The 'Six Thinking Hats' is an
important and powerful technique. Edward de Bono created this group thought
tool, in his book '6 Thinking Hats'.
It is used to look at decisions
from multiple perspectives. This forces individuals and groups to operate
outside their habitual thinking style, and helps to develop a deeper view and
understanding of a situation.
How to Use the Tool:
Use the Six Thinking Hats in
classrooms during group work or when asking student to look at an issue or
problem from different perspectives. In groups the hats benefit the group by
blocking the confrontations that happen when people with different thinking
styles come together to discuss the same problem.
Each 'Thinking Hat' is a
different style and perspective of thinking.
White
Hat:
• With this thinking hat you focus
on the data available. Look at the information you have, and see what you can
learn from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and either try to fill them or
take account of them.
• This is where you analyze past trends,
and try to extrapolate from historical data.
Red Hat:
• 'Wearing' the red hat, you look
at problems using intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. Also try to think how
other people will react emotionally. Try to understand the responses of people
who do not fully know your reasoning.
Black
Hat:
• Using black hat thinking, look at
all the bad points of the decision. Look at it cautiously and defensively. Try
to see why it might not work. This is important because it highlights the weak
points in a plan. It allows you to eliminate them, alter them, or prepare
contingency plans to counter them.
• Black Hat thinking helps to make
your plans 'tougher' and more resilient. It can also help you to spot fatal
flaws and risks before you embark on a course of action. Black Hat thinking is
one of the real benefits of this technique, as many successful people get so
used to thinking positively that often they cannot see problems in advance.
This leaves them under-prepared for difficulties.
Yellow Hat:
• The yellow hat helps you to think
positively. It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all the
benefits of the decision and the value in it. Yellow Hat thinking helps you to
keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult.
Green Hat:
• The Green Hat stands for
creativity. This is where you can develop creative solutions to a problem. It
is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas.
A whole range of creativity tools can help you here.
Blue Hat:
• The Blue Hat stands for process
control. This is the hat worn by people chairing meetings. When running into
difficulties because ideas are running dry, they may direct activity into Green
Hat thinking. When contingency plans are needed, they will ask for Black Hat
thinking, etc.
REFERENCE LIST
Mind
Tools Ltd, 2012. Six Thinking Hats
Looking at a decision from all points of view. Cited 20.10 2012. URL: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_07.htm
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