She’s Got You High, 500 days…

Halt the Hats!

Six Thinking Hats

The de Bono Hats system (also known as “Six Hats” or “Six Thinking Hats”) is a thinking tool for group discussion and individual thinking. Combined with the idea of parallel thinking which is associated with it, it provides a means for groups to think together more effectively, and a means to plan thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive way.

The premise of the method is that the human brain thinks in a number of distinct ways which can be identified, deliberately accessed and hence planned for use in a structured way allowing one to develop strategies for thinking about particular issues. Dr de Bono identifies five distinct states in which the brain can be “sensitised”. In each of these states the brain will identify and bring into conscious thought certain aspects of issues being considered (e.g. gut instinct, pessimistic judgement, neutral facts).

Perhaps the most compelling example presented is the idea of sensitivity to “mismatch” stimuli as a particularly strong tendency. This is presented as being a valuable survival instinct – because in the natural world the thing that is out of the ordinary may well be dangerous. This is identified as the root of negative judgement and critical thinking.

Six distinct states are identified:

• Neutrality (White) Facts & Information – considering purely what information is available, what are the facts?
• Feeling (Red) Feelings & Emotions – instinctive gut reaction or statements of emotional feeling (but not any justification)
• Negative judgement (Black) Critical Judgement – logic applied to identifying flaws or barriers, seeking mismatch
• Positive Judgement (Yellow) Positive – logic applied to identifying benefits, seeking harmony
• Creative thinking (Green) New Ideas – statements of provocation and investigation, seeing where a thought goes
• Process control (Blue) The Big Picture – thinking about thinking

In order to make it easier to clearly identify and work with these states the use of coloured hats as metaphors for them is used; each state is symbolised by the act of putting on a colored hat, either actually or imaginatively. The use of these metaphors also allows more complete and elaborate definition of the states thus getting past the preconceptions inherent in using people’s current language. All of these thinking hats help for thinking deeper for a better learning. Furthermore Dr de Bono asserts that these states are associated with distinct chemical states of the brain – although no details or evidence of this are presented.

Strategies and Programs

Having identified the six states that can be accessed, distinct programs can be created, these are sequences of hats which encompass and structure the thinking process toward a distinct goal. A number of these are included in the materials provided to support the franchised training of the six hats method, however it is often necessary to adapt them to suit an individual purpose. Also, programs are often “emergent” which is to say that the group might plan the first few hats then the facilitator will see what seems to be the right way to go.

Sequences always begin and end with a blue hat; the group agrees together how they will think, then they do the thinking, then they evaluate the outcomes of that thinking and what they should do next. Sequences (and indeed hats) may be used by individuals working alone or in groups.

1. Initial Ideas – Blue, White, Green, Blue
2. Choosing between alternatives – Blue, White, (Green), Yellow, Black, Red, Blue
3. Identifying Solutions – Blue, White, Black, Green, Blue
4. Quick Feedback – Blue, Black, Green, Blue
5. Strategic Planning – Blue, Yellow, Black, White, Blue, Green, Blue
6. Process Improvement – Blue, White, White (Other peoples views), Yellow, Black, Green, Red, Blue
7. Solving Problems – Blue, White, Green, Red, Yellow, Black, Green, Blue
8. Performance Review – Blue, Red, White, Yellow, Black, Green, Red, Blue 

So what’s the point? Will you ever learn?