Make decisions at work with Edward De Bono’s, 6 Thinking Hats

Edward De Bono’s ‘6 Thinking Hats’ is a great technique to help you or your team at work make decisions more effectively. All you need is 6 different coloured hats.

Each hat represents a thinking style; for example, the green hat- creativity, white hat- knowledge, red hat- intuition and so on.

In group situations everyone wears a hat and has to adopt the thinking style associated with it. Feel free to swap hats to experience different ways of thinking.

• White Hat - Information

  Focus on facts, data and analyze past trends. What do you already know? What do you need to find out? What can you learn from the data you have.

• Red Hat- Intuition

Express your feelings and gut reaction without having to justify yourself. Understand other points of view.

• Black Hat- Judgement

Play devils advocate, spot the difficulties and bring out the flaws. Why might it not work? What are the weaknesses?

• Yellow Hat- Optimism

Show enthusiasm and keep things going. What are the benefits? What value does it have?

• Green Hat- Creativity

Think up new ideas, concepts and alternative solutions. How many different ways can the same thing be done?

• Blue Hat- Control

Manage the whole thinking process. Who should speak when there’s a shortage of ideas or things become too negative…?

Using the 6 Thinking Hats enables you to see and think from different points of view and encourages equality in group discussions and decision making processes where some may feel too timid to speak up. It’s a thorough, fun and highly effective way of making decisions.