Leading by Adventure - 023 - About using PMI to spot potential adventures

Open your mind to the wider potential of your environment – Use de Bono’s PMI tool to better identify new possibilities

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Why take this challenge?

Look beyond your initial reactions to more creative understanding

Hone your ability to better see both sides and new possibilities in things

Find unexpected treasure that you might otherwise walk straight past

Graphic image reflecting different pathways to take the adventure

I grew up at a time when thinking was a lot more linear than it is now. Creativity was something you either had or you didn’t. So the ideas of Edward de Bono were a revelation to me. His insight into the natural tendencies of the mind, and his techniques for managing them were a joy.

There is a lot more individual creativity about now, but sadly only a very small proportion of it finds its way into business thinking – particularly via teamwork. We know about creativity, but we are often too busy to think about using it as a natural part of our work.

So de Bono’s tools are as important now as they were forty years ago. At least in terms of putting something in place to help us to make creativity more common-place.

One very quick and easy tool to use is PMI. PMI stands for Plus, Minus, Interesting. It reflects the whole tool in three words. The tool is simply a matter of taking a few moments to consider new ideas or options in a balanced way.

This may sound trivial, but if you think back a bit – how often do we do it? How many of the new things that came to us have we deliberately evaluated beyond our initial response? In how many meetings have all those assembled deliberately analysed both sides together, rather than simply taken sides?

By taking a more systematic approach to considering the things we encounter, we can spot new perspectives, new possibilities, new adventures, that we might otherwise miss.

So this week’s adventure is to practice and apply PMI, and to see what it does for you.

+ Green track - taking it in your stride

Balancing your mind

Simply take a recent idea or option that you dismissed. Or a new choice that you are already aware you need to make.

Use the PMI timer on the right (You can right-click it to copy and paste, or open it from this page).

Deliberately and determinedly use the time available in each session to focus only on the relevant perspective:

Plus: Pros and positive possibilities of taking this route. Its potential upsides – not just directly but indirectly, both short and longer term.
Minus: Cons and negative risks associated with this route. Its potential downsides for people, practice, plant, planet, over whatever timescales.
Interesting: Things that don’t fit in either camp. The questions that remain. The what-ifs, and the if-onlys.

And that is it. Reflect for a moment to see what impact the exercise has had on your perspective. To what extent might there be subtle differences in how you think and feel about the choice? See whether you believe it is something that was worth 5 minutes of your time.

+ Blue track - a bit of a workout (click to open)

Fairer debates

How well balanced is the exploration around the decisions we take in meetings?

There is a view that the balance is present in the debate, with alternate sides reflected in the arguments presented. But is that really true? Are both sides equally well equipped to think creatively about the plusses and minuses, and to express it cogently?

Do people deeply understand both perspectives? Or do we tend to find they only focus on the perspective they are arguing? And are those arguments fairly balanced in terms of airtime, vigour, persuasive force? Or is it biased toward the most dominant characters?

PMI does a great thing for teams. It helps them to ensure that the same skills and brain power are applied to both perspectives. The exercise opens people up to greater listening and insight, enabling their minds to better adventure into the possibilities. It is more efficient and objective. And it is more likely that the final decision carries everyone with it.

For your blue track, use PMI in your next team meeting for one of the decisions to be made. Simply share the timer. Or use the virtual flipchart (click on it to download the PowerPoint file).
At the end of it, develop your own perspective on how it went.

It is unlikely to be perfect first time through, but hopefully you can see how it might be improved for the future.

+ Red track - stepping up to bat (click to open)

Design Strategy

PMI can be surprisingly useful in a design task – a situation, where your team needs to propose a solution. We would suggest the following approach.

Split into breakout groups and ask each to propose their own idea or arrangement for the way forward.
Have each breakout present their proposal, and after each one have the whole group (including the proposing team) do a disciplined PMI exercise on that proposal
After the final PMI, ask the group to select one proposal (not necessarily the best). One that would be easiest to adapt by incorporating the good ideas from the other proposals.
Work through the ‘Minuses’ for that proposal. find things in the other proposals that can address each of these. Adapt the proposal to incorporate these.
Do a final PMI on the adapted proposal to test it out.

You may find the following resources helpful in tackling your challenge or in gaining further benefits from the skills and insights you develop

De Bono’s explanation of creative thinking as a web page and as a PDF
PMI explanation
Virtual Timers, including PMI Timer
Virtual Flipcharts including PMI Virtual Flipchart

To catch up on past adventures you may have missed, feel free to browse our Adventures Library

Let us know how you get on.
Share your experience, your insights and your observation using the comments section at the bottom of the Linkedin post.

Please help us to extend and develop our community by sharing what you are doing. Click on the links below where you are most active, and then like or share the article to your network. Thank you for helping.

And share your progress and insights with the Twitter LbA community using #leadingbyadventure

Useful links:

Introduction to Leading by Adventure  |  What we mean by spirituality?  |  Why Adventure
Adventures to date   |  I did it, but it didn’t work very well   |  How do I know if it is working
Bringing this thinking into your meetings   |  Adventure & Mental Health
Leading by Adventure community   |  Explore Strategic Support options

Why take this challenge?

+ Green track - taking it in your stride

+ Blue track - a bit of a workout (click to open)

+ Red track - stepping up to bat (click to open)

Useful links:

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