As leaders, we often watch as our group problem solving and deciding sessions drift off-track. The Six Thinking Hats method, as developed by Edward de Bono (Six Thinking Hats
De Bono postulates that there are six thinking styles (the hats), and that groups work more effectively if they consciously put on only one thinking hat at a time. The hats (styles) are:
White Hat - for pure facts, figures, information, evidence
Red Hat - for emotions, intuitions and feelings
Black Hat - for negative judgment (why this idea won't work)
Yellow Hat - for positive judgment (what is right about this idea)
Green Hat - for creativity
Blue Hat - for thinking about thinking
It's pretty easy to use this concept once a group has played with it for a short while. In use it might look like this:
Let's say that a widget maker has convened a problem solving team to figure out a solution to excessive deraking on the framajam line. The group might put on the Blue Hat first, to sort out what the objective was, and what problem solving processes to use. Then they might don the White Hat, in order to review all the data they had about the deraking problem. Next comes the Green Hat, to develop possible solutions. Then the Yellow Hat to tease out all the advantages of each idea, followed by the Black Hat to dump cold water on each idea. Finally, the Red Hat is employed in the service of reaching a final decision.
The real beauty of de Bono's idea is that it can help a facilitator bring the group back on track. If the group is in Yellow Hat mode and Bill says that, "Option B is horrible because the framajam line moves too fast for it to work," the facilitator can bring things back on track by reminding Bill that the Yellow Hat is on now and Black comes later. And Bill is less likely to bring up objections during the Yellow Hat phase anyway, because he knows his beloved Black Hat is coming soon.
As I write this it sounds awfully silly. But I have used it with very senior groups to great effect. Don't take my word for it - I haven't been writing about thinking as long as de Bono has. Check out how he explains it in the book. It's worth your time.
Oh yeah - don't use real hats - just figurative ones. I showed up - once and only once - with real hats. Now that truly was silly.
