de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats
Edward de Bono has written a lot of books about thinking, and in one of his most famous works de Bono describes six styles of thinking that people can adopt, represented by six coloured hats.
Some of us are serving in ministries where there are team meetings and committee meetings where things are talked about and decided. de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats are a helpful way to raise your group’s awareness of how they are thinking, and what other ways of thinking is available to them.
The White Hat represents thinking that identifies and presents objective data, and cold emotionless, unfiltered facts. And sometimes this is what you need to have coming out in a team meeting. Imagine a blank, white piece of paper.
The Red Hat is its counterpart, and is thinking that centers on emotions. This style of thinking has to do with gut reactions about a proposal, feelings of excitement or worry or unsettledness about a project (whether substantiated or not). Red is the colour of strong emotions, and this thinking hat allows for people’s feelings to have a valid place in the thinking process.The Black Hat represents thinking that identifies problems, obstacles and risk. This style of thinking is helpful in identifying weaknesses in a proposal, and advises caution. Picture dark, gloomy clouds.The Yellow Hat is its counterpart, and represents thinking that is about boldly going ahead. This hat is about benefits, about making a choice, setting plans in motion, getting things done, making things happen. Picture the bright yellow sun.The Green Hat represents thinking that comes up with ideas, alternatives, possibilities. Sometimes you want people to be as creative as they can, and this is the hat for that kind of thinking. Imagine a field, full of luscious green grass.The Blue Hat is the hat for when you are thinking about the thinking process itself – in other words, metacognition. With this hat you are aware of how people are thinking, about where the group should be at in the thinking process. Imagine the blue sky that stretches overhead.
For a person to think well, they will in fact need to adopt all six thinking styles at different points of their personal thinking process – and they probably will do this unconsciously. However people have a preference for one hat or another, and you can probably identify the people in your groups that always seem to be pointing out problems, or always is eager to decide on something and get on with it, or is always coming up with ideas.
In order for your committee to think well, you need to have different thinking styles in the group. And so while black hat people may be a pain, they can in fact have an important part to play.
However it’s also true that black hat people (or yellow hat, or red hat, or…) can hijack a group’s discussion, and center the group’s thinking in only one direction. And that’s why it’s useful to have the vocabulary of these six different thinking hats in your team. This way you can validate black hat thinking ("ok, that’s some really useful black hat thinking"), and consciously move people on to other thinking styles ("now let’s all put on our green hats and think of some ways ahead"). This way your team as a whole can contribute to the thinking process – instead of feeling they are fighting with each other.
de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats are a useful tool for those doing committee work!
[ PS: what is your favourite thinking hat? ]
Categories: Ministry
