Summary:

ABB used the Six Thinking Hats to create a shortcut in the decision-making process, design a communications tool and enter a closed market.

Challenges:
Simplify decision-making process
Improve internal communications
Meet market needs and secure business

Methods:
Implement Six Thinking Hats in meetings where key decisions are discussed
Use Six Thinking Hats template for internal communications
Use Six Thinking Hats in all company presentations regarding needs and challenges

Results:
Decision making time is cut by 60%
Internal communications are standardized through use of a common language
Profit in the Syrian market goes from zero to $60 million in two years.

The Story:

The ABB Group is a world leader in power and automation technologies, which enable utility and industry customer to improve performance while reducing environmental impact.ABB employs 113,000 people and operates in more than 100 countries.

At a de Bono workshop in 1996, Certified de Bono Instructor Dina Faidi met the ABB regional manager in charge of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.This manager was particularly interested in improving his region's performance in internal meetings, communications and market assessment. He invited Dina to train the ABB managers in these four countries in the use of the Six Thinking Hats.

Dina conducted a series of Six Thinking Hats workshops with the ABB managers.After the training, they started using the tool in their daily meetings.According to the regional manager, this cut decision-making time by an astounding 60%.
The regional manager also developed a communications tool based on the Six Thinking Hats. It was a one page template with the hat colors, and managers in all four countries were expected to use it for all reports, proposals or suggestions.This template was also used for all management presentations. In short, all internal communications were filtered through the Six Thinking Hats, making it simpler for departments to convey ideas.

In keeping with this practice, the regional manager used the Six Thinking Hats to overcome a significant challenge in Syria.The Syrian market was large and held lots of potential, but ABB faced fierce competition there.The regional manager convened a meeting and asked participants to use the Green Hat to think of a completely new and different approach to the Syria challenge.The team realized that ABB had overlooked several other potential resources other than the one who had unsuccessfully pursued Syrian business opportunities for the previous eight years.A new suggestion was presented to the management using the Six Thinking Hats. It received executive approval, and ABB entered the Syrian market.ABB had made zero profit in Syria in the previous eight years, but only two years after the aforementioned meeting, the company had already earned a $60 million profit.

from Barbara Stennes - “Innovation: Case by Case, how the de Bono Thinking Systems Have Transformed Companies Across the Globe”