Last month, a long-time subscriber asked me how to resolve a situation at her office. A couple of staff members, including her boss, was always giving negative replies whenever new ideas or suggestions were submitted. You know, the “Oh, we tried that before and it didn’t work,” “I know so-and-so does it, but it won’t work here,” “We’re beyond that sort of approach”… etc.

When I started my business over 20 years ago, I had the good fortune of joining the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). At a national conference, I learned a great technique on how to make group decisions without arguments or hurt feelings. It honored everyone’s point of view, which then led to agreement. This model is called Six Thinking Hats.

Edward de Bono invented the Six Hats model in 1986. This method stretches a team to problem-solve and brainstorm, and to uncover new thoughts, ideas, and options that otherwise would be overlooked.

The premise posits the notion that most people think and reason based on their personality type. This means that a more emotional person may generate ideas differently than a person who is more analytical. Similarly, a pessimist will approach a situation very differently than an optimist.

As stated here, Edward de Bono identified six types of one-dimensional personalities or “Thinking Hats”. He reasoned that the average person and group often displays qualities from several of the six types of hats, yet rarely/never all six. The goal of the Six Thinking Hat model is to fully discuss an issue from multiple points of view, before making a decision.  The hats are:

White Hat: Analytical, objective thinking, with an emphasis on facts and feasibility. (How to remember White Hat – The color white is often associated with purity. Similarly the White Hat has a clean perspective that is unadulterated by emotion or subjectivity.)

Red Hat: Emotional thinking, subjective feelings, perception, and opinion. (How to remember Red Hat – Red is the color of rage and emotion. Red Hat allows emotion and subjectivity to dominate.)

Black Hat: critical, skeptical, focused on risks, and identifying problems. (How to remember Black Hat – Black, the color of gloom and pessimism. The Black Hat is the skeptic, and pessimist looking for the problems in everything.)

Yellow Hat: optimistic, speculative, best-case scenario. (How to remember Yellow Hat – Yellow Hat is the sunny one. They are happy and have a positive outlook on things, always expecting the best outcome.)

Blue Hat: structured thinking, high-level overview of the situation, the big picture. (How to remember Blue Hat – Blue is the color of the sky. Imagine the Blue Hat person has a 20,000-foot perspective on this. They can see everything from a distance and get the big picture view.)

Green Hat: creative, associative thinking, new ideas, brainstorming, out-of-the-box. (How to remember Green Hat – Green is the color of nature as capture by the artist. The Green Hat is creative and generates lots of new ideas without concern for feasibility.)

What’s great about this process is that people will end up having to discuss all points of view.  The subscriber’s problem was that there were too many Black Hats.

Here are 8 tips on how to facilitate a Six Hats group discussion:
1. Divide the group up evenly by the type of hat. If there are more than six people, create evenly numbered teams.
2. Use colored sheets of paper to draw or print an image of a hat, and include the description associated with that hat. (You could also buy six colored hats, print colored hats with the description on white sheets of paper, or display each hat via a computer-generated program or on a flip chart. I’ve done it each way, yet found that when each team member has a sheet of paper in front of them, it helps the person focus on that hat’s perspective throughout the discussions.)
3. First ask for volunteers for each of the hats. If there are any unassigned hats left, assigned them to get all hats evenly distributed.
4. Go through each hat by first asking for input from the assigned person or team.
5. After each person speaks, invite the rest of the group to add any thoughts on that hat only. This is where the facilitator often has to keep the group in control and on topic.
6. Take notes of all comments shared by each hat on a marker board or flip chart for all to see.  At the end be sure to type up the notes as part of the recorded history of what took place.  (When using a marker board be sure to take a photo of each board of info, before it is erased).
7. At the end, ask for a motion toward voting on a decision. The discussion period also allows for any final comments before voting.
8. When all is said and done, ask for feedback on how the group enjoyed this process for making decisions.  I promise you, whenever I’ve used this it has “always” turned out most positively… which also affirms its use over and over again in the future with open arms.

This model is a great way to show etiquette in a group setting. Without it, individuals often feel dismissed and hurt when their comments—especially when contrary to the person who just spoke previously—are knocked down and overlooked by the rest of the group.

This process also works when solving individual problems. I use it all the time, by taking a piece of paper to write down the colors of all six hats in a left column; then in a right column, I list all the words and/or descriptions that fit that color. In the end, the process helps me to see more clearly which choice will be best.

For additional insights and information on this model, here are two additional resources to share.  There are lots more on the Internet if you wish to look them up:

One page from deBono’s own web site…
http://www.debonogroup.com/six_thinking_hats.php

A good 5-minute YouTube video I’ve used to introduce, educate, and engage a group to 6 Thinking Hats!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHiwpz7r4wY

Conclusion:
I suggested to the subscriber she tell her boss about a new technique she learned from this newsletter, called 6 Thinking Hats, and to send her boss the links to the articles and videos to learn more about it.  Also, to show her leadership, for her to volunteer to lead a discussion using this method the next time the group had to make a decision, or when a new idea or proposal was submitted.  Last, I also mentioned instituting a suggestion box where employees could anonymously submit all their ideas, suggestions, proposals, and comments for future 6 Thinking Hats discussions.

Happy Practicing!