The Six Thinking Hats of creative communication

By Amir Elion

Edward De Bono’s Six Hats method is a powerful and creative approach for communication. If you design your communication efforts - such as speeches, meetings, dialogs, posters and ads - according to this model, you will increase your odds of getting your message through in an original yet clear and effective way.

What are the Six Thinking Hats?

The Six Thinking Hats is a method devised by Edward De Bono and meant to improve the results of thinking and discussion. It may be used either by oneself or in a group. De Bono claims that by separating six different types of thinking we can make our thinking clearer and more thorough. We should "wear" each hat in turn, and analyze the issue at hand from six different aspects separately. In a group setting, the entire group is encouraged to use just one hat at a time, thus contributing to an organized and comprehensive discussion, rather than a confused and mixed-up argument. Each hat is marked with a different color and represents the following type of thinking:

The White Hat represents facts, information, and statistical data, as well as identifying missing information and from which sources it may be collected.

The Red Hat symbolizes emotions and feelings. While wearing this hat, people are "allowed" to express their feelings about the subject or to share their general mood, which might be affecting their participation or lack of it. This hat does not require logical reasoning or justification, as feelings are almost always subjective rather then rational.

The Yellow Hat signifies positive rationality, and is used to look at the positive aspects of a situation or idea, on the potential benefits of the suggested course of action, and on the parties who are expected to profit from it. It is emphasized that support for the idea should be logically justified and not simply stated without explanation.

The Black Hat is in a way the opposite of the Yellow Hat. It is used for discussing the negative repercussions of the plan, the potential dangers, and any criticism on the logic of arguments made in its support. As in the case of the positive hat, logical justification is expected when presenting the reservations rather than opposition for the mere sake of opposition.

The Green Hat stands for creativity and unconventional thinking. When wearing this hat, people are encouraged to think creatively (although in this case De Bono does not specify how). Brainstorming, creative thinking tools, lateral thinking and other such methods are to be used in order to search for unexpected developments of the idea or the discussion.

The Blue Hat - this hat is used for directing the discussion, for switching hats when necessary, for summarizing the major points of the discussion, as well as for making decisions.

Yellow Hat – why use the Six Hats method for creative communication?

As you can see, the De Bono’s Six Hats represent six very different ways of thinking. By using this model you will be able to easily find several ways for getting a message through. It should save you time in thinking about the ideas, and give you a clear methodology for producing new ideas whenever you need them.

Another advantage for using the Six Hats of creative communication model is based on the fact that different people are influenced by different kinds of communication. Some are deeply affected by emotion, while others are more susceptive to logical reasoning, and a third group may need a fair amount of objective information in order to make their own judgment. If you come up with creative communication ideas covering all types of thinking, you will be able to choose those that best fit your audience, or even to use all types of thinking to ensure that anyone can find what they are looking for in your message.

From my personal experience I can testify that the systematic use of the Six Thinking Hats method broadens one’s creative scope and has certainly trained me to look for other ways for solving problems and achieving goals. Thus, you gain not only creative ideas for the specific need, but also enhance your general thinking ability.

Black Hat – things to look out for

Not all ideas are suitable for the Six Hats method of Creative Communication. The Six Hats method is a way for making a comprehensive analysis of a subject. Thus, it may not be suitable for issues that are not important enough or too basic. If you insist on using it too often, your audience might get tired of the lengthy discussion of a matter which could be explained in a much simpler manner.

A different concern is the fact that the separation of thinking suggested by the Six Hats method is not the natural way humans think, or at least – not the common way we are taught or trained to think. This means that constant effort is required if you wish to endorse and encourage this kind of creative thinking by yourself or in your group.

Also, it might be claimed that for certain occasions it is actually better to emphasize just one way of thinking and not "confuse" the audience with all the complexities and truths of the situation .

