What is the Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats method?
The six thinking hats is a tool developed by Edward de Bono – a British-born Maltese physician, psychologist and author best known for his work in the field of creative thinking, particularly in the areas of lateral thinking, parallel thinking, conceptual thinking and teaching problem-solving skills.
It is a powerful tool used by individuals and groups to help them think more effectively through a parallel thinking process, and become more mindfully involved. Each of these hats represents six different ways of thinking. Each has its own purpose and can be used to guide discussions in order to reach better conclusions. By using all the six hats in a logical sequence, it allows us to explore and encourage different perspectives on an issue or problem in order to gain a better understanding of it.
Benefits of Six Thinking Hats Technique
Problem-Solving
The Six Thinking Hats is a powerful tool for encouraging different modes of thinking and solving problems. These powerful hats can be used to look at a problem from different perspectives, break down complex issues into manageable chunks, while also encouraging creativity and collaboration. This can help to understand the program, and lead to new ideas and solutions that would not have been discovered without it. By using the different thinking, it is possible to quickly explore various aspects of a situation that might otherwise be overlooked or ignored. As such, this method can help improve communication within teams and enable individuals to think more clearly.
Decision-Making
Six Thinking Hats is an incredibly powerful tool for making important decisions. It helps individuals to think more objectively and consider the issue from multiple angles, allowing for a more comprehensive solution rather than just focusing on one point of view. It also allows individuals to express their own views without fear of negative repercussions or judgement. All these factors make Six Thinking Hats an ideal way to make important decisions.
Collaboration
The Six Thinking Hats also helps to reduce conflict by encouraging open dialogue during group discussions between all participants. It can help to create consensus and avoid “groupthink” when several people are involved in the decision-making process. Additionally, its structured approach allows people to quickly identify any potential problems or issues before they occur, resulting in better-informed decisions with fewer mistakes. By using this technique, team members are able to collaborate effectively and efficiently to achieve their desired outcome.
What are the six distinct colors of the thinking hats?
The six colors of the thinking hats represent a system for managing and organizing thoughts. The colors are white, yellow, red, green, blue, and black. This method of thinking allows us to explore ideas from multiple angles, with each color having its own purpose in problem-solving. By wearing the different coloured hats while having discussions or brainstorming solutions we can gain insight into our thought processes in order to make better decisions overall.
The Blue Hat (Overall Perspective, Summarising, and Evaluating)
The Blue is for considering the overall picture, objectives and long-term goals. This is the hat of the facilitator, and it helps to set the stage for the discussion by providing an overview of the topics being discussed. It also encourages everyone to look at the situation from different angles and to come up with creative solutions. Blue Hat thinking can help people become more strategic in their problem-solving and decision-making.
The Green Hat (Creative Ideas and Exploration)
The Green symbolizes analytical thinking and logic. It is used to look at decisions from a neutral and logical point of view, without getting caught up in emotion or personal opinion. This hat encourages people to focus on the facts, look for problems and consider alternatives. It can also help to identify potential risks and rewards associated with any decision.
The Red Hat (Emotions and Intuition)
The Red represents emotional thinking, intuition and feeling. It is used to help people explore different points of view, reflect on their own feelings, emotions and gut reactions, and to explore the emotional impact of a decision or situation. The Red Hat encourages people to explore their intuition, hunches, and imagination. It enables them to express how they feel about something in a nonjudgmental way, helping them to tap into their subconscious minds.
The Yellow Hat (Positive Evaluation and Optimism)
The Yellow stands for optimism and creativity. The idea of the Yellow Hat is to focus on finding positive aspects and potential opportunities within a situation. This approach encourages people to look at an issue from different angles, identify potential solutions, and find creative ways of looking at problems.
The Black Hat (Critical Evaluation)
The black is used to look at problems from a critical perspective with an eye on potential risks or downsides. It encourages people to identify potential risks or dangers and consider worst-case scenarios. This helps to ensure that all angles of a problem have been explored and that potential negatives are taken into account. While the black hat may sometimes be seen as pessimistic thinking, it is one of the necessary thinking methods behind the six thinking hats.
The White Hat (Facts and Information)
The White hat is used to look at data objectively. It is used to explore the positive aspects of a situation and to identify potential solutions. It helps to analyze information objectively and without bias. The White Hat requires thinking in terms of facts, data, logic, and reason without emotion or preconceived notions. By using this technique, decision makers can ensure that their decisions are based on accurate information and sound reasoning. It allows individual facts to be separated from subjective opinion or bias. White is also used to provide a foundation for deeper analysis by providing a common point of reference for comparison. It can also be used to identify trends and patterns, as well as to uncover new insights in data sets.
How to use 6 thinking hats?
Individual Assignment
One way to use the Six Thinking Hats method effectively is to assign each participant one of the colored hats before beginning the discussion. During the meeting, each person should focus on their assigned hat to discuss and not worry about other participants. This method helps to ensure that all ideas and points of view are properly considered and discussed in an orderly manner.
Group Assignment
Another way is for one person, usually the chairperson who is wearing the blue hat, to drive the thinking process of the group by facilitating which hat the group will be collectively using at each point of time. This method provides all participants the opportunity to adopt each type of thinking by moving the group from one hat to another. For example, the chairperson can start off with the white hat by asking everyone to lay out all the facts that they know about a problem that they are looking to solve. Should anyone start wearing a different hat, the chairperson can bring the group back to wearing a white hat, before moving on collectively to another hat. This is one effective way of organizing the thinking of the group by going through different sequences of hats.
Use the Six Thinking Hats Technique as a Great Coaching Framework
Six Thinking Hats is an effective tool to use as a coaching framework, allowing coaches to help their clients identify, analyze and understand the problem or issue being discussed in a more balanced way. By wearing each ‘hat’, clients can gain insights into the situation that they may not have considered before, enabling them to make more informed decisions through stronger structured thinking.. Coaches can also ask their clients questions about how the different perspectives might influence their decision-making, allowing them to reach a more comprehensive solution. This powerful technique is beneficial for any coach looking to enhance their client’s problem-solving skills and provide them with an effective strategy for resolving issues.
