TOOLS OF LATERAL THINKING

By Aderonke S. Ogunsakin
ronky4success@gmail.com
Pan Atlantic University
Lagos, Nigeria
May 2014

Table of Contents
1.0

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 2

2.0

PROVOCATION .................................................................................................................................. 2

2.1

Using the Provocations Tool ............................................................................................................. 3

2.1.1

Step 1: Create the Provocation ................................................................................................. 3

2.1.2

Step 2: Create Movement/Ideas ............................................................................................... 3

2.1.3

Step 3: Extract Value ................................................................................................................. 4

3.0

CONCEPT ........................................................................................................................................... 4

3.1

How to generate ideas from concepts.............................................................................................. 4

3.1.1

Concept extraction .................................................................................................................... 5

3.1.2

The concept fan......................................................................................................................... 5

4.0

CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................... 7

5.0

REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................... 7

1.0

INTRODUCTION

Lateral thinking can be defined as an indirect and creative approach of solving problems,
typically through viewing the problem in a new and unusual light (Oxford Dictionary). Lateral
thinking provokes fresh ideas and changes the frame of reference; it overcomes problems by
bypassing them through a radically different approach. According to Edward de Bono (2009),
lateral thinking means moving across patterns instead of moving along them the nature and the
logic of creativity.
There are various tools of lateral thinking, among which include: challenge, focus, concept,
provocation and movement. Provocation and concept shall be explored in this write up.

2.0

PROVOCATION

Provocation is a lateral thinking technique that disrupts established patterns of thinking, and
giving us new places to start. The human brain thinks by recognizing patterns and reacting to
them based on our past experiences and logical extensions of those experiences which is often a
result of our judgement. Traditional thinking makes much use of judgement, an idea is generated
which is accepted or rejected, making rapid use of our past experience and of others. Judgement
of assessment prevents us from making mistakes. Lateral thinking requires a different operation.
Instead of accepting or rejecting an idea you look at the idea in order to 'see where you can move
to'. This puts a very different sort of usefulness on ideas, Edward de Bono (2009).
Popularized by psychologist Edward de Bono, provocation is used by making deliberately wrong
or unreasonable statements (provocations) in which something taken for granted is not true.
Statements like cars moves on water or air floating bridges can be provocations, illogical and
outrageous; the needed impetus that shocks the mind out of existing way of thinking. Once such
provocative statements are made, judgement should be suspended and ideas should be generated
which becomes the starting point for brainstorming and creative thinking. Albert Einsteins
thought experiments is an example of provocations with such statements as 'What would I see
if I were travelling at the speed of light? Such statements can generate ideas such as what would
the visual perception at the speed of light be like? Can matter be contained at the speed of light?
Does speed play a role in the convertibility between matter and energy? These are new area of

thoughts that such mind imagination can lead to. This is activity de Bono called Provocative
Operations (PO).
Provocations unsettle the mind in order to increase the chance of generating new ideas. Safe
statements that are near logic will not get the full value of the provocations technique and at least
40% of the provocations will be completely unusable, it is therefore a painstaking exercise that
must be followed through, similar to Thomas Edisons incandescent light experiments.

2.1

Using the Provocations Tool

There are steps involved in the use of provocations tool, stating by making shocking, illogical,
even outrageous statement about the problem you are solving, and then working back through
several steps.

2.1.1 Step 1: Create the Provocation

Creating an illogical statement (or provocation) can be difficult sometime because our brains are
typically rational and always come up with sensible solutions. The escape method which
requires making a statement everyone take for granted around the problem you are trying to
solve. Once done, you can come up with provocative statement to counter it.

2.1.2 Step 2: Create Movement/Ideas

The moment-to-moment technique is typically used in imagining what comes next after creating
provocations. Multiple line of thinking is encouraged as you get the most value from several
alternative ideas which stems from the initial provocation.
There must be a willingness to move forward in a positive exploring way rather than stopping to
judge whether something is right or wrong; we can move form a weak idea to a stronger one or
from a suggestion or concept to a concrete idea.
There are many ways of carrying out movement:

You can extract a concept and then work with this.

You can focus on the difference between the provocation and the usual situation.

You can pick out the positive aspects and work with these.

You can imagine the provocation put into action and see what happens.

There are several other ways that you can create movement and ideas from your provocation.
Examine:

The consequences of the statement.

What the benefits would be.

What special circumstances would make it a sensible solution?

The principles needed to support it and make it work.

How it would work, moment-to-moment.

What would happen if a sequence of events was changed?

The differences between the provocation and a sensible solution.

This list can be used as a checklist to help in brainstorming.

2.1.3 Step 3: Extract Value

The goal of provocation is to generate useful ideas that are separate from the provocation itself.
The ideas so generated should be turned into viable solution to the problem statement.

