Six Thinking Hats
(de Bono)

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Exploring different perspectives. Explanation of Six Thinking Hats of Edward de Bono.

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Six Thinking Hats - De Bono 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.

The STH technique is designed to help individuals deliberately explore a variety of perspectives on a subject that may be very different from the one that they might most naturally assume. In wearing a particular thinking hat, people play roles, or "as if" themselves into a particular perspective. For instance, one could play the devil's advocate, even if only for the sake of generating discussion. The purpose of devil's advocacy is to deliberately challenge an idea: be critical, look for what is wrong with it.

Each of the Hats is named for a color that is mnemonically descriptive of the perspective one adopts when wearing the particular hat. For example the devil's advocacy is what one engages in when wearing the Black Thinking Hat.

The Six Hats

White (Observer) White paper; Neutral; focus on information available, objective FACTS, what is needed, how it can be obtained
Red (Self, Other) Fire, warmth; EMOTIONS, FEELINGS, intuition, hunches; present views without explanation, justification
Black (Self, Other) Stern judge wearing black robe; judgmental; critical; why something is wrong; LOGICAL NEGATIVE view.
Yellow (Self, Other) Sunshine; optimism; LOGICAL POSITIVE view; looks for benefits, what's good.
Green (Self, Other) Vegetation; CREATIVE thinking; possibilities and hypotheses; new ideas
Blue (Observer) Sky; cool; overview; CONTROL of PROCESS, STEPS, OTHER HATS; chairperson, organizer; thinking about thinking

De Bono's hats are indicative of both emotional states as well as frames of mind (i.e., perspective from which an issue is viewed). He noted: "Emotions are an essential part of our thinking ability and not just something extra that mucks up our thinking" (1985, p27). One thinking style (or hat) is not inherently "better" than another. A full, balanced team recognizes the need for all hats in order for the team to consider all aspects of whatever issues they are facing.

Main benefits of Six Thinking Hats method

Allow to say things without risk. Very strong in preventing the Spiral of Silence.
Create awareness that there are multiple perspectives on the issue at hand
Convenient mechanism for 'switching gears'
Rules for the game of thinking
Focus thinking
Lead to more creative thinking
Improve communication
Improve decision making

Using the Six Hats

In most group contexts, individuals tend to feel constrained to consistently adopt a specific perspective (optimistic, pessimistic, objective, etc.). This limits the ways and extent to which each individual and thus the group as a whole can explore an issue. With the Six Thinking Hats, one is no longer limited to a single perspective in one's thinking. The hats are categories of thinking behavior and not of people themselves. The purpose of the hats is to direct thinking, not classify either the thinking or the thinker. Indeed, by wearing a hat that is different from the one that one customarily wears, one may chance upon a variety of new ideas. Wearing a hat means deliberately adopting a perspective that is not necessarily one's own. It is important that all group members are aware of this fact. A group member must clearly identify the color of the hat he is wearing while making a statement. Wearing a clearly identified hat separates ego from performance. The Six Hat Method is useful even for individuals thinking by themselves.

Typical steps in a Six Hats workshop. Process

Hats may be used in some structured sequence depending on the nature of the issue. Here is an example agenda for a typical 6 hats workshop:

Step 1: Present the facts of the case (White Hat)
Step 2: Generate ideas on how the case could be handled (Green Hat)
Step 3: Evaluate the merits of the ideas - List the benefits (Yellow Hat), List the drawbacks (Black Hat)
Step 4: Get everybody's gut feeling about the alternatives (Red Hat)
Step 5: Summarize and adjourn the meeting (Blue Hat)

Six Thinking Hats Special Interest Group

Visit the Special Interest Group

Six Thinking Hats Forum

Recent User Comments

    			 
              - Trinidad
  	       
  		     Switching Hats by Top Managers
  	  		 "People at the top of the organisation on most occasions wear just one of these hats. It would be interesting to see more top level people switching around hats. By doing so they may see a broader perspective of the opportunities and challenges that is common to all in the organisation."
  			   
    	  		 1

    			 
  			   Fsalama - US
  	       
  		     Six Hats is Universally Applicable
  	  		 "The Six Hats concept is civilized, nonconfrontational, democratic, modern and universally acceptable for the right ideas to prevail and common sense to unite the human race and absolute human truth that Socrates died for. The idea of getting all indviduals of different races and religions in one big room discussing what is common between the Parallel Thinking, Sophists, Skepetics and Stoics vs the modern thoughtful simple man without using any inclinations to those offending words "philosphy "or "intellectual" in solving every day's current issues."
  			   
