Date post: | 28-Mar-2015 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | daniel-short |
View: | 222 times |
Download: | 2 times |
De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats
Dr Sunil GuptaDecember 2011
It is a technique that helps meetings become more productive.
The attendees of the meeting separate thinking into six distinct categories.
Each category is identified with its own coloured metaphorical “thinking hat.”
The hats are red, black, yellow, green, white and blue.
Six Thinking Hats
By mentally wearing and switching "hats," the whole meeting focuses better attention at the problem.
The whole meeting wears one hat at a time and it is the role of all the attendees to come up with information which is relevant during that part of the meeting to the hat being discussed.
The hats can be worn in any order and more than once in a discussion on a particular topic.
The hats can also be used by an individual thinking about a problem.
Six Thinking Hats
Change from adversarial to parallel thinking
More focused thinking Saving time from doing one thing at a
time Removing ego from decisions and more
collaboration More creativity and innovation
Results of Six Hat Thinking
De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats
The White Hat calls for information known or needed
Neutral and objective
The White Hat
The Red Hat signifies participant’s feelings, hunches and intuition
Do not have to give any reasons or justification
Keep it short
The Red Hat
The Black Hat is judgement, the devil’s advocate or why something may not work
Cautious, dangers, problems, faults
Logical reasons must be given
The Black Hat
The Yellow Hat symbolizes brightness and optimism
Why it may work The good points in the idea Positive Thinking Constructive Give logical reasons
The Yellow Hat
The Green Hat focuses on creativity: the possibilities, alternatives and new ideas
How to overcome the Black Hat problems
How to reinforce Yellow Hat values
The Green Hat
The Blue Hat is used to manage the thinking process
Setting the Focus Making summaries Overviews Conclusions Action Plans
The Blue Hat
Define the focus of your thinking Plan the sequence and timing of the
thinking Ask for changes in the thinking if needed Handle requests from the group for
changes in the thinking Form periodic or final summaries of the
thinking for consideration by the team
Facilitator’s Role
Follow the lead of the facilitator
Stick to the hat (type of thinking) that is in current use
Try to work within the time limits
Contribute honestly and fully under each of the hats
Participant’s Role
Six Thinking Hats is a useful technique to make meetings more productive.
The whole meeting wears one metaphorical hat at a time.
It can save time, bring about more focused thinking, more collaboration and more creativity.
Summary
Edward De Bono. Six Thinking Hats (1985) ISBN 0-316-17831-4
http://www.debonogroup.com/six_thinking_hats.php
Further Reading