Six Thinking Hats
Contents |
Overview
The Six Thinking Hats is a group thinking exercise developed by Edward de Bono and was published in 1985. The Six Thinking Hats is used to structure and plan thinking processes for ... and is described as parallel thinking, as it encourages exploration and lateral thinking.
Overall, Six Thinking Hats is a very positive and creative brainstorming technique which improves the efficiency and effectiveness of our thinking methods. Be it problem solving or overcoming challenges, using Six Thinking Hats, better business decisions can be achieved.
common notion of “putting on your thinking cap.”
Methodology
.... parallel thinking .... differing points of view
.... not the natural way of thinking .... hats are not meant to be worn for lengthy periods of time
ensuring all members are able to investigate and explore all points of view in parallel.
To improve group discussion and decision-making by getting your group thinking in parallel with one another and sharing the same framing lens, as an alternative to a discussion based on quick feedback and opposition.
Method
The Six Thinking Hat technique is driven by the premise of six imaginary hats, each with a different 'mode' of thinking and colour. Each coloured hat is then worn by each member during group discussions, and they can only operate in that particular 'mode'. When it is time to switch hats, everyone must do so, and by doing so switch thinking modes. The hats can be interchanged in any order and the method only works when every in thinking in the same 'mode' at the same time.
Red Hat
The red hat is used to explore the emotional perspective of a project, program or portfolio. Th wearer is usually intuitive and instinctive and will usually rely on their gut reactions, feelings, emotions and instincts for the discussion. The wearer will not provide any justification for their responses and can often be persuaded during the course of the discussion as feelings can change.
Yellow Hat
The yellow hat is used to explore the optimistic persepctive of a project, program or portfolio. The wearer will be optimistic and always thinking about the benefits. Typically the wearer will try to identify the positive aspects of the project/program/portfolio and will provide logical reasoning for them. Yellow hat thinkers are also seeking harmony within the discussion.
Blue Hat
The blue hat is used to explore the managing perspective of a project, program or portfolio. It is used to discuss process control and typically the wearer of the blue hat is trying to organise the thinking and plan for action, they will ask questions, ask for summaries, conslusions and decisions.
Green Hat
The green hat is used to explore the creativity persepctive of a project, program or portfolio. It is used to enable outside the box thinking and typically the wearer will provoke others and i´nvestigate ideas or thóughts. The wearer of the green hat usually comes up with alternatives, ideas and solutions to black hat problems.
White Hat
The white hat is used to explore the facts of a project, program or portfolio. The wearer of the white hat will only use available information in their assessments and discussions and will remain neutral and objective.
Typical questions asked by white hat wearers:
"What are the facts?"
"What do I know?"
"What do I need to know?"
"How will i get the information I need?"
Black Hat
The black hat is used to explore the cautious perspective of a project, program or portfolio. The wearer will typically think of the risks, challenges, obstacles and barriers. The black hat thinker will provide logical reasons for their concerns and is generally conservative, practical and realistic in their reponses.
Application / Uses
With 6 clear and different modes of thinking established, distinct thinking strategies can then be applied to different stages of project, program and portfolio management.
In any parallel thinking process task, the blue hat should start and end the process enabling a clear process of the how to think and organise, the decisions made and the conclusions. Other thinking hats can then be applied in any order and repeated in order depending on particular focus within the project, program or portfolio.
Classical examples set out on Dr De Bono's book include:
Initial Ideas – Blue, White, Green, Blue
Choosing between alternatives – Blue, White,(Green), Yellow, Black, Red, Blue
Identifying Solutions – Blue, White, Black, Green, Blue
Quick Feedback – Blue, Black, Green, Blue
Strategic Planning – Blue, Yellow, Black, White, Blue, Green, Blue
Process Improvement – Blue, White, White (Other peoples views), Yellow, Black, Green, Red, Blue
Solving Problems – Blue, White, Green, Red, Yellow, Black, Green, Blue
Performance Review – Blue, Red, White, Yellow, Black, Green Red, Blue
Benefits
1. Creates awareness of multiple perspectives and points of view
2. Creates a safe space to discuss issues without predjudice
3. Enables mechanisms to switch gears and thinking
4. Promotes focussed thinking
5. Improves communication
6. Improves decision making
7. Improves creativity of solutions
Limitations
The methodology behind the Six Thinking Hats, whilst sound and with many successful applications in history (notably Speedo in 2009 after their swimsuits were banned post the 2008 Summer Olympics), has limitations.
Firstly, the process is very time consuming and involves preparation as participants may not be familiar with the task and will need to be guided.
Secondly, the amount of time spent with each hat should be monitored and limited as the majority of hats will not be a natural mode of thinking for the participants. Some participants may feel uneasy and uncomfortable during the process which can lead to counter-productivity.
Thirdly, participants will each have their preferred brainstorming technique and would rather perform the activity alone as opposed to an open group forum.
Finally, the Six Thinking Hats method is an open setting discussion tool and conflicts between differing perspectives may arise during application of the technique.
Modern Interpretations
Some consultancies have proposed versions that augment the thinking hats into professions (doctor, engineer, lawyer etc), internal company hierarchies (employee, middle level manager, office, CEO, board), stakeholder groups or customer groups.
Further Reading
"The Five Stages of Thinking" is another ideation and communication tool related to the Six Thinking Hats, developed by Edward De Bono in 1973. The Five Stages of Thinking was developed for the Cognitive Research Trust (CoRT) Thinking Program' and further explores the strength of perceptive thinking and that thinking is a skill that can be developed.
