So maybe we can’t really — it seems impossible that I’m about to write this — maybe we can’t just take everything we read at face value…

I mean, who sends you those crazy internet gossip emails? I’ll tell who thinks of me when they read something no reasonable person would take seriously: It’s Christian friends who forget everything they ever learned and hit send when common sense, had they any left, would tell them to sit on their hands and think for just a second about what they’re doing.

Next thing you know, I’m looking at something I’m supposed to believe even though it was forwarded by five people I don’t know from a hole in the ground (plus Kevin Bacon, whose name I feel sure is buried in at least one of those reply all lists since he is known for being not more than six degrees from every clerk, convict, investment banker and small business owner on the planet).

Perhaps because I am the adult child of a fundamentalist preacher who spent a fair amount of time shagging parishioners, counselees, and college girls he picked up at the lake, I am the tiniest bit skeptical about…well, pretty much everything. So, when I get an email claiming to have originated from a famous person and it’s full of things that don’t make sense for that person to say (even if I think it would have been cool, or funny, or otherwise advantageous for him or her to have done so) I launch into full research mode and go find out The Truth So Help Me God.

First (this is just my custom) I go to Snopes.com. If that doesn’t clear things up, I go to TruthorFiction.com. Most times this takes between 30 and 60 seconds at broadband speeds.

I’m not kidding; it takes just half a minute to find out if Sarah Palin tried to ban the Harry Potter books in Alaska, or if Barack Obama is now or ever was a Muslim, or any of hundreds of — mostly mean-spirited — things my Christian friends have passed along just in case I don’t already have enough crud in my life, which I do, thank you very much.

If there’s nothing at either of these places, there’s a pretty good chance it either didn’t happen yet or there’s some truth to the rumor, in which case a Google search will return something on the order of 12 million results in 0.18 seconds, which is usually plenty to triangulate toward something like the facts.

Now. Lest you think I’m wasting valuable company time on this subject, allow me to introduce to the discussion, Six Frames, the new book by Edward de Bono — a gentleman so famous in some circles and so unknown in others that I dare not write a word about him but, rather, refer you to as much of what people have said as you care to read.

I think this new work is a fine primer on what companies can do to manage, filter, evaluate and exploit the information that threatens to clog the pipes of productivity and innovation.

Six Frames (weighing in at an impressive 127 pages) outlines a simple process by which any sort of team can pay attention to the way they pay attention.

If you saw a bright pink dog, your attention, and your sympathy, would go to that dog.

That is precisely the weakness of attention. It is pulled to the unusual. How much attention do we pay to the usual?

Is this not why our teams lose focus? Because marketers and publishers and loud talkers keep distracting them with shiny objects and blaring noises and offers too good to be true so get on the bus or you’ll live to regret it? Against that racket and clutter, de Bono proposes,

Instead of waiting for our attention to be pulled toward something unusual, we can set out frameworks for ‘directing’ our attention in a conscious manner.

[because]

Directing attention is an act of will. You can direct your attention as you might direct the beam of a searchlight.

The Purpose Frame

There is no shortage of information. We need to be clear about what we want from all that information.

What is our purpose in looking at this information? What value do we expect it to add? What is the point?

The Accuracy Frame

Accuracy of information is of vital importance if you have to rely on that information for action, belief or opinion.

Do we have reason to trust “the basic honesty and reliability of the source?” Can we corroborate the information from another source? If we have doubts about the accuracy of information are we being forthright about that?

 The Point of View Frame

No matter how much we may assume neutrality, it is useful to have a frame that directs our attention to the point of view that is being used.

Is the information biased or merely persuasive? If the information seeks to persuade, are its claims accurate? Is the information objective (hint: count the adjectives — where adjectives flourish, objectivity withers)? What can we learn by looking at the information from more than one point of view?

The Interest Frame

 Matters of the heart are always of great interest to the person owning that particular heart.

Who stands to gain if we act on this information? Does the information help us refine our mission or tempt us to veer off course? If the information isn’t useful for what we’re working on now, could it be useful later (or for what colleagues are doing)?

The Value Frame

The value frame would tend to be used at the end — after the use of the other frames.

What is the value of the information? Has it answered questions? Has it confirmed our position? Has it raised doubts or disproved our position? Has it changed our minds? Has it gotten us closer to a decision?

 The Outcome Frame

It is no longer enough to assume that everyone faced with the same information comes to the same conclusion. There is a need to spell out the conclusion in a clear and deliberate manner. To do this we have to think about it.  That is what matters.

So what? What is our conclusion? What are we going to do with what we know? What’s the next step? Are we agreed?

Learning to direct our attention through Edward de Bono’s Six Frames helps teams filter actionable information from the rattle and hum of information that complicates business decisions. And that, in a time of rapid change, is a competitive advantage.