Introduction
The processes of design thinking and group discussion, in which ideas are buried and shared, are extremely complex. By removing idea-destructive elements from brainstorming sessions, the Six Thinking Hats method by De Bono offers a methodical approach to the problem of sharing and improving ideas.
Because human thinking can be unstructured and reinforced, a variety of thoughts can cause individuals and design thinking groups to think irrationally and favorably toward particular ideas, which goes against the purpose of the design thinking process. The six thinking hats introduced a method for arranging topics for discussion rather than having a haphazard discussion. While the six thinking hats strategy doesn’t understand conventional human reasoning, it tends to be utilized during a particular decisive reasoning meeting to accomplish explicit targets, for example, tackling issues, examining contention, top to bottom investigation for arranging cycle and running the imaginative reasoning interaction.
What Are the Six Thinking Hats?
A directional sequence for brainstorming was introduced by De Bono in his book, Lateral Thinking for Management. The six thinking hats that make up the six thinking hats approach represent various modes of human thought. The group utilizes these caps to address circumstances in light of sequenced considerations as opposed to tumultuous conversations. During critical thinking sessions, the Six thinking Hats approach can be used to accomplish specific goals like problem-solving, argument-debating, in-depth planning, and analyzing creative thinking. Albeit the strategy has been acquainted for organizations with work on the arrival of speculation (return on initial capital investment), it can effectively be applied to school understudies in plan thinking in training.
Who Developed “Six Thinking Hats”?
Maltese physician, psychologist, and philosopher Edward de Bono developed the Six Thinking Hats method. He used it as a consultant for government agencies, but he also wanted it to be a useful solution to everyday problems. It was first included in his 1985 book of the same name, which has since undergone multiple revisions.
De Bono, who passed away in 2021, was also the creator of “lateral thinking,” which is a way to solve problems indirectly, frequently in novel and unexpected ways. In a similar vein, Six Thinking Hats is a method for comprehending and examining various modes of thought.
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The Six Thinking Hats
To use the six thinking hats model to solve problems, you need to look at different ways of thinking. Every viewpoint is addressed with a cap tone. Stakeholders should have a better understanding of the problem from other perspectives at the conclusion of the discussion session in order to come up with creative and innovative solutions. The facilitator selects the appropriate hat for each critical thinking discussion meeting based on the following criteria:
White hat
This hat represents the information and facts regarding the issue at hand in the argument. The stockholders only discuss the issue and take notes during this portion. There should be no further thought process development. This section may contain questions such as “what is the available information?” and “what facts do we have?”
Yellow Hat
In contrast to the black hat, the yellow hat is thought to symbolize optimism or the sun. The partners think according to a hopeful perspective about the issue or idea. Highlighting the advantages and benefits of the recommendations is helpful. The inquiry at this point is, “What are the benefits of applying the solution?” and “why do you believe it can be implemented?”
Black Hat
Wearing a black hat encourages attendees to consider the issue or suggestion with caution and defensiveness. The purpose of this section is to identify the proposal’s flaws and drawbacks, as well as logical reasons why the idea might not work.
Stakeholders are able to isolate the reasoning and come up with solutions in the yellow one by concentrating on the warnings, risks, or cautions. The question, “what are the risks?” can be posed during this discussion. and “why doesn’t the suggestion work?”
Red Hat
The emotions hat, also known as the red hat, shows how the stakeholders feel about the issue and how they feel about it. The purpose of wearing this hat is to comprehend the various emotional states of love, hate, like, and dislike. The red hat does not intend to comprehend the cause of these emotions. We can pose inquiries like “what do you feel about the idea?” and “What do you feel in your gut?”
Blue hat:
The meeting leaders use this hat as the process control plan to deal with issues that arise during the discussions. It ensures that the rules of the six reasoning cap strategy is applied. The thinking process can be directed in better directions with the help of this hat. For instance, if there are no ideas, the facilitators can steer the discussion toward the green hat route.
Tip:
Despite being one of the most powerful hats, the black hat is frequently overused. So that you don’t let this way of thinking rule your decision-making, make sure that you and your team can back up any critical or cautionary remarks.
Note:
You might have to pick new colors for one or more of your hats because some colors have cultural meanings. In China, for instance, a green cap can mean a faithless mate. Additionally, you might decide to switch out the black hat for a grey one so that black is not associated with fault finding.
It is acceptable to use any colors that are appropriate for you and your team, as long as each of the six colors is distinct and you stick with the same colors every time you employ this strategy.
Tip:
There are a few other dynamic procedures that investigate issues from various points.
When designing a product or service, The Reframing Matrix encourages you to experiment with a variety of viewpoints. From a marketing or manufacturing team’s perspective, for example, what are the most important considerations?
A constructive controversy involves comparing and contrasting various approaches. As a result, it is more aggressive than Six Thinking Hats. However, it can also help people reevaluate their positions, generate energy, and lead to well-tested decisions.
Additionally, Empathy Mapping is a useful tool when you want to incorporate the viewpoints of key stakeholders into your plans.
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The Advantages of Six Thinking Hats
As well as working on the nature of your choices, the Six Thinking Hats procedure brings a few different advantages to the table:
More systematic thinking.
You’ll be able to accurately and efficiently weigh the information you gather knowing that you’ve considered every angle.
Further developed inventiveness.
