making better decisions - 12. De Bono six thinking hats
Dealing with Difficult People
This email is one in a series on decision-making. The first one is an introduction to the series.
12. De Bono six thinking hats
I remember a session at an otherwise very busy workplace where we took the time to use De Bono's six different "thinking hats" at the start of a particular project, to help open up our thinking at the earliest possible stage.
Each hat represents a different manner of thinking.
In each step, you limit the thinking (or discussion) to matters related to that colour of hat.
Under White - you are considering the factual information. Perhaps there are numbers to look at, graphs, proofs, longer documents. Do you have everything you need? What is missing, and how might you get that information.
Under Black - thinking about what can go wrong: in the approach(es) you are considering, are there downsides, is there something you need to be pessimistic about? For some people, this will come easily, but it's important both to examine these aspects, and to stop thinking in this way and move onto other patterns of thinking.
Under Red - considering how you feel about the decision; what are your guesses, what does your intuition say about the decision. It is worth factoring this into the decision-making process, but also acknowledging that this is something you are doing.
Under Blue - manage the thinking process. This is the "thinking about thinking" where you look at what steps you are going to take in moving from this point in the decision-making process to the next (or even the final) phase. In many ways this has been the theme of this series of newsletters, but even more broadly, this is an opportunity to look at your process for a decision, and recognise that you are, even unawares, following a process.
Under Green - deliberately engaging your creativity, considering possibilities, being open to new ideas. By returning to this hat through the process, you may open up fresh solutions that only emerge after considering more information.
Under Yellow - brightness and optimism: this is the opposite to the black hat thinking: Using your optimism to see the best aspects of the options that lay before you.
There are many more resources you can explore to learn more about the six hats of thinking - De Bono wrote a book on the topic, which I read many years ago. There are also videos and courses.
I'm expecting that most people have heard of the six thinking hats, but I'll ask the question anyway - have you?