Early in the 1980s Dr. de Bono invented the Six Thinking Hats method. The method is a framework for thinking and can incorporate lateral thinking.The six thinking hats method is extremely simple but it is powerful in its simplicity. Valuable judgmental thinking has its place in the system but is not allowed to dominate as in normal thinking. 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.
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:
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.
White Hat thinking
This covers facts, figures, information needs and gaps. "I think we need some
white hat thinking at this point..." means Let's drop the arguments and
proposals, and look at the data base."
Imagine a computer that gives the facts
& figures for which it is asked. The computer is neutral; it does not offer interpretations
or opinions. When wearing the 'White hat' the thinker should imitate the computer-
be objective and neutral in presenting the information which is being requested through focused questions.
Think of white paper, which is
neutral and carries information.
The white hat has to do with data and
information.
...What information do we have here?
...What
information is missing?
...What information would we like to
have?
...How are we going to get the information?
When you ask for
white hat thinking at a meeting you are asking those present to put aside the
proposals and arguments and to focus directly on the information. For the moment
everyone at the meeting looks to see what information is available, what is
needed, and how it might be obtained.
Red
Hat thinking
Think of red and fire and warm.
This covers intuition, feelings and emotions. The red hat allows the thinker
to put forward an intuition without any need to justify it. "Putting on my red
hat, I think this is a terrible proposal." 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.
...Putting on my red hat, this is what I feel about the
project.
...My gut-feeling is that it will not work.
...I don't
like the way this is being done.
...My intuition tells me that prices
will fall soon.
Because the red hat "signals" feelings as such, they can
come into the discussion without pretending to be anything else. Intuition may
be a composite judgment based on years of experience in the field and may be
very valuable even if the reasons behind the intuition cannot be spelled out
consciously. It should also be said that intuition is not always right, and it
can be wrong. It is sometimes valuable to get feelings out into the
open.
Black Hat thinking
Think of a stern judge wearing black robes who comes down heavily on wrong-doers.
This is the hat of judgment and caution. It is a most valuable hat. It is not
in any sense an inferior 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 thinking must always be logical and is not getting into an argument.It is an
objective attempt to put the negative elements onto the map.
...The regulations do
not permit us to do that.
...We do not have the production capacity to meet
that order.
...When we tried a higher price the sales fell off.
...He has
no experience in export management.
Mistakes can be disastrous. No one
wants to make mistakes or do silly things. So the black hat is very valuable. It
is the most used hat and possibly the most useful hat. At the same time it is
very easy to overuse the black hat. Some people feel that it is enough to be
cautions and negative and that if you prevent all mistakes then everything will
be fine. It is easy to kill creative ideas with early negativity. Wine is fine
but overuse of alcohol can turn you into an alcoholic. It is the same with the
black hat. The hat is very valuable but overuse of it can be a
problem.
Yellow Hat thinking
Think of sunshine.
This is the logical positive. 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. It probes and explores values and benefits and then strives to find support
for it. 'Yellow hat' thinking seeks to put forward soundly based optimism - it is
consructive and generates proposals and suggestions. It permits vision and dreams.
...This might work if we moved
the production plant nearer to the customers.
...The benefit would come
from repeat purchases.
...The high cost of energy would make everyone
more energy efficient.
The black hat is much more natural than the yellow
hat because we need to avoid mistakes and danger for survival. Yellow hat
thinking often requires a deliberate effort. Benefits are not always immediately
obvious and we might have to search for them. Every creative idea deserves some
yellow hat attention.
Green Hat thinking
Think of vegetation and rich growth
This is the hat of creativity, alternatives, proposals, what is interesting,
provocations and changes. The person who puts on the 'Green hat', begins to use
the idioms of creative thinking and those around are required to treat the output as
a creative output. Ideally both thinker and listener should be wearing 'Green hats'.
The search for alternatives is a fundamental aspect of 'Green hat' thinking.
...We need some new ideas here.
...Are there any
additional alternatives?
...Could we do this in a different
way?
...Could there be another explanation?
The green hat makes it
possible to ask directly for a creative effort. The green hat makes time and
space available for creative thinking. Even if no creative ideas are
forthcoming, the green hat asks for the creative effort.
Blue Hat thinking
Think of the sky and an overview.
This is the overview or process control hat. It looks not at the subject
itself but at the 'thinking' about the subject. "Putting on my blue hat, I feel
we should do some more green hat thinking at this point." In technical terms,
the blue hat is concerned with meta-cognition.
The thinker defines the subject towards which , thinking is to be directed and
determines the tasks to be carried out. This thinking is responsible for summaries,
overviews and conclusions. Anyone can offer 'Blue hat' comments and suggestions.
...We have spent far too much time looking for
someone to blame.
...Could we have a summary of your views?
...I
think we should take a look at the priorities.
...I suggest we try some
green hat thinking to get some new ideas.
The blue hat is usually used by
the chairperson or the organizer of the meeting, but other participants can put
forward suggestions. The blue hat is for organizing and controlling the thinking
process so that it becomes more productive. The blue hat is for thinking about
thinking.
INSTEAD OF ARGUMENT
The Western tradition of argument
insists that we try to move forward by means of position taking and argument.
"A" has a point of view and "B" disagrees. The ensuing argument is supposed to
give adequate exploration of the subject. Too often the protagonists get locked
into their positions and become more interested in winning or losing the
argument than in exploring the subject.
