The Six Thinking Hats

1. The Six Thinking Hats

2. Edward de Bono • Edward de Bono has written 65 books with translations in 37 languages. He has been invited to work in 52 countries.He was born in Malta and graduated from the University of Malta. He proceeded as a Rhodes Scholar to Oxford and has held appointments at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London and Harvard. • Dr de Bono is the originator of the term 'lateral thinking' which now has an official entry in the Oxford English Dictionary. He is regarded as the leading international authority in conceptual and creative thinking, and also the direct teaching of thinking as a skill.

4. IRELAND 1. Eagle star Insurances2. FAS3. NRB4. Sonopress Ireland5. Glanbia.ltd6. ESB7. Alps Electric8. Department of Enterprise and Employment9. Irish Life investment Managers10. 3M Ireland WORLD-WIDE 1. Du Pont2. IBM3. Siemens4. Statoil5. British Airways6. Shell7. Monsanto 8. Motorola9. Prudential Insurance10. Peter Ueberroth Who uses this stuff? Source: http://www.edwarddebonofoundation.com/clients.htm

5. Thinking is a skill, that is all about using what you’ve got

6. Thinking is a skill, that is all about using what you’ve got An excellent driver will get great performance, even out of a banger.

7. Thinking is a skill, that is all about using what you’ve got A poor driver won’t get a good perfomance out of a great car. An excellent driver will get great performance, even out of a banger.

8. Thinking is a skill, that is all about using what you’ve got A very intelligent person with bad thinking skills won’t be creative. A person of average intelligence with good thinking skills can be very creative.

9. The Six Thinking Hats

10. Traditional Meeting

11. Parallel Thinking

12. Parallel Thinking

13. Parallel Thinking

14. Parallel Thinking

15. Parallel Thinking

16. The Six Thinking Hats • Each ‘hat’ represents a perspective or way of thinking • They are metaphorical hats that a thinker can put on or take off to indicate the type of thinking they are using

17. The Six Thinking Hats • In a group we can ask members to ‘put on’ different hats in a sequence to aid the problem solving process • This can help overcome the problem of each group member adopting random positions at random times

18. The Six Thinking Hats • It also permits us to control people who insist of sticking to one perspective - we can ask them to assume a different hat • Many major international organisations use this technique for problem solving

19. The Six Thinking Hats Managing the Thinking Setting the focus Making summaries Overviews & conclusions Action Plans Blue Hat FOCUS

20. The Six Thinking Hats Managing the Thinking Setting the focus Making summaries Overviews & conclusions Action Plans White Hat Blue Hat Information & Data Neutral and objective Checked and believed facts Missing information & Where to source it FOCUS

21. The Six Thinking Hats Managing the Thinking Setting the focus Making summaries Overviews & conclusions Action Plans White Hat Blue Hat Information & Data Neutral and objective Checked and believed facts Missing information & Where to source it FOCUS Why it may work Values * Benefits (both known and potential) Logical reasons must be given Yellow Hat

22. The Six Thinking Hats Managing the Thinking Setting the focus Making summaries Overviews & conclusions Action Plans White Hat Blue Hat Information & Data Neutral and objective Checked and believed facts Missing information & Where to source it FOCUS Why it may work Values * Benefits (both known and potential) Logical reasons must be given Black Hat Yellow Hat Why it may not work Cautions * Dangers Problems * Faults Logical reasons must be given

23. The Six Thinking Hats Managing the Thinking Setting the focus Making summaries Overviews & conclusions Action Plans White Hat Blue Hat Information & Data Neutral and objective Checked and believed facts Missing information & Where to source it FOCUS Creative Thinking Possibilities * Alternatives New Ideas * New Thinking Overcome black hat issues Reinforce yellow hat issues Why it may work Values * Benefits (both known and potential) Logical reasons must be given Black Hat Green Hat Yellow Hat Why it may not work Cautions * Dangers Problems * Faults Logical reasons must be given

24. The Six Thinking Hats Managing the Thinking Setting the focus Making summaries Overviews & conclusions Action Plans White Hat Red Hat Blue Hat Information & Data Neutral and objective Checked and believed facts Missing information & Where to source it Feelings and Intuition Emotions and hunches No reasons or justifications “At this point” Keep it short FOCUS Creative Thinking Possibilities * Alternatives New Ideas * New Thinking Overcome black hat issues Reinforce yellow hat issues Why it may work Values * Benefits (both known and potential) Logical reasons must be given Black Hat Green Hat Yellow Hat Why it may not work Cautions * Dangers Problems * Faults Logical reasons must be given

25. The Six Thinking Hats Managing the Thinking How do we sequence the events Explain? Summarize. What is your conclusion? What next? Action plan? What is the main idea? White Hat Red Hat Blue Hat Feelings and Intuition What does your intuition tell you? Did your feelings change? How? What prejudices are present? What are you feeling now? What is your hunch about? Information & Data Who, what, when, where? What do you know about? What are the facts about? What do you need to know? Where do you locate this? Questions Questions FOCUS Creative Thinking What if? What is good about? What else can we do? What is the value of? How can we make this work? What are the alternatives? Why it may work What are the benefits? What is good about? What is a positive outcomes? What is the value? Can this be made to work? Black Hat Green Hat Yellow Hat Why it may not work What are the risks of? Why won’t/didn’t this work? What were the difficulties of? What are the consequences of? What should you be cautious about?

26. The Six Thinking Hats • We tend to use all of the Six Hats on a daily basis, but people tend to have default hats that they use more often.

27. The Six Thinking Hats • Which two hats do you feel more comfortable using? • Hat 1: __________________ • Hat 2: __________________

28. The Six Thinking Hats • Which two hats do you feel dominate in your team/organisation? • Hat 1: __________________ • Hat 2: __________________

29. The Six Thinking Hats • What impact does that have on your team’s effectiveness? • _____________________________ • _____________________________ • _____________________________ • _____________________________ • _____________________________