Edward de Bono Six Thinking Hats (5of6)

Edward de Bono
Parallel Thinking (Six Thinking Hats)

Part five show
Hats as modifiers of behavior. End of Aristotelian boxes. End of egomania. Hats as a language of thinking. The Confucian ideal. Hats as time management tool. Different hat sequences. Hats make decisions. Benefit assessment under Yellow hat.

The technique
The Six Thinking Hats technique of Edward de Bono is a model that can be used for exploring different perspectives towards a complex situation or challenge. Seeing things in various ways is often a good idea in strategy formation or complex decision-making processes.
It provides a means for groups to think together more effectively, and a means to plan thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive way.


Types of hats
The six hats and the thinking processes that they represent
White hat Facts & Information
Red hat Feelings & Emotions
Black hat Logical negative
Yellow hat Logical positive
Green hat Creative thinking & Possibilities
Blue hat Control of process & Steps

Main benefits
Main benefits of Six Thinking Hats method:
1. Allow to say things without risk
2. Create awareness that there are multiple perspectives on the issue at hand
3. Convenient mechanism for 'switching gears'
4. Rules for the game of thinking
5. Focus thinking
6. Lead to more creative thinking
7. Improve communication
8. Improve decision making

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Edward
• de
• Bono
• Lateral
• Thinking
• Six
• Hats
• Parallel
• human
• brain
• develop
• Initial
• Ideas
• alternatives
• Identifying
• Solutions
• Strategic
• Planning
• Process
• Improvement
• Solving
• Problems

[learnpoise]

Yes, things can get pretty complex fast. Choosing which sequence of Thinking Hats are used is definitely a "blue hat" skill. But situations are complex too.

There's a new site to practice thinking, it's called practisethinking (dot) com. There is a link to each "operation" or specific thinking skill. You can ask a question and get answers, by choosing one of these "operations." There you can see if de Bono's thinking skills might work for you personally.

[iseekeyboard]

He tries to say the idea of six hats is simple, but mrblog's comment is a good example of how impractical it really is. The metaphor goes too far for validity.

[mrblogfr]

The best way to get experienced in six hats is to apply each day one hat (let's say that the black one is easy, take it away in the first step). And then two hats per day in every situation and then 3 hats ....

[ladiesking1]

@MagicalSunrise1984 Hey guys, Im interested in trialing the 6 hats too.

Let me know if you require a third hat =D

[MagicalSunrise1984]

@WellConditionedChimp maybe you can try it yourself then and see if it works for you

that way you'll have evidence ;p *but you have to use ALL six hats*

if you like, write me an idea on pm and we can try practiving together

[WellConditionedChimp]

I'd like to see the evidence supporting this. sounds interesting, but my black hat advises skepticism