| Thinking Hats | 2003-04-10 13:39 2 comments |
 by Flemming Funch One of Edward de Bono's numerous contributions to the discipline of creative thinking is the six thinking hats. The idea is basically that you are aware of what thinking and communication mode you are in - what hat you are wearing. That puts things in perspective, sorts statements in a meaningful way, and makes it less likely that people misunderstand each other. E.g. if you're wearing the black hat, you might be playing devil's advocate, and put attention on things that might not work. If that is clear, and announced up front, it is likely that people will take less offense to the criticism, and it is more likely to be useful. If you announce you're wearing a red hat, irrational emotional outbursts are more acceptable, and don't necessarily have to be analyzed logically. Etc. You can have a meeting using that system. Or you can use it in brainstorming, to categorize different kinds of ideas. Below is a more detailed explanation: * 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 - 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: 'Blue Hat Thinking' 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. |