Green Hat – Creative Examples

Here are a few ideas and examples for using the Six Hats for Creative Communication:

Shoot a video with six chapters of the same message, played out in six different moods. Say you wanted to talk about a new product. The white hat would have people talking about it only in terms of facts and figures, data and numbers - even to an exaggerated and humoristic extent. Another section (yellow hat) would have euphoric people discussing the wonders that would follow from using the product. Another section would have a very negative person pointing out the dangers of using the device, but at the same time would have a bubble with a creative engineer (green hat) working on creative solutions for the problems raised by that pessimist. A final section would have people getting very emotional about the product, jealous of people who have it or very protective of it.

If you have an organizational message you want to get through to your employees, use posters to address this message using the six types of thinking. If your message is about safety, for instance, you could make posters with details on the number and results of workplace accidents. Other posters may offer rewards for people who promote safety. A third group of posters could stress the disasters that can happen if people don’t follow safety procedures. Another type of posters would include riddles and creative contests concerning safety. A fifth type would call for people to make decision on the safety of their environment, and a whole different set of posters would be designed to strike people emotional cords.

I even have an idea for writing a whole book with this model in mind. It could be divided into chapters with the different types of thinking stressed in each, or it could include various characters and heroes – each with a personality exemplifying the unique type of thinking.

Blue Hat – Summing up and making decisions

The Six Hats of creative communication can be used as a powerful creative tool. It takes practice to use it well, but once you get the hang of it, it should become more natural and useful.

Amir Elion is a management and innovation consultant and facilitator. His Practical Creativity website on http://www.best100ideas.com includes numerous creativity and innovation tools. Many creative ideas in various fields, as well as creativity tools, may be found on the free monthly Creative Ideas Newsletter: http://www.best100ideas.com/newsletter.shtml.

Related Web site: http://www.best100ideas.com

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Six Thinking Hats

Looking at a Decision from All Points of View

"Six Thinking Hats" is a powerful technique that helps you look at important decisions from a number of different perspectives. It helps you make better decisions by pushing you to move outside your habitual ways of thinking. As such, it helps you understand the full complexity of a decision, and spot issues and opportunities which you might otherwise not notice.

Many successful people think from a very rational, positive viewpoint, and this is part of the reason that they are successful. Often, though, they may fail to look at problems from emotional, intuitive, creative or negative viewpoints. This can mean that they underestimate resistance to change, don't make creative leaps, and fail to make essential contingency plans.

Similarly, pessimists may be excessively defensive, and people used to a very logical approach to problem solving may fail to engage their creativity or listen to their intuition.

If you look at a problem using the Six Thinking Hats technique, then you'll use all of these approaches to develop your best solution. Your decisions and plans will mix ambition, skill in execution, sensitivity, creativity and good contingency planning.

This tool was created by Edward de Bono in his book "6 Thinking Hats".

How to Use the Tool:

To use Six Thinking Hats to improve the quality of your decision-making, look at the decision "wearing" each of the thinking hats in turn.

Each "Thinking Hat" is a different style of thinking. These are explained below:

• White Hat:
  With this thinking hat, you focus on the data available. Look at the information you have, and see what you can learn from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and either try to fill them or take account of them.
  
  This is where you analyze past trends, and try to extrapolate from historical data.
• Red Hat:
  Wearing the red hat, you look at the decision using intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. Also try to think how other people will react emotionally, and try to understand the intuitive responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning.
• Black Hat:
  When using black hat thinking, look at things pessimistically, cautiously and defensively. Try to see why ideas and approaches might not work. This is important because it highlights the weak points in a plan or course of action. It allows you to eliminate them, alter your approach, or prepare contingency plans to counter problems that arise.
  Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans tougher and more resilient. It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark on a course of action. Black Hat thinking is one of the real benefits of this technique, as many successful people get so used to thinking positively that often they cannot see problems in advance, leaving them under-prepared for difficulties.
• Yellow Hat:
  The yellow hat helps you to think positively. It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it, and spot the opportunities that arise from it. Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult.

• Green Hat:
  The Green Hat stands for creativity. This is where you can develop creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. A whole range of creativity toolscan help you here.
• Blue Hat:
  The Blue Hat stands for process control. This is the hat worn by people chairing meetings. When running into difficulties because ideas are running dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat thinking. When contingency plans are needed, they will ask for Black Hat thinking, and so on.

