Looking at a Decision From All Points of View
by Rania Chiourea, PhD
In 1985 Dr. Edward de
Bono developed the “Six Thinking Hats” method,
an important and powerful technique. Six Thinking Hats is
a simple, effective parallel thinking process, that helps people be more
productive, focused, and mindfully involved. And once learned, the tools can be
applied immediately! This exercise asks students to think about an idea,
decision, or problem from six different perspectives which are represented by
different colored hats. It forces the learners to move outside their habitual
thinking style, and helps to get a more rounded view of a situation, as they
have to consider multiple perspectives before making a full judgment or
decision on the idea, decision, or problem. This activity
can be applied to any subject and grade level discussion related to a problem,
decision to be made, or issue. It can be used in small groups or as a full
class activity.
Many successful people think from a very rational,
positive viewpoint. This is part of the reason that they are successful. Often,
though, they may fail to look at a problem from an emotional, intuitive,
creative or negative viewpoint. This can mean that they underestimate
resistance to plans, fail to make creative leaps and do not make essential
contingency plans.
Similarly, pessimists may be excessively defensive, and
more emotional people may fail to look at decisions calmly and rationally. If
you look at a problem with the 'Six Thinking Hats' technique, then you will
solve it using all approaches. Your decisions and plans will mix ambition,
skill in execution, public sensitivity, creativity and good contingency
planning.
Dr. de Bono organized a
network of authorized trainers to introduce the Six Thinking Hats. Advanced
Practical Thinking (APTT), of Des Moines, Iowa USA, licenses the training in
all parts of the world except Canada (and now, Europe). APTT organizes the
trainers and supplies the only training materials written and authorized by Dr.
de Bono.
Organizations such as Prudential
Insurance, IBM, Federal Express, British Airways, Polaroid, Pepsico, DuPont,
and Nippon Telephone and Telegraph, possibly the world's largest company, use
Six Thinking Hats.
How to Use the Tool:
You can use Six Thinking Hats in meetings or on your own. In
meetings it has the benefit of blocking the confrontations that happen when
people with different thinking styles discuss the same problem.
The six hats represent six modes of
thinking and are directions to think rather than labels for thinking. That is,
the hats are used proactively rather than reactively.
The method promotes fuller input
from more people. In de Bono's words it "separates ego from
performance". Everyone is able to contribute to the exploration without
denting egos as they are just using the yellow hat or whatever hat. The six
hats system encourages performance rather than ego defense. People can
contribute under any hat even though they initially support the opposite view.
The key point is that a hat is a
direction to think rather than a label for thinking. The key theoretical
reasons to use the Six Thinking Hats are to:
- encourage Parallel Thinking
- encourage full-spectrum thinking
- separate ego from performance
The published book Six
Thinking Hats (de Bono, 1985) is readily available and explains the system,
although there have been some additions and changes to the execution of the
method.
Detailed description of the process
There are six metaphorical hats and the
thinker can put on or take off one of these hats to indicate the type of
thinking being used. This putting on and taking off is essential. The activity
is led by a “Blue Hat” representative who leads the group (small or large)
through the other hats. The hats must never be used to categorize individuals,
even though their behavior may seem to invite this. When done in group,
everybody wear the same hat at the same time.
Each 'Thinking Hat' is a different style of thinking.
These are explained below:
White Hat thinking
With this thinking hat you focus on the data available. Drop the arguments and proposals, and look at the data
base. This covers facts, figures, information needs and gaps. Look at the information you have, and see what you can learn
from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and either try to fill them or take
account of them. This is where you analyze past trends, and try to extrapolate
from historical data.
Red Hat thinking
This covers intuition,
feelings and emotions. 'Wearing' the red hat, you look at
problems using intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. Also try to think how
other people will react emotionally. Try to understand the responses of people
who do not fully know your reasoning. The
red hat allows the thinker to put forward an intuition without any ned to
justify it. Ususally feelings and intuition can only be introduced into a
discussion if they are supported by logic. Usually the feeling is genuine but
the logic is spurious.The red hat gives full permission to a thinker to put
forward his or her feelings on the subject at the moment.