    	  		 0

    			 
  			   Rohit Singh - India
  	       
  		     Six Hat Workshop
  	  		 "If a live subject can be discussed so that it is more clear how to use the Six Hat Thinking. May be some case from Telecom Industry."
  			   
    	  		 7

    			 
  			   guruvasini - India
  	       
  		     Six Thinking Hats Cases
  	  		 "Can someone share a live example or case of the Six Hats process?"
  			   
    	  		 10

    			 
  			   Wilson - Canada
  	       
  		     Cuban Missile Crisis
  	  		 "Kennedy appeared to use this process in his decision making during 13 days in the Cuba crisis."
  			   
    	  		 1

Best User Comments

    			   
    			     Gopal Ram - India
  	         
  				   Situational Hats?
  				   "While each of us typically wears one of these same six hats, we do not realise it. I am wondering: can a manager at different stages wear each of them seperately to suit the situation?"
    			   
        	  		 17

    			   
    			     Dhanalakshmi - India
  	         
  				   More Examples
  				   "Please give more examples about the 6 hats in different industries, especialy the IT field."
    			   
        	  		 16

    			   
    			     GS Chandy - India
  	         
  				   6 Thinking Hats are Rubbish
  				   "De Bono's 'Lateral thinking' was great stuff! The 'Thinking Hats' (and 'Different Kinds of Shoes', if I remember right) were rubbish, I'm afraid. Can justify in detail if required."
    			   
        	  		 9

    			   
    			     Patricia Collins - USA
  	         
  				   Clarification: Team Process
  				   "Keep in mind that all members of the team wear the same hat at the same time. For the method to be successful, team members need to feel ownership for thinking according to the "current hat." The blue hat is worn throughout the steps to ensure excellence in meeting management."
    			   
        	  		 8

    			   
    			     Jonney - Austraila
  	         
  				   Thinkers Keys
  				   "Another great tool to explore many perspectives is the Thinker's Keys by Ryan. This tool makes you or a group of people ask and answer a number of questions about an issue."
    			   
        	  		 4

    			   
    			     John - USA
  	         
  				   Parellel Thinking
  				   "The Six Hats method is one simple and practical example of carrying out 'Parallel Thinking', described first by de Bono in his book with the same name. (published by Viking, London and Penguin Books, London).

With the traditional argument or adversarial thinking (established by Socrates, Plato and Aristotle), each side takes a different position and then seeks to attack the other side.

With parallel thinking, both sides (or all parties) are thinking in parallel, in the same direction. There is co-operative and co-ordinated thinking. The direction itself can be changed in order to give a full scan of the situation. But at every moment each thinker is thinking in parallel with all the other thinkers. In the final stage the way forward is 'designed' from the parallel thoughts that have been laid out.
Do not confuse this with Lateral Thinking, another concept by de Bono."
    			   
        	  		 2

    			   
    			     Guy - Belgium
  	         
  				   Group Facilitator
  				   "The role of the group facilitator is very important: he distributes the hats and chooses the debate orientation to explore the problem. All other participants have to folllow him.
 The above scheme is a good classical way, but the group facilitator can modifiy the scheme depending on the group, the team leader and the objectives."
    			   
        	  		 2

    			   
    			     Ibrahim Eltinay - Sudan
  	         
  				   Six Hats really great
  				   "It is a really great way of developing & generating thinking concepts in a way that guarantees positive results."
    			   
        	  		 1

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Six Thinking Hats Education & Events

Compare with Six Thinking Hats: Groupthink | Spiral of Silence | Team Management Profile | Belbin Team Roles | Metaplan | Core Group Theory | Mind Mapping | Brainstorming | Delphi Method | Catalytic Mechanisms | Whole Brain Model | Scenario Planning | Game Theory | Root Cause Analysis | Dialectical Inquiry | Theory of Constraints | Force Field Analysis | Emotional Intelligence | Analogical Strategic Reasoning | Stage-Gate

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Copyright 2009 12manage - The Executive Fast Track. V10.4 - Last updated: 11/7/2009. All names tm by their owners.

