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The Six Thinking Hats
technique of Edward de Bono
is a model that can be used for exploring different perspectives towards a
complex situation or challenge.
Seeing things in various ways is often a good idea in
strategy formation or complex decision-making processes.
The STH technique is designed to help individuals deliberately adopt a variety of
perspectives on a subject that may be very different from the one that
they might most naturally assume. In wearing a particular thinking hat,
people play roles, or "as if" themselves into a particular perspective.
For instance, one could play the devil’s advocate, even if only for the
sake of generating discussion. The purpose of devil’s advocacy is to
deliberately challenge an idea: be critical, look for what is wrong with
it.
Each of the Hats is named for a color that is mnemonically
descriptive of the perspective one adopts when wearing the particular
hat. For example the devil’s advocacy is what one engages in when wearing the
Black Thinking Hat.
The 6 hats and the
perspectives they represent are:
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White (Observer) White paper; Neutral; focus on information available,
objective FACTS, what is needed, how it can be obtained
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Red (Self, Other) Fire, warmth; EMOTIONS, FEELINGS, intuition, hunches;
present views without explanation, justification
-
Black (Self, Other) Stern judge wearing black robe; judgmental;
critical; why something is wrong; LOGICAL NEGATIVE view.
-
Yellow (Self, Other) Sunshine; optimism; LOGICAL POSITIVE view; looks
for benefits, what’s good.
-
Green (Self, Other) Vegetation; CREATIVE thinking; possibilities and
hypotheses; new ideas
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Blue (Observer) Sky; cool; overview; CONTROL of PROCESS, STEPS, OTHER
HATS; chairperson, organizer; thinking about thinking
De Bono’s hats are indicative of both emotional states as well as frames
of mind (i.e., perspective from which an issue is viewed). He noted: "Emotions are an essential part of our thinking ability and not just
something extra that mucks up our thinking" (1985, p27). One thinking
style (or hat) is not inherently "better" than another. A full, balanced
team recognizes the need for all hats in order for the team to consider
all aspects of whatever issues they are facing.
Main benefits
of Six Thinking Hats
method:
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Allow to say things
without risk
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Create awareness that there are multiple
perspectives on the issue at hand
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Convenient mechanism for
'switching gears'
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Rules for the game of thinking
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Focus thinking
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Lead to more creative thinking
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Improve communication
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Improve decision making
Using the Six Hats
In most group contexts, individuals tend to feel constrained to
consistently adopt a specific perspective (optimistic, pessimistic,
objective, etc.). This limits the ways and extent to which each
individual and thus the group as a whole can explore an issue. With the
Six Thinking Hats, one is no longer limited to a single perspective in
one’s thinking. The hats are categories of thinking behavior and not of
people themselves. The purpose of the hats is to direct thinking, not
classify either the thinking or the thinker. Indeed, by wearing a hat
that is different from the one that one customarily wears, one may
chance upon a variety of new ideas. Wearing a hat means deliberately
adopting a perspective that is not necessarily one’s own. It is
important that all group members are aware of this fact. A group member
must clearly identify the color of the hat he is wearing while making a
statement. Wearing a clearly identified hat separates ego from
performance. The Six Hat Method is useful even for individuals thinking
by themselves.
Hats may be used in some structured sequence depending on the nature of
the issue. Here is an example agenda for a typical 6 hats workshop:
Step 1: Present the facts of the case (White Hat)
Step 2: Generate ideas on how the case could be handled
(Green Hat)
Step 3: Evaluate the merits
of the ideas - List the benefits (Yellow Hat), List the drawbacks
(Black Hat)
Step 4: Get everybody’s gut feelings about the alternatives
(Red Hat)
Step 5: Summarize and adjourn the meeting
(Blue Hat)
Compare with Six Thinking Hats:
Groupthink |
Core Groups |
Brainstorming |
Scenario Planning |
Game Theory |
Root Cause Analysis |
Dialectical Inquiry
| Theory of
Constraints
| Force Field
Analysis |
Emotional
Intelligence
More management models
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