The "Six Thinking Hats" is a technique for holistic thinking invented by Dr. Edward de Bono, a famous author and psychologist.
What are the Six Thinking Hats?
The "Six Thinking Hats" is a problem-solving technique that promotes parallel thinking. Instead of everyone tackling an issue in their own way simultaneously, this methodology gets everyone on the same page, quite literally under the same "hat", at any given time.
The Six Hats Explained:
The technique is designed to look at a problem from different perspectives. It allows you to carefully consider a perspective without instantly dismissing it without much thought. The result is a holistic perspective which considers a range of insights.
You put on a "hat" representing a particular perspective and ideate and think using that perspective. Here are the six hats and what they represent.
1. ⚪ White Hat
The white hat represents facts and information.
- Question to ask: "What information do we have? What are the fact? What do we definitely know is true?"
- Purpose: Analyzing raw data, looking at past trends, and predicting possible future outcomes.
2. 🔴 Red Hat
The red hat represents: Intuition, feelings, and emotions.
- Question to ask: "How do we feel about this? What does your gut say?"
- Purpose: Expressing gut reactions and emotional responses without justification.
3. ⚫ Black Hat
The black hat represents: Critical judgment, potential dangers.
- Question to ask: "What could go wrong? What could be possible consequences or second order effects of this?"
- Purpose: Identifying potential problems, flaws, or risks in an idea or plan.
4. 🟡 Yellow Hat
The yellow hat represents: Optimism, positive feedback.
- Question to ask: "What are the benefits?"
- Purpose: Highlighting the value and advantages of an idea or decision.
5. 🟢 Green Hat
The green hat represents: Creativity, brainstorming, and new solutions.
- Question to ask: "What are some new ideas?"
- Purpose: Encouraging out-of-the-box thinking and innovative solutions.
6. 🔵 Blue Hat
The blue hat represents: Managing the thinking process.
- Question to ask: "What is our thinking process?"
- Purpose: Setting objectives, summarizing what's been discussed, and deciding the next steps.
Benefits of Using the Six Thinking Hats:
The Six thinking hats has been used in group scenarios to accelerate brainstorming, and to create holistic insights to tricky, complex problems. The upsides include:
- Efficient Decision Making: By dividing the thinking process into six distinct modes, decision-making becomes structured and systematic.
- Enhanced Collaboration: It helps teams understand each other's perspectives and fosters a harmonious working environment.
- Reduced Conflict: It diminishes ego-driven conflicts by focusing on a specific type of thinking at any given time.
- Boosted Creativity: The Green Hat encourages innovation, allowing everyone, even those not usually 'creative', to contribute fresh ideas.
Risks and Trade-offs:
While the six thinking hats is a great tool if used correctly, and certainly great if used in an individual capacity - it becomes more complex to manage in a group setting. It requires heavy facilitation in a group setting to keep a six thinking hats brainstorming session on track.
Some colors might have particular significance on certain colors, and it may interfere with the colors of the thinking hats. For example, in some cultures white is considered unlucky and reserved for mourning. In some countries, yellow signifies jealousy.
Facilitators need to keep in mind that in group settings, people will have varying levels of understanding and buy-in to the six thinking hats. Time-boxing discussions for each hat, and switching to different hats after a while is important and could be annoying for some.
