Six Thinking Hats
Edward de Bono’s concept of Six Thinking Hats® he proposed that we think in a number of different ways, he theorised that most people used only one or two of the approaches and that people developed thinking habits which in turn limited their thinking ability. De Bono believed that if the various approaches could be identified and a system of their use developed which could be taught, that people could be more productive in meetings and in collaborating within groups and teams by deliberately using the approaches. As a result of his investigations, De Bono was able to describe a process of deliberately adopting a particular approach to a problem as an implementation of Parallel Thinking™ as well as an aid to lateral thinking. Six different approaches are described, and each is symbolised by the act of putting on a coloured hat, either actually or imaginatively. This he suggests can be done either by individuals working alone or in groups.
De Bono's six hats are:
- White hat (Paper): represents gathering Information
- Red hat (Fire): represents emotion and intuition
- Yellow hat (Sun): represents praise and positivity
- Black hat (Judge's robe): represents criticism and negativity
- Green hat (Plant): represents creativity and new thinking
- Blue hat (Sky): represents the big picture or overall process
In case you are wondering we try not to be judgemental or critical and have therefore left the black hat out of our name!
If you are interested in learning more about Edward de Bono or the Six Hats concept more information can be found on Wikipedia.
