HOW MANY HATS YOU CAN WEAR AT A TIME?

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Can you really wear more than one hat at any given time?

I don’t think you can.

But, can you change your hats for them to have a better purpose? Like for solving or resolving any problem? Especially at times when you are in a group or in a discussion meeting?

Yes, you can.

A long time ago, precisely in 1985, Edward de Bono introduced the concept of ‘Six Thinking Hats’.

Before that ‘Traditional Thinking’ was used everywhere. It was argumentative. Adversarial remarks used to get exchanged. It wasn’t a constructive way of expressions. It wasn’t collaborative or co-operative in nature.

Another pattern of thinking was known as ‘Parallel Thinking’. Here, all participants look in one direction at any given time. All views are parallel. This means that the direction of discussions changes after one group member directs it to another direction.

Edward de Bono advocated ‘Lateral Thinking’. It allows a person to think differently or think out of the box.

Edward de Bono’s concept gave birth to his concept of ‘Six Thinking Hats’ which leads back to the concept of parallel thinking.

The ‘six thinking hats’ method is useful in carrying effectively group meetings, resolving problems, and also for arriving at important decisions.

This method can be used anywhere, in families, schools and colleges, organizations etc. There are six imaginary hats of different colours which you can put on or take off. Parallel thinking is one of the end products for this technique.

Each colour of hat relates to the type of direction of thinking. The principle behind the theorem is to make a group wear one hat at any given time.

Six Thinking Hats

WHITE HAT THINKING:

• Neutral, objective, information

• Facts and figures

• Excludes one’s own opinions, hunches and judgements

• Removes feelings and expressions

To be asked questions for white hat thinking:

• What is the information known to us?

• What is the information that is missing?

• What information or facts should we possibly have?

• What is the source of the information?

• What is the relevant information?

• What are the most important facts?

• What is the validity of the information provided?

RED HAT THINKING:

1. Emotions and feelings influence thinking and red hat acknowledges this fact. A type of thinking that is influenced by emotions and feelings. Red hat acknowledges this fact.

2. Emotions come in three ways:

   1. Fear, anger, hatred, love, and other background emotions.

   2. Initial perceptions (e.g. the perception you have when someone comes and insults you.)

   3. Emotions after a map of situations have been put together

3. Hunches, intuitions, impressions

4. Doesn’t have to be logical or consistent

5. No justification, basis, or reasons (without explanation)

Questions to be asked for Red hat thinking:

• What is my feeling towards this right now?

• How warm or cold do I feel about this?

• How am I reacting to this?

BLACK HAT THINKING:

• Cautious and careful (critical thinking)

• Logical negative-why it won’t work?

• Critical judgement, pessimistic view

• Focus on errors, evidence, conclusions

• Worst-case scenarios

Black hat thinking questions to be asked:

• Is this true?

• Will it work? Why it won’t work?

• What are the weaknesses?

• What is wrong with it?

YELLOW HAT THINKING:

• Positive and speculative

• Positive thinking, optimism, opportunity

• Benefits

• Best-case scenarios

Yellow hat questions and answers:

• What are the good points? How will it help us?

• What are the benefits?

• Why will this idea work?

• Why is this worth doing?

• How will it help us?

• Why can it be done?

GREEN HAT THINKING:

• New ideas, concepts, perceptions

• Deliberate creation of new ideas

• Alternatives and more alternatives

• New approaches to problems

• Creative and lateral thinking

Green hat questions and answers:

• What are the ways in which I can work this out?

• What are the different approaches that I can take to work this problem out?

THE BLUE HAT:

• Since the focus of this technique is thinking, it is unique in a way

• This organizes or control the thinking process of a person

• Blue hat is usually the starting point for all thinking sessions

• Normally, a session leader uses a blue hat

• Control on the usage order for other hats

• Brings in discipline and focus

Open with BLUE HAT:

1. Why are we here?

2. What are we thinking about?

3. Definition of the situation or problem

4. The background to the thinking

5. What do we want to achieve?

6. Where we want to end up?

7. A plan for the sequence of hats

8. Time allocated for each individual to wear the hat and time allotted for the session that they have in wearing the hat

…And Close with the BLUE HAT:

1. What have we achieved?

2. What decision have we reached?

3. What do we do next?

4. Summarizes the following:

   1. Outcome

   2. Conclusion

   3. Design

   4. Solution

   5. Next steps

‘Six Thinking Hats’ can be used to view a decision from a number of different angles. It forces you to have different thinking styles, which in turn gives you a different perspective.

This technique is for defining a problem. All problems in the world have a solution for them. You can choose the solution that best suits your needs, this can then be implemented to help you meet your success.

I wish you good luck.

Ref.: This has a reference of Edward de Bono’s bestselling book, ‘The Six Thinking Hats’. In fact, a few sentences are copied from the book for reference.