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8/7/2019 HPL FINAL WORD

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Six Thinking Hats



Introduction

An antelope grazing in Africa hears a sound in the grass.

Immediately all the neuronal clusters concerned with

danger are activated so that Lion is recognized as soon as itemerges from the grass and the antelope is able to escape.

Such sensitization is a key part of how the brain works and

why it is so efficient.

It is not possible to have that maximum sensitization in

different direction at the same time, just like it is not

possible to design a golf club which is best for driving and atthe same time the best club for putting. That is why the six

Hats method is essential.



The premise of the method is that the human brain thinks in

a number of distinct ways which can be identified,

deliberately accessed and hence planned for use in a

structured way allowing one to develop strategies for

thinking about particular issues. Dr de Bono identifies five

distinct states in which the brain can be "sensitised". Ineach of these states the brain will identify and bring into

conscious thought certain aspects of issues being

considered (e.g. gut instinct, pessimistic judgment, neutral

facts).

Argument vs. Parallel thinking

Once upon a time a man painted half his car white and the

other half black. His friends asked him why he did such a

strange thing. He replied, “because it is such fun, whenever

I have an accident, to hear the witnesses in the court

contradicts each other”. This is because in an argument

that both sides are right but are looking at different aspects

of the situation. But is not sufficient.



Parallel thinking

There is a large and beautiful country house. Four persons

standing at the four different sides of the house having a

different view. All four are arguing that the view each is

seeing is a correct view of the house.Using parallel thinking they all walk around and look at the

front, then back and finally remaining sides. So at each

moment each person is looking in parallel from the same

point of view.

This is all most exact opposite of argument, adversarial,

confrontational thinking where each party deliberately takesan opposite view. Because each person eventually looks at

all the sides of the building, the subject is explored fully.

Parallel thinking means that at any moment everyone is

looking in the same direction.

Six Thinking Hats

The de Bono Hats system (also known as "Six Hats" or "SixThinking Hats") is a thinking tool for group discussion andindividual thinking. Combined with the idea of parallelthinking which is associated with it, it provides a means forgroups to think together more effectively, and a means toplan thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive way. The

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_thinking






method is attributed to Dr. Edward de Bono and is thesubject of his book, Six Thinking Hats.

White hat – Facts & Information

Participants make statements of fact, including identifying

information that is absent and presenting the views of people who are not present in a factual manner. In manythinking sessions this occurs immediately after an initialblue hat, and it often an extended action with participantspresenting details about their organization and thebackground to the purpose of the thinking session. The keyinformation that represents the inputs to the session arepresented and discussed. Key absences of information (i.e.

information needs) can also be identified at this point.

Commercial examples are:

• Total sales of this product are €x p.a.• Our sales data is two years old• Energy efficiency legislation is expected to impact our

ability to run our business in the next five years•

The number of elderly people in Europe is increasing

Examples in the referenced article are:

• Students are talking while the teacher is talking• There is noise and therefore other students are

distracted and can’t hear the teacher• Students don’t know what to do once instructions are

given• Many students become distracted and off task resulting

in the failure to complete work• Students are not understanding the focused lecture due

to lack of concentration

Red hat – Feelings & Emotions

Participants state their feelings, exercising their gut

instincts. In many cases this is a method for harvestingideas, everyone getting to identify their top two or threechoices from a list of ideas or items identified under another

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_de_Bono

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_age

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_de_Bono

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_age



hat. This is done to help reducing lists of many options intoa few to focus on by allowing each participant to vote forthe ones they prefer. It is applied more quickly than theother hats to ensure it is a gut reaction feeling that isrecorded. Finally this hat can be used to request anaesthetic response to a particular design or object


• I'm enthusiastic about getting involved in selling!• That role in the company doesn't appeal to me.• I'd like to do that but I feel uncertain about it.• I'm frustrated that we have let the situation get this

bad!

Examples from the referenced article are:

• The teacher feels offended• Students become frustrated because they can’t hear

directions• Those talking enjoy joking around and being heard.• It represents emotional thinking of a person.

Black hat – Critical Judgment

Participants identify barriers, hazards, risks and other

negative connotations. This is critical thinking, looking forproblems and mismatches. This hat is usually natural forpeople to use, the issues with it are that people will tend to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gut_reaction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gut_reaction



use it when it is not requested and when it is notappropriate, thus stopping the flow of others. Preventinginappropriate use of the black hat is a common obstacleand vital step to effective group thinking. Another difficultyfaced is that some people will naturally start to look for thesolutions to raised problems - they start practicing green onblack thinking before it is requested.