	● Kym Hamer (UK)	Situational Hats	"I think the point is more that each person is stronger on some than others so the six hats technique suggests ensuring there is strength across the 6 'hats' for optimum outcome..."
	● Ossama (Bahrain)	Wearing different Hats	"I believe that managers should have the skill to wear the 6 hats at the same time. Which is really not easy. It is important to look at any critical decision from different angles and the best wway to do that before you make the decision is to wear the 6 hats."
	● Meera (Trinidad)	Situational Hats	"No I dont think so. It should be done concurrently, therefore it may not work."

	● (France)	Example	"I often use it with engineers and R&D managers to get them to focus away from their innate Black & White thinking and more on the Red, Yellow and Green. In my experience it can work for some but often their thinking is so ingrained over 20+ years, it is unrealistic to expect significant change, especially in a workshop setting where this is only a tool and not the reason for being there."
	● Alpa (India)	Use of 6 Thinking Hats	"The use of this fantastic tool is not restricted to any process, team or specific work type. You can practically use it for anything from work to personal life as well. I have successfully used this in IT to identify the pros & cons of a specific improvement and why people think it would work or why it wouldn't. This helps eliminate bias in people's thoughts hence helping more structured & fruitful brainstorming."

	● Eveline (UK)	Rubbish	"Please do explain and provide arguments GS Chandy, otherwise your opinion is useless."
	● Abhijeet Desai (India)	6 Thinking Hats wonderful	"I have gone thru the complete book and used this Brain Storming technique for our dealers. Believe me friends it had a tremendous impact on them. I am getting wonderful results. I strongly believe that it solely depends on how the concept is being presented."
	● jc (Singapore)	Not so useful	"I used to read Ewdard De Bono's writing when I was young ... around 20 years old time. I could understand only a little, as I grow and experience, De Bono's concepts become more useful. Personally, I just think his ideas are just a thinking tools. Not so useful ..."
	● J J G Arachchige (Sri Lanka)	Useful for Group Decisions	"The Six Thinking Hats are useful for group decisions. Yet the concept seems to require deliberate application as the facts in the six hats are not clearly distinguished from each other."
	● (Mauritius)	6 Thinking Hats is vital for Group Discussion	"It is vital because when holding a meeting, the Director will wear the White Hat to launch the debate and some will wear the Green Hat and will generate ideas how the case could be handled. Moreover, there will be some stills will put in front all ideas pros (Yellow Hat), while others will wear a Red Hat by mentioning the negative impacts of the case. At the end of the meeting some will bring alternative methods - Red Hat. To sum up the Director will wear the Blue Hat and adjourne the meeting."
	● Dr. Schircks, Arnulf (Switzerland)	Very Positive on 6 Hats	"Very positiv! I am certified trainer since 1996. Have 6 Hats implemented in Switzerland, germany, Vietnam. In high-tech corporations, Managers all levels, with MBA students: it works in any culture and business. Until June 8 in Nepal, teaching it for Project Managers"
	● KBrunclik (US)	Rarely used correctly	"Many people who have read it forget one of the main concepts that De Bono states, it is not a way to categorize people but a way to get all people to serve in all roles. Most people just host their meetings and then look back and say, "Linda was wearing a red hat in there and gave some good gut feeling information" or "Tom is really wearing his black hat today". That is not the point. It is to get everyone to collectively focus on each of the hats and only one hat at a time. Tom may be a black hat kind of guy but the beauty of the technique is to make him go yellow hat for a while and step outside of his normal role. If he starts to go black hat during a green hat session, it's the facilitators job to remind him that the group is focused on green hat and mixing the hats often stifles the collective use of the technique."
	● G Vartha (New Zealand)	Classroom Use	"I use the Hats with my students (9 & 10 yr olds) and the discussions are so much more in-depth. Before using them, discussion was limited to a few individuals. Now the flood of ideas comes freely. As tools in the classroom, they are great. I don't worship the concepts, but they are valid and extremely useful in enhancing the minds of our youth to think beyond the square."
	● Stephen (UK)	Wrong question?	"A tool is neither good or bad. It's the use that can be good or bad, effective or ineffective, successful or a failure, etc.. E.g. a knife can be used to kill or save (in surgery)."

                       
                        ● Olasunkanmi T. Seidu (Nigeria)
                        
                      Six Thinking Hats
                      "The six thinking hats is very wonderful technique. A great motivational tool to enhance team spirit in viewing problems from different perspectives and arriving at a powerful and  uniform solvings. It is a brain tasking and performance improvemnt technique.
Kudos to Edward de Bono."