas for a very successful type of backpack. Using Top-of-the-Head thinking, the team generated thirty-five ideas on what the backpack might offer JanSport's customers in the future. Next, the Lateral Thinking methods of Concept Extraction and Random Entry were used to generate fifty additional ideas; 95% of the eighty-five ideas generated were result of using Lateral Thinking techniques.
The brand manager was so impressed by this session and its output that he brought Jay back in to meet with members of their agency, sales force, and marketing trend organizations to focus on this particular pack and what it would look like going forward. This session generated forty ideas in addition to the original eighty-five.
Dr. de Bono summed it up best when he said, "Lateral Thinking gives you the power to see past blind spots-to find new patterns and new concepts. It gives you the power to create new, valuable ideas on demand."
"I have spent 18 years doing various kinds of training from coaching to performance management. Never in my career within organizations or in my own business have I had the opportunity to see the results of my training or consulting show up in new or existing products. Only since my certification in all of the de Bono programs have I been able to achieve this."
--Jay Wenberg
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