6 Thinking Hats

A tool for collaborative decision making

Deepak T Gururaja

Agile Coach

Lets go back in Time

And see how challenges were handled, and how decisions were being made

Tens of thousands of years agoProblems – Mostly Survival

P

R

O

B

L

E

M

SolutionSolution

How do you choose

the best solution to

the problem???

Simple – Fight it out

Of course…. Over the course of time

We evolved as a civilization and started developing cultures

Then came the era of Rulers/Imperialism/Colonialism etc……

Problems and How were they solved

Problem

By Means of arguing

Argue over the benefits of

one’s own idea, bring out

the flaws in another person’s idea

So….

Each person would talk about how best their idea is, and

how bad the other person’s idea is

Acceptance of an idea would purely depend on weather of

not the individual could present it flawlessly

One party would talk about the merits of the idea, and

another party would talk about the demerits of the idea

Even today, this seems to be the preferred way of arriving at

the best solution to a given problem, or, to get mutual agreement among people

Today….

Most problems that we encounter today in out

professional lives are

mostly intellectual

Those which need collaboration

Arguing over multiple solutions might not be the best option

Argument v/s Parallel Thinking

While in Argument

The focus is on “What Is”

Each person talks out of their own silo

Each person sees from his own direction, not from any other direction

While In Parallel Thinking

The focus is on “What Can Be”

Design the best way forward – together

The Idea is put on the table and everyone looks at it in the same direction

Argument

Idea

Parallel Thinking

Idea

6 Blind men and the elephant

Well, In the world of parallel thinking

All 6 men would take a walk around the elephant

Feel the elephant from each side

Discuss what they think

Constructively agree on what could be the best fit

Edward de Bono

Physician, Psychologist and Author

Originated the term “Lateral Thinking”

Came up with the Idea of “Six thinking Hats” for Parallel Thinking

6 Thinking Hats

There are 6 coloured hats

The group wears a same coloured hat at a time while considering a problem

Colour of the hat is metaphorical for a way of thinking

Each colour brings out a different perspective

Note

Different Colours bring out different perspectives of the idea

All the people looking at the idea, look at it from one direction, for example, the

entire group, together, discuss on the benefits of the idea, then, move on to

discuss the pitfalls of the idea, and, so on…

All this is done as a group

Now lets look at the hats and

the direction these hats point towards

White Hat

Neutral and Objective

Facts and Figures

Thinking Directions

What Information do we have?

What Information do we need?

What Information is Missing?

Do we have Enough Information to make a decision?

Red Hat

Red as a colour suggests anger, rage

Red is a sign of emotion and takes on the emotional direction of an idea

Some of the directional questions for a Red hat

My “Gut” feeling tells me that this is risky

I “Feel” that the targets are aggressive

Bring out the range of feelings – “Like” “Hate” “Unhappy” “Mixed” “Doubtful”

Black Hat

Black is Serious

This is where we exercise caution, try to be careful

What are the weak links of an idea

Some directional thoughts for Black Hats

Why this might not work

What are the pitfalls

What should we be careful about

What would be the difficulties in implementing this idea

Yellow Hat

Sunny Side Up

Brings out the positives of an idea

Talks about hope

Has an optimistic outlook

Some Suggestive directions

What are the possibilities

What are the benefits

Some the great things that could come out of this idea

How can we “Make things Happen”

Green Hat

Green as a colour represents abundance, fertility and growth

Look at creativity

Come up with new ideas

Some Directives

New and New ideas

Alternative ideas

Changes that will bring in benefits

New approaches to problem solving

Blue Hat

The colour of the Sky, which is above everything else

It is concerned with structure and organizing

Controls the other hats and the thinking process

Could also be the hat worn by the facilitator

Some Directions

What would be the best order of hats, in order for us to achieve best results

Thinking about thinking

Instructions

Summarizing

So, how does this work

As a group, pick up a problem to be solved, or a solution to be analysed

Wear the hats one at a time – speak your thoughts in the direction, as

indicated by the colour of the hat

Bingo… You have consensus even before you know it

It is not necessary to use all 6 hats, you can chose to use only the relevant

hats

But… How about the order of the hats

It depends of the situation at hand

The order differs if you would like to solve a problem v/s analyse the

feasibility of the solution

The order could be pre-determined, or agreed upon, at the start of the

discussion – Do remember to wear a blue hat at this point

It might be a good idea to start with a Blue Hat (Summary of the situation at

hand + set the context) then move to Red Hat (To understand how people feel

about the situation) then move on to other hats

Its suggested to end with a Blue Hat

You could switch hats multiple times, but, stick to the rules of the game

Some obvious benefits

Of course, collaborative thinking

Its easier to ask someone to “take off the black hat” than to “stop being

negative”

Here, thinking is not used to put down idea or people, people are equally

compelled to wear a Yellow Hat

Thinking will go beyond being “Personal thoughts”

“Confusion is the biggest enemy of good thinking” Here, all thoughts are

channelized

The Book

So, what hat do you want to wear today?