Black Hat thinking
This is the hat of judgment and caution. Using black hat thinking, look at all the bad points of the
decision. Look at it cautiously and defensively. Try to see why it might not
work. This is important because it highlights the weak points in a plan. It
allows you to eliminate them, alter them, or prepare contingency plans to
counter them. It is not
in any sense an inferior or negative hat. The rior or negative hat. The black hat
is used to point out why a suggestion does not fit the facts, the available
experience, the system in use, or the
policy that is being followed. The black hat must always be logical. Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans 'tougher' and more
resilient. It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark
on a course of action. It
is a most valuable hat. Black Hat thinking is one of the real
benefits of this technique, as many successful people get so used to thinking
positively that often they cannot see problems in advance. This leaves them
under-prepared for difficulties.
Yellow Hat thinking
This is the logical positive. The yellow hat helps you to think positively. It is the
optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all the benefits of the decision and
the value in it. Why
something will work and why it will offer benefits. It can be used in looking
forward to the results of some proposed action, but can also be used to find
something of value in what has already happened. Yellow Hat
thinking helps you to keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult.
Green Hat thinking
This is the hat of creativity, alternatives,
proposals, what is interesting, provocations and changes. This is where you can develop creative solutions to a problem.
It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of
ideas. A whole range of creativity tools can help you here.
Blue Hat thinking
The Blue Hat stands for process control. It
looks not at the subject itself but at the 'thinking' about the subject. In
technical terms, the blue hat is concerned with meta-cognition. This is the hat worn by people chairing meetings.
Using the 6 Hats:
A variant of this technique is to look at problems from
the point of view of different professionals (e.g. doctors, architects, sales
directors, etc.) or different customers.
When running into difficulties because ideas are running
dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat thinking. When contingency plans
are needed, they will ask for Black Hat thinking, etc.
Example (www.mindtools.com):
The directors of a property company are looking at whether they should
construct a new office building. The economy is doing well, and the amount of
vacant office space is reducing sharply. As part of their decision they decide
to use the 6 Thinking Hats technique during a planning meeting.
Looking at the problem with the White Hat, they analyze the data they have. They examine
the trend in vacant office space, which shows a sharp reduction. They
anticipate that by the time the office block would be completed, that there
will be a severe shortage of office space. Current government projections show
steady economic growth for at least the construction period.
With Red Hat thinking, some of the directors think the proposed building
looks quite ugly. While it would be highly cost-effective, they worry that
people would not like to work in it.
When they think with
the Black Hat, they worry that government projections may be wrong. The
economy may be about to enter a 'cyclical downturn', in which case the office
building may be empty for a long time. If the building is not attractive, then
companies will choose to work in another better-looking building at the same
rent.
With the Yellow Hat, however, if the economy holds up and their projections are
correct, the company stands to make a great deal of money. If they are lucky,
maybe they could sell the building before the next downturn, or rent to tenants
on long-term leases that will last through any recession.
With Green Hat thinking they consider whether they should change the design to
make the building more pleasant. Perhaps they could build prestige offices that
people would want to rent in any economic climate. Alternatively, maybe they
should invest the money in the short term to buy up property at a low cost when
a recession comes.
The Blue Hat has been used by the meeting's Chair to move among the
different thinking styles. He or she may have needed to keep other members of
the team from switching styles, or from criticizing other peoples' points.
It is well worth reading Edward de Bono's book 6 Thinking
Hats for more information on this technique.
Key Points:
Six Thinking Hats is a good technique
for looking at the effects of a decision from a number of different points of
view.
It allows necessary emotion and
skepticism to be brought into what would otherwise be purely rational
decisions. It opens up the opportunity for creativity within Decision Making.
The technique also helps, for example, persistently pessimistic people to be
positive and creative.
Plans developed using the '6 Thinking
Hats' technique will be sounder and more resilient than would otherwise be the
case. It may also help you to avoid public relations mistakes, and spot good
reasons not to follow a course of action before you have committed to it.
Sources
and further reading:
- Mind Tools, see: www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_07.htm
- De Bono, E. (1999) Six Thinking Hats, New York: Back Bay Books.
- Edward de Bono’s webpage, see: www.edwdebono.com
- «Six Thinking Hats » Sylvie Labelle, 7th May 2005
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