Why  Bring  Six  Hats  to  Meetings?

Dan  Ryan  January  2015

Collaboration is Good

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Except When

It’s Hard

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Collaboration is an

Unnatural Act

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Coordination

Cooperation

Communication

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Team  Roles

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Don’t Blame Meetings

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Argument

Hug

Collaboration as Argument

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http://sivasiva.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/two_goats.jpg

Collaboration as Hug

Pathology of Argument and Hug

• The adversarial mode assumes that all ideas are "ready for battle,” wears people down, bounces erratically, lands on ideas few may want.

• The nice mode assumes that good ideas are

easy to come by and that logic is irrelevant, tends to drift and go Frankenstein.

Instead: Parallel Thinking

• Participants look in same direction

• Direction can be changed

Thinking in Parallel

What We Get• Remove issues of power from

conversation• Save time• Egos set aside• Focus on one mental activity at a time• Self-awareness• Explore new capacities

FEELINGSRed  Hats  are  for

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Feelings, emotions, intuitions• “This  is  how  I  feel  about  it…”  • Where  I’m  coming  from,  my  initial  perceptions.  • No  explaining,  justifying,  rationalizing.  

• vs  white  which  is  neutral,  objective,  unemotional  • vs  black  which  must  include  reasons

CRITICISMthe  black  hat  is  for

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Black  =  Criticism

• Errors  in  thinking,  lack  of  evidence,  logic  flaws  • Downsides  and  risks.  

• No  requirement  to  be  fair,  balanced,  nice  

• Unlike  RED,  criticism  requires  reasons

RED  vs  BLACK

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OPTIMISM  AND  IDEASYellow  Hats  are  for

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Yellow  =  ideas  moving  us  forward

• optimism  about  positive  benefits  • heightened  value  sensitivity  (vs.  danger/risk)  

• Constructive,  generative  • Vision  extrapolating  • Underlying  concepts

CREATIVITY,  OPTIONS,    ALTERNATIVES

Green  hats  are  for

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Green  =  Creativity  &  New  Ideas

• “Let’s  have  some  new  ideas…”  • Options  and  alternatives  (including  crazy  ones)  

• Everybody  has  to  be  creative,  not  just  the  creative  types  • Try  to  create  movement,  not  judgment.    • Stepping  stones

Yellow  vs.  Green

• Green  is  new,  different  from  existing.  

• Yellow  is  extends,  builds  on  existing.

Green  Thinking  Extends  Laterally

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Yellow  Ideas  Build  on  Existing

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INFORMATIONWhite  hats  are  about  

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White  =  Information

• (Just)  Facts  and  Figures  (without  an  argument)  

• Observations  vs.  interpretations  • Believed  facts  and  checked  facts

PROCESSBlue  Hats  are  for

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Blue  =  Process

• Agenda,  sequence,  rules  of  the  road  • Can  be  a  permanent  role  –  facilitator  —  but  • in  blue  hats  anyone  can  suggest  process  

• Directing  focus  of  participants  • Ask  right  question,  remind  us  of  issue,  etc.

Advantages  and  Outcomes

• Remove  issues  of  power  from  conversation  • Save  time  • Egos  set  aside  • Focus  on  one  mental  activity  at  a  time  • Self-­‐awareness  • Explore  new  capacities

CREATIVITY  TACTICSUsing  Hat  Sequences  to  Build

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Sequences  as  Creative  Repertoire

• Green  +  Yellow  =  

• Black  +  Green  =  

• Black  +  Yellow  =  

• White  +  Red  +  Green  +  Yellow  =

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Sequences  as  Creative  Repertoire

• Green  +  Yellow  =  crazy  new  ideas  followed  by  let’s  see  what  we  can  do  with  them.  

• Black  +  Green  =  identify  problems  and  then  generate  novel  solutions  

• Black  +  Yellow  =  identify  problems  and  look  for  value  in  each  

• White  +  Red  +  Green  +  Yellow  =  set  table,  clear  emotions,  brainstorm,  build  on  ideas

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Agendas  and  Hats

• BLUE  (5)  Why  are  we  here?    How  will  we  proceed?  • WHITE  (10)  What  do  we  know?    • GREEN    (10)  What  sorts  of  things  are  possible  • YELLOW  (5)  What's  good  about  these  ideas?  • RED  (5)  How  do  people  feel  about  these?  • BLACK  (5)  Among  those  that  look  most  promising,  what  are  the  potential  pitfalls?  

• YELLOW  (5)  What's  good  about  these  ideas?  • BLUE  (5)  What  did  we  achieve?  What  is  the  outcome?  What  does  our  design  look  like  at  this  point?

Thou  Shalt  Not…

• Division  of  labor:  don’t  appoint  special  roles,  don’t  allow  “I’m  no  good  at,”  and  don’t  drop  emphasis  on  parallel  thinking.  

• Types.    This  is  not  about  categories  of  people.  It’s  also  not  about  value  judgments  about  styles.  

• Label  actions  with  hats  -­‐  it’s  ideas  and  words!

BIG  IDEA?What  is  the  

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Searching  for  a  Lion  in  the  Sahara

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Forms  of  Spatiality

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finis

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References

• deBono,  E.  1985.  Six  Thinking  Hats.  Little,  Brown