3.0

CONCEPT

This is a very important part of creative thinking. Concepts that are in use can be identified and
seek to find other ways to deliver same concept. There can be operational, functional,
descriptive, purpose and value concepts. Concept can be very broad or detailed almost to the
level of an idea. Concepts breed idea, as lateral thinking is all about generating an out of the
box idea or alternative idea away from the norm.

3.1

How to generate ideas from concepts

A good concept generation process will produce many ideas; concept generation is more than
just brainstorming. The following are ways of generating ideas from concepts.

3.1.1 Concept extraction

This lateral thinking technique should be easier to use than the others because it seems more
'reasonable'. In practice, it is rather hard to use because it does not have the direct provocative
effect of the other techniques.
We seek to develop alternatives and new ideas by 'extracting the concept' and then looking
around for other ways to deliver this concept by means of a specific idea.
Suppose we extracted from restaurants the concept of 'eating what you could purchase'. From
this, might come the idea of phoning a number and ordering a cook, who would come, with food,
and cook for us. Home delivery of food is another idea that is already in use. There might even
be a system of meal invitations where an ordinary household invited a stranger to dinner at an
established price.

3.1.2 The concept fan

With the concept fan technique, we go from an idea to a concept, which becomes a fixed point
for other ideas. But we also go from the concept itself to a 'broader concept', which becomes a
fixed point for alternative concepts. Each of these alternative concepts becomes a fixed point for
alternative ideas. So the two layers of concepts are used to cascade alternative ideas.
This is the 'concept fan'. At one end of the concept fan we have the purpose or objective of the
thinking. How do we achieve the task? How do we get where we want to go? We work
backwards. What broad concepts would move us towards this purpose? At the next level, what
specific concepts would serve the broad concepts? Finally, what practical ideas could be used to
deliver the concepts? This gives a cascade effect, with each level multiplying alternatives to the
level below. It is a powerful way of generating alternatives to achieve a purpose.
For example, you might set out 'traffic congestion in cities'. The implied purpose is how to deal
with the problem of traffic congestion in cities. In your diagram, everything will need to flow or
cascade from this point on the paper.
The next level lays out the broad concepts, or 'thinking directions', which might help tackle the
problem. These might be: reduce traffic; improve traffic flow; increase travel space.

We then move backwards (towards the right-hand side of the page) to list the more specific
concepts that could operate the broad concepts.

For 'reducing traffic' we might have: restrict the number of vehicles; discourage traffic;
reduce the need to travel; multi-user vehicles.

For 'improving traffic flow' we might have: deal with peak travel problem at beginning and
end of the day; remove junctions.

For 'increasing travel space' we might have: more roads; smaller vehicles.

We then take each of the specific concepts and see how this could be put into action with
specific ideas.

For 'restricting the number of vehicles' we might have: high entry tolls; vehicle purchase
permission auction (as in Singapore); special city access licences.

For 'discouraging traffic' we might have: high congestion charges for entering the city (as in
Lagos); no provision for parking; poor-quality roads; publicise poor traffic flow.

For 'reducing the need to travel' we might have: decentralise stores and offices; work from
home via Internet, etc.; work stations.

For 'multi-use transport' we might have: buses; trams; light rail; taxis; multi-user taxis.

The next broad concept was 'increasing traffic flow' and the concepts serving this could be
delivered as follows:

For 'remove peak traffic flow' we might have: staggered working hours; differential tolls; tax
incentives.

For 'remove junctions' we might have: overpasses and underpasses; roundabouts; a spiral
road layout.

The next broad concept was 'increasing travel space' and the concepts could be delivered as
follows:

For 'more roads' we could have: underground roads; elevated roads; using riverbanks.

For 'smaller vehicles' we could have: bicycles; lightweight motorcycles; very small cars, etc.

In this cascade effect, each point multiplies down to several points at the next level. It is very
important to keep the 'broad concepts' (directions) as broad as possible. Too often people put
specific concepts as broad concepts. These do not have the same multiplying effect.

Occasionally, it is useful to have yet another layer where the idea is made even more specific
(where do we place the overhead road?)
The Concept Fan can be done by an individual or by a group working together. It is a way of
generating alternatives through working downwards from very broad concepts.

4.0

CONCLUSION

Lateral thinking is a very useful way of generating novel ideas and using the tools and techniques
discussed above and others, especially as popularized by Edward de Bono will certainly aid in
idea generation in business, academia and almost any human endeavor.

5.0

REFERENCES

De Bono, E. (2009). Think!: Before It's Too Late. Random House.

Provocation: Carrying Out Thought Experiments. http://mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_08.htm
[Accessed on 19th March, 2014]