It forces you to change your usual ways of thinking and acting. Additionally, contrasting or combining various points of view can occasionally elicit novel ideas.
Improved thinking abilities
It’s a great way to get better at important skills like being curious and thinking critically.
Enhanced interpersonal abilities
You should practice listening, asking questions, and answering them. Therefore, it may also improve your ability to persuade others, recognize when they require assistance, and resolve conflicts with confidence.
Greater team inclusivity.
People must let go of any preconceived notions and concentrate on seeing things from the same perspective for some time. Even though there is still debate, it is based on a common understanding, which can help everyone feel included.
How to Use the Six Thinking Hats Exercise and Examples
Six Thinking Hats is the ideal method for considering decision-making from various perspectives. It introduces a method of organized parallel thinking and encourages discussion participation and concentration among participants.
There are numerous applications for this strategy, both in groups and individually. Try these strategies after deciding on the issue or circumstance you need to discuss:
In groups
Assigning a group moderator in the blue hat is the first step in groups. Prior to the meeting, the moderator should prepare an agenda and be familiar with the Six Thinking Hats concept.
Then, depending on which hat they wear, each participant ought to have an easy way to see their perspective. An ID with their particular cap tone or a sign on the table before them ought to finish the work.
Make sure that everyone has a way to write down their thoughts so that they can easily identify which hat they were wearing at any given time.
In the event that the gathering is huge, break it into more modest gatherings. You can have each group wear a different hat to talk about their approach, or you can have all groups wear the same hat to talk about the same point of view before switching to the next hat.
It’s a good idea to switch up who wears what hats in each group to get as many new ideas flowing and get everyone to look at the problem from different angles.
You can also require each group and subgroup to wear only one hat at a time in order to enhance teamwork and collaboration.
Individually
When you have to solve a problem on your own, it’s best to use a template with sections for each hat and a section for notes.
The direct method for doing this is to function as you would prefer through each cap each in turn while making notes according to each perspective.
Avoid jumping around and switching hats before you’re finished; doing so can be confusing.
Examples
Consider the following scenario: You are holding a meeting to discuss the launch of a new service or product on the market. The Six Thinking Hats exercise will go like this:
The White Hat will inquire, “What are the known facts?” and will present the known facts, including data from market research and sales figures.
The Red Cap will inquire, “What are your stomach responses?” and will use feelings, intuitions, and instincts to support their arguments.
The Black Hat will inquire, “What dangers should we be aware of?” and will talk about problems, risks, and disadvantages from a rather pessimistic perspective.
The Yellow Cap will inquire, “For what reason would it be advisable for us to be hopeful?” furthermore, will be something contrary to the dark cap, introducing the benefits, advantages, and valuable open doors.
“How can we create opportunities?” will be the Green Hat’s inquiry. and will be the creative viewpoint, generating concepts and possibilities.
The Blue Cap will inquire “What frameworks or cycles will be required?” and will be responsible for the planning, summary, and overview.
Conclusion
Important points to keep in mind
The hats can be worn individually or collectively.
It is essential for everyone in a group discussion to use the same mindset (hat) at the same time. This is done to avoid differences of opinion and personal preferences.
The black hat is necessary and powerful. Though it’s a necessary part of thinking, it’s often used too much.
We acknowledge that different cultural contexts exist for colors. In China, for instance, wearing a green hat is a sign of an unfaithful spouse. We understand that you may prefer to use the color grey to indicate risk assessment, but to assume that the black hat is a bad hat would undervalue it. If you want, you can change the colors of the hats. There must be six distinct ways of thinking and a common language for everyone to communicate these for the method to be effective.
How to arrange the hats in a sequence to deal with various situations is covered in training for using the hats. This gives a design and heading to the reasoning, prompting more useful and charming conversations.
Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ’S)
Simply put, the blue hat manages the meeting, the white hat puts all the information on the table, the red hat puts all the feelings on the table, the yellow hat finds solutions and brings optimism, the green hat creates new ideas and the black hat finds risks. The concept is pretty simple, but then so powerful.
The 6 thinking hats are; logic, emotion, caution, optimism, creativity, and control. By wearing each hat the person, or the team, ensures that they are considering the problem, project, or situation from each perspective.
Some examples of problems where six thinking hats can be used include: A coffee house is getting a growing number of complaints from customers as they are having to wait too long for their coffee – how can they solve this problem?
What is the Six Thinking Hats technique? It is one of the critical thinking tools introduced by De Bono. It allows you to discuss the problem from five perspectives in a parallel approach. It ensures organised discussion and considering the problem from these perspective.
White Hat. White hat thinkers focus on the information available. This includes hard data like verified facts and figures and soft data like feelings and opinions. They use everything to analyze past trends and learn from them.
This tool enables individuals or members of a group to explore an idea or topic from a variety of perspectives, and in ways that may differ from their preferred way of thinking.
He lists six types of thinking skills, ranked in order of complexity: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
Some critics claim that the six hats enforce an artificial structure then is not natural, feels cumbersome or silly, and may lead to confusion about the “right” thing to say when in a particular mode of thought—thus wasting (rather than saving) time.
The yellow hat: This is the optimistic hat, used to look for positive outcomes. The green hat: This is the creative hat, where ideas are abundant and criticism spare. The blue hat: This is the hat of control, used for management and organization.
For example, when a green hat thinker comes up with new ideas or solutions, the white hat thinker can find the data which may support the solutions.