• We will be facing strong competition in that market• What if we cannot get enough capital together to

support the investment?• We might not be able to make it cheaply enough for

our customers to buy it• There will be too much political opposition to this

approach• There is a risk that new legislation will make this

market unattractive


•

Time is wasted• Learning is compromised• Those speaking feel that black hat listeners do not

respect them and do not wish to hear what they aresaying

• Flow of discussion is less clear

Yellow hat – Positive

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_opposition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_opposition



Participants identify benefits associated with an idea orissue. This is the opposite of black hat thinking andlooks for the reasons in favor of something. This is stilla matter of judgment - it is an analytical process, notjust blind optimism. One is looking to create justifiedstatements in favor. it is encapsulate in the idea of "undecided positive" (whereas the black hat would beskeptical - undecided negative)

The outputs may be statements of the benefits thatcould be created with a given idea, or positivestatements about the likelihood of achieving it oridentifying the key supports available that will benefitthis course of action


• That would reduce the environmental impact of ouractivities

• This approach will make our operations more efficient• We could use our existing distribution channels for this

product


• Everyone is able to say what is on their minds.• It can be fun.• Not only the ‘smart kids’ get to speak.• One doesn’t have to wait to share their ideas and

therefore risk forgetting information.

Green hat – New Ideas

This is the hat of thinking new thoughts. It is based aroundthe idea of provocation and thinking for the sake of

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_(business)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_(business)



identifying new possibilities. Things are said for the sake of seeing what they might mean, rather than to form ajudgment. This is often carried out on black hat statementsin order to identify how to get past the barriers or failingsidentified there (green on black thinking). Because greenhat thinking covers the full spectrum of creativity, it cantake many forms.


• What if we provided it for free?• Could we achieve it using technology X instead?• If we extended the course by half a day it would really

help people understand• How would someone from profession X view this• Fish (green hat thinking can include random word

stimulus methods)


• Teacher will be more aware about the amount of timethey spend talking

•

Teacher will try to incorporate interaction from avariety of different students rather than just the ‘smartkids’

• Students will resist the urge to say whatever is on theirmind. They will think about what they have to say andwhether it is relevant to the topic

• Students will take into account whether their commentwill interfere with other people's learning

•

Students will think of new ways to communicate ratherthan talking in class, for example, talk on Messenger • Students will be able to develop ideas as a result of

being creative in class

Blue hat – the Big Picture

This is the hat under which all participants discuss thethinking process. The facilitator will generally wear itthroughout and each member of the team will put it on from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messenger

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messenger



time to time to think about directing their work together.This hat should be used at the start and end of eachthinking session, to set objectives, to define the route totake to get to them, to evaluate where the group has got to,and where the thinking process is going. Having a facilitatormaintain this role throughout helps ensure that the groupremains focused on task and improves their chances of achieving their objectives.


• We'll follow this program of thinking to start the day -does everyone agree?

• OK time to move on to some yellow hat thinking• Stop there - you are getting into debate. Lets do some

black hat and surface all the issues together first• I think we need to revisit our objectives, I'm not sure

that they are right in light of our work so far


• Teacher learns that they need to monitor the amount of

time that they spend talking within the classroom• Teacher needs to involve all students within discussions• Teacher needs to recognize that some students need

thinking time before responding. Allowing thesestudents time to compute solutions promotes widerparticipation and increased learning

• Students realize that their talking makes the speakerfeel unappreciated and disrespected

•

Students realize that their comments are jeopardizingthe learning of other individuals• Students realize that talking out of time demonstrates a

lack of self-discipline and that not all comments requiresharing

Application Method



There are two basic ways of using hats. The hats can be

used singly to request a type of thinking. Or, the hats can

be used in sequence to explore a subject or solve a

problem.

Single useIn single use hats are used as a symbol to request a

particular thinking. In the course of conversation you may

come to a point where there is a need to generate some

fresh options:

……………….I think we need some green hat thinking here

It is not necessary to specify a hat every time you openyour mouth. The hats are there for you to use at your

discretion as a formal means to ask for a certain type of

thinking. Once people have been trained in the use of the

hats they know exactly how to respond. Instead of general

and vague request to ‘think about this’, there is now a

precise way to ask for a particular mode of thinking.

Sequence Use

The hats can also be used one after the another in certain

sequence.

Any hat can be used as often as you like.

There is no need to use every hat.

The sequence may be made up of two, three, four or more

hats.

There are two broad types of sequence:

• Evolving

• Preset

With the evolving sequence, you choose first hat. When the

hat is completed, the next hat is chosen and so on.



The Preset sequence is set up at the beginning of the

meeting under an initial Blue hat. The sequence is laid out

in advance and then followed. Minor variations are

permitted depending on the output.

Conclusion

The biggest enemy of thinking is complexity, for that leads

to confusion. When thinking is clear and simple it becomes

more enjoyable and more effective. The Six Thin king Hats

concept is very simple to understand as it involves parallel

thinking and also it is very simple to use.

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