Six Thinking Hats

The concept of Six Thinking Hats was developed by psychologist Edward do Bono. Essentially it is a descriptive system that attempts to classify human thought into a number of different basic forms - the hats. The colours of the hats help to indicate the nature of the specific type of thought.

Why hats? Because they can be worn. Depending on the way we are approaching a problem - or opportunity - we are closer to metaphorically wearing one hat than the others. If we're stuck on a problem then itcan sometimes help to consciously adopt another hat and look at things from a different angle.

Obviously real human thought is rarely as cut and dried as this - our hats are more likely to be speckled with different colours in the manner of a Jackson Pollock painting! However there is usually a dominant hat colour that can be identified.

What Are The 6 Thinking Hats?

The six hats listed by de Bono are:

White Hat	Raw facts, information gathering
Red Hat	Intuition, feelings
Black Hat	Negatives, problems
Yellow Hat	Positives, benefits
Green Hat	Ideas, possibilities
Blue Hat	Process, big picture

An awareness of these different styles can be useful when problem solving or generating ideas either alone or as a group. For example, in the early stages of brainstorming it is essential to suppress Black Hat thinking and encourage the Green Hat approach.

How To Use The Hats

Although we all wear all the hats at some time or other, most of us have a tendency to wear one more than the rest. Being aware of our usual hat can help us both get the best out of it and also remind us to look at an issue from other perspectives.

In a business context, awareness of natural hat styles can help with a team. A team with a selection of different hat thinkers is likely to be more balanced than one dominated by a single colour. An awareness of the various thinking styles can ensure that all are appreciated on their own merits rather than criticised as "overly negative", "unimaginative", etc. A good team leader will, for example, ensure that contributions from Yellow and Black hats are balanced to avoid a project suffering from unrealistic optimism or being self-defeating pessimism.