What hat are you naturally and what hat is outside your comfort zone?
Following on from our thought leadership article on “What hat you wear can change the game - are you ready to play?” here we unpack the six different hats in more detail, and explain the pros and cons in a little more detail.
As you are reading through these descriptions you should consider:
In a meeting what hat is my default?
What default hats do I have on my leadership team?
What hats are missing from my leadership team?
The White Thinking Hat
The white hat is like a detective who gathers, organizes, analyzes, and presents current information. As detectives gather clues and facts, they remain neutral and unbiased to avoid jumping to conclusions based on single bits of information. Instead, all clues, facts, and evidence must be analyzed and weighed to see what they have and what is missing.
In the same fashion, while “wearing” a white thinking hat, you should collect known information and analyse it to reach fact-based solutions. Analysis of the gathered data will help you find gaps so you can look for ways to fill them or at least take note of them so you have a better idea of how to direct your conversations.
Start gathering facts and data based on these problem-solving questions:
What do we know about this issue?
What don’t we know about this issue?
What can we learn from this situation?
What information do we need to solve this problem?
Are there potential existing solutions that we can use to solve this problem?
Work through these questions as a team to gather more information as each person shares their unique knowledge of a particular issue or problem.
The Yellow Thinking Hat
This hat represents enthusiasm and optimism. Like a bright, sunny day, the yellow hat is used to bring positive energy and life to every idea.
With the yellow thinking hat, you seek to find the benefits and value of ideas. You should not be hampered by limitations or boundaries, but rather believe that when there’s a will, there’s a way.
Yellow hat questions could include:
What is the best way to approach the problem?
What can we do to make this work?
What are the long-term benefits of this action?
These questions are only a starting point. As you work through your Six Thinking Hats exercises, you may want to come up with more questions that take into account the optimistic role of the yellow hat.
The Black Thinking Hat
The black hat is the opposite of the yellow hat and represents judgment. Wearers of this hat look for ways that the situation can go wrong.
The black hat is used to expose flaws, weaknesses, and possible dangers of proposed ideas. On the surface, the ideas you got from the yellow hat session may seem perfect. The black hat dives below the surface to find any potential problems. The black hat is essential to keep you from jumping headfirst into a potentially disastrous situation. However, the black hat’s role is not just to sit around and be all judgy. In addition, this role looks for and identifies resources that may be needed to accomplish your goals.
Questions to help you think from the black hat perspective can include:
How will this idea likely fail?
What is this idea’s fatal flaw?
What are the potential risks and consequences?
Do we have the resources, skills, and ability to make this work?
The Red Thinking Hat
While you have the red thinking hat on, your primary goal is to intuitively suggest proposals and plans of action based on feelings and hunches. This hat is open-minded and non-judgmental. Using the information gathered from feelings and emotions, you should be able to intuitively relate these feelings to the problem you are trying to solve.
A red hat thinker’s objectives include:
Make intuitive insights known.
Seek out your team’s hunches and feelings.
Reveal an idea’s hidden strengths.
Use instinct to identify potential weaknesses.
Find internal conflicts.
For example, some ideas and plans may seem weak or impractical but if someone wearing the red hat can identify a new idea or plan that “feels” right, this idea should open up discussion and exploration of additional opportunities you may never have considered.
Red thinking hat questions may include:
What is my gut feeling about this solution?
Based on feelings, is there another way to fix this problem?
What are our feelings about the choice we are making?
Does our intuition tell us this is the right solution?
The Green Thinking Hat
Green hats are used for creative thinking. Wearing this hat lets you think outside the box to explore more possibilities and bend the rules of problem-solving. This creative thinking should be free from judgment and criticism.
Because the green hat is not bound by rules or limitations, this is where you can think beyond the norms of reality. The green hat lets you conduct a brainstorming session where no idea is too wild or crazy to be noted or immediately shot down. The green hat must refrain from criticizing or judging any ideas or suggestions that come up. The idea is to expand your thinking as you explore possible solutions.
The green hat may ask questions such as:
Do alternative possibilities exist?
Can we do this another way?
How can we look at this problem from other perspectives?
How do we think outside the box?
Keep in mind that as you work with the green thinking hat, you are free to express any idea that comes to mind. Even ideas that may sound crazy can have a kernel of feasibility that can put you on the right path to solving your problem.
The Blue Thinking Hat
This hat provides a management role and will help you analyse the situation. When wearing the blue hat, your job is to manage the thinking of the other hats to ensure that the team stays focused and works more efficiently toward a workable solution. The role makes sure the other hats are being used correctly.
Specifically, the blue hat seeks to:
Efficiently and effectively improve the thinking process.
Ask the right questions that help you direct and focus your thinking.
Maintain and manage agendas, rules, goals, and tasks.
Organise ideas and proposals, and draw up action plans.
Questions that will help you in the blue hat role may include:
What is the problem?
How do we define the problem?
What is our goal and desired outcome?
What will we achieve by solving the problem?
What is the best method for going forward?
It's something new. You might have heard about it but haven't applied it in your workplace. It's a challenge for the year ahead to use this to better engage with your team and get different perspectives for effective brainstorming.
If you are interested in a powerpoint template that can use used to educate your team on the 6 hats please sign up here.
If you’re looking for some help to navigate workshops using DeBono’s Six Thinking Hats, then reach out to the Whiteark team.
How we use the hats with our clients
We’re a team of doers led by Jo Hands and James Ciuffetelli. We don’t believe in unnecessary layers; and between us we have over 50 years of collective experience, expertise and global connections. Delicately weaving these together, we engage with you directly, with a single-minded focus on the task at hand. Collaborating at a senior level to propel organisations forward, we intricately map out and execute your next move, ensuring you’re prepared, protected and prosperous.
We’re nimble; we will assemble the best team for your problem, guaranteeing you have the skillset and people you need - no more, no less. Using data (de Bono’s White Hat) we load up your arsenal with the information needed to define and craft your next move; your strategy. Then together we’ll use this knowledge to carve out a unique set of priorities and objectives, bringing the entire team into the fold so they’re aligned towards the same targets and goal.
