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Feedback gap

The Six Thinking Hats

The Six Thinking Hats, using different modes of thinking

Chapter 6
Feedback gap p.4
 

I will be asking many questions. I sometimes feel that discussions and planning sessions go nowhere. Everybody ends up defending their views and positions (and quite often their pet theories) and nothing new or constructive emerges from the meeting. Can you suggest anything that can be used that will move us beyond this?
Edward de Bono developed a set of techniques to overcome this problem. He calls it the Six Thinking Hats. The technique focuses on the deliberate use of different modes of thinking and has become widely used in businesses to enhance creativity and critical thinking I will attempt to give direct answers.
I will be asking many questions. That sounds great, can you explain it to me?
I will attempt to give direct answers.
The Six Thinking Hats allow us to change our focus in order to have more productive discussions.

Each hat is a different color representing a different way of thinking.

When you "put on" one of the hats, you operate exclusively in that mode of thinking. When you change from one hat to another you change your thinking mode associated with that hat to the thinking mode indicated by another hat.

 

It is very important to remember that the six hats are not descriptions of thinkers or categories of thinkers. Every person can use all the hats as tools to explore an issue and to stimulate creative thinking.


The White Hat

Data and information.

  • What information is now available to help you think about this matter?

  • What information would you like to have?

  • How might you obtain the information that you feel would be necessary or useful when deciding about this matter?
The Six Thinking Hats


The Black Hat

Caution and critical judgement.

  • What are points of caution?What are the disadvantages?

  • What are the potential problems?

  • What can go wrong?

  • What are the logical negative points?

  • What are the difficulties surrounding the suggestion?
The Six Thinking Hats


The Red Hat

Feelings, intuition, hunches and emotions.

  • What does your intuition tell you?

  • What is your gut feeling about the suggestion?

  • What are your simple feelings about the matter?

  • What are your feelings right now on this subject?

  • Do not attempt to explain or justify your feelings; just put them down as they are at this moment.
The Six Thinking Hats


The Yellow Hat

Positive view, benefits and feasibility.

  • What are the benefits, value and advantages of this idea?

  • What are the logical positive points?

  • How could this idea be made workable?

  • What are the good things about the suggestion?
The Six Thinking Hats


The Green Hat

Creative effort, new ideas, alternatives and movement.

  • How can the idea be modified to improve it and to remove obvious faults?

  • How can some of the difficulties pointed out by the Black Hat be overcome?

  • Are there alternative ways of achieving the same objective?

  • What creative ideas do you have in this area?
The Six Thinking Hats


The Blue Hat

Thinking about thinking. Organizing and controlling the thinking process.

  • How would you summarize the discussion that has taken place?

  • Can you come to a conclusion?

  • If so, what is the conclusion?

  • If you would prefer to do some further thinking, what thinking steps would you now take?

  • What should happen next?
The Six Thinking Hats
Thank you to: Edward de Bono
I will give some advice and insights. These hats provide two ways to move from what Mike Matulovich calls first order thinking to second order thinking.
Extra resources:
More resources:
Copyright © 2005 Next S Business Development (PTY) LTD.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, used for commercial purposes or edited in any way without the permission of the copyright owner.
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