The six hats method allows us to
get right away from argument in order to get more productive discussions. Both
"A" and "B" can wear the black hat at the same time to find out the dangers.
Both "A" and "B" can wear the yellow hat to explore the benefits. Both "A" and
"B" can wear the green hat to open up possibilities. Instead of adversarial
thinking there is cooperative exploration. That is why the method has been so
eagerly taken up by those who have to run meetings. At least there is a way of
breaking free from the traditional argument system.
EGO AND
PERFORMANCE
Usually ego and performance in thinking are too closely bound
together. Someone who does not like an idea will not make any effort to find
points in favor of the idea-and the other way around. The hat method separates
ego from performance. The thinker is challenged to use the different hats and
actually experiences a sense of freedom because the thinker is no longer limited
to one position.
A person who does not like an idea will now make an
effort under the yellow hat to find some benefits. A person who is enthusiastic
about an idea will be asked to look at the difficulties under the black hat.
With the hats, quite often the thinker comes up with insights that change his or
her opinion in the matter.
PERSISTENT NEGATIVITY
Some people are
cautious by nature and feel that at every moment they have to put forward the
possible dangers. In a normal discussion there is nothing to stop a person being
persistently negative. With the hat system there is ample opportunity to be
negative at the right moment (under the black hat) but at other times negativity
is out of place. In this way the natural dominance of the black hat is
reduced.
If a person is being negative, you say, "That is good black hat
thinking; let us have some more of it." Then after a while you say, "We have had
a lot of black hat thinking-now let's try some green hat thinking." The black
hat wearer must now keep quiet or make a green hat effort.
SPACE FOR
POSITIVE AND CREATIVE THINKING
The yellow and green hats make it possible
to allocate time for deliberative creative effort and also a positive effort. I
have seen Ron Barbaro, president of Prudential, listen to someone telling him
why something cannot be done. After a while Ron would say: "Now for the yellow
hat."
It is not natural to allow time for creativity. It is not natural
to allow time for positive thinking unless we happen to like the idea. But once
we do make the deliberate effort, this effort can be well rewarded. The natural
flow of thinking and discussion allows insufficient time for creative effort
(unless an idea immediately comes to mind) and insufficient time for a positive
effort.
GAME
The more you invest in the six hats method as a
"game" the more powerful the method becomes. People feel very foolish if they
are seen not to be playing the game. If everyone is making a yellow hat effort
then the person who comes out with some black hat comment feels out of place. If
you invest in the game (using the hat colors) when you do not really need it
then the method is available for use when you do not really need it: fierce
arguments, crises, conflicts, dogmatic views, and so on.
NOT
CATEGORIES
It is perfectly true that some people are much better at one
type of thinking than another. It is perfectly true that some people are much
more comfortable with one type of thinking rather than another. But I want to
emphasize very strongly that the hats are not categories or descriptions. I do
not want someone considering himself "the black hat thinker in this group." I do
not want someone considering herself "the green hat thinker in this group." That
is exactly the opposite of the purpose of the six hats. Everyone must make an
"effort" to use all of the hats. When a group is doing green hat thinking then
everyone is "wearing" the green hat at that time. If a person chooses to keep
quiet at all times other than when his or her favorite hat is in use then that
person can be asked directly for some "green hat views" or "yellow hat
views".
It is only too easy to see the hats as categories. They are
categories of thinking behavior, but not of people. Just as every golfer needs
to attempt to use all clubs, so every thinker must attempt to use all six
hats.
OCCASIONAL USE
The most frequent use of the hats is the
"occasional" use. this means that you ask for one hat at a time. This is to
request a certain type of thinking or to change out of a certain type of
thinking. Before the use of the hat there is a normal discussion and after the
use of the hat there is again normal discussion. A single hat is used as a
convenient way to switch thinking. You can ask another person to put on or take
off a particular hat. You can announce that you are putting on a particular hat
("Putting on my black hat, these are the difficulties I foresee"). You can ask a
whole group to put on a particular hat ("I think it is time we had some green
hat thinking. We need some new ideas").
The great virtue of the six hat
method is that you can switch thinking immediately and without offense. If you
tell someone to stop being "so negative" that person is likely to be offended.
But if you ask that person to "try the yellow hat" then there is no offense.
After a while the six hats become part of corporate culture and are used freely
and automatically to ask for different types of thinking.
SYSTEMATIC
USE
There are times when a group, or an individual, wants a quick
exploration of a subject. This can be done by putting together a formal sequence
of the hats and then going through them, one by one, spending about four minutes
on each hat.
There is no one correct sequence because the sequence will
vary with the subject, whether it has been considered before, and who is doing
the thinking. There are some formal guidelines that may help to select the
sequence. For example, it is useful to use the black hat towards the end to seek
out difficulties and dangers and to see whether the proposed idea is viable.
This should then be followed with the red hat, which allows someone to say: "In
its present form this idea will not work, but I still feel the idea has
potential. So let us try to find a way of making it work." This allows a
"feeling" to prevent total dismissal of an idea that in its present form is not
usable. These guidelines would only be confusing at this point because readers
would be forever trying to remember the correct sequence. The guidelines are
more properly given in the formal training on the use of the six thinking hats.
For practical purposes it is enough to agree on a sequence that seems sensible
and then to use it. This gives good results.
Compilation is based on excerpt from Edward de Bono's "Why Do Quality Efforts Lose Their Fizz?" Quality is No Longer Enough, The Journal for Quality and Participation, September 1991 & Excerpt from the Book "Serious Creativity".