You can use Six Thinking Hats in meetings or on your own. In meetings it has the benefit of defusing the disagreements that can happen when people with different thinking styles discuss the same problem.

A similar approach is to look at problems from the point of view of different professionals (e.g. doctors, architects, sales directors) or different customers.

Example:

The directors of a property company are looking at whether they should construct a new office building. The economy is doing well, and the amount of vacant office space is reducing sharply. As part of their decision they decide to use the 6 Thinking Hats technique during a planning meeting.

Looking at the problem with the White Hat, they analyze the data they have. They examine the trend in vacant office space, which shows a sharp reduction. They anticipate that by the time the office block would be completed, that there will be a severe shortage of office space. Current government projections show steady economic growth for at least the construction period.

With Red Hat thinking, some of the directors think the proposed building looks quite ugly. While it would be highly cost-effective, they worry that people would not like to work in it.

When they think with the Black Hat, they worry that government projections may be wrong. The economy may be about to enter a 'cyclical downturn', in which case the office building may be empty for a long time.

If the building is not attractive, then companies will choose to work in another better-looking building at the same rent.

With the Yellow Hat, however, if the economy holds up and their projections are correct, the company stands to make a great deal of money.

If they are lucky, maybe they could sell the building before the next downturn, or rent to tenants on long-term leases that will last through any recession.

With Green Hat thinking they consider whether they should change the design to make the building more pleasant. Perhaps they could build prestige offices that people would want to rent in any economic climate. Alternatively, maybe they should invest the money in the short term to buy up property at a low cost when a recession comes.

The Blue Hat has been used by the meeting's Chair to move between the different thinking styles. He or she may have needed to keep other members of the team from switching styles, or from criticizing other peoples' points.

Key points:

Six Thinking Hats is a good technique for looking at the effects of a decision from a number of different points of view.

It allows necessary emotion and skepticism to be brought into what would otherwise be purely rational decisions. It opens up the opportunity for creativity within Decision Making. It also helps, for example, persistently pessimistic people to be positive and creative.

Plans developed using the '6 Thinking Hats' technique are sounder and more resilient than would otherwise be the case. This technique may also help you to avoid public relations mistakes, and spot good reasons not to follow a course of action, before you have committed to it.

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The next article in this section looks at Starbursting - a great technique for deepening you understanding of a situation by brainstorming the questions you should ask. To find out more about this technique, click "Next Article" or the link below.

TRIZ - A powerful methodology for creative problem-solving
The Straw Man Concept - Build it up, knock it down, create a solid final solution
5 Whys - Getting quickly to the root of a problem
Root Cause Analysis - Tracing a problem to its origins
CATWOE - Understanding the different elements that contribute to a problem*
Inductive Reasoning - Drawing good generalized conclusions*
Avoiding Logical Fallacies - What they are, and how to avoid them*
Critical Thinking - Developing the skills for successful thinking*
The Ladder of Inference - Avoiding "jumping to conclusions"*
Blindspot Analysis - Avoiding common "fatal flaws" in decision making*

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The Six Thinking Hats

The Six Thinking Hats

	White Hat Thinking White Hat thinking focuses on data, facts, information known or needed.		Black Hat Thinking Black Hat thinking focuses on difficulties, potential problems. Why something may not work.
	Red Hat Thinking Red Hat thinking focuses on feelings, hunches, gut instinct, and intuition.		Green Hat Thinking Green Hat thinking focuses on creativity: possibilities, alternatives, solutions, new ideas.
	Yellow Hat Thinking Yellow Hat thinking focuses on values and benefits. Why something may work.		Blue Hat Thinking Blue Hat thinking focuses on manage the thinking process, focus, next steps, action plans.

White Hat Thinking from Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats

Within Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats process, White Hat Thinking focuses on data, facts, and information known or needed. White Hat Thinking separates fact from speculation. With the White Hat, we look for information that is relevant to the current focus. The value of the information will fall along a spectrum of relevance and of accuracy.

Relevance may range from crucial fact to barely relevant. Accuracy may range from hard fact that can be checked easily to information that is likely to be untrue. Information that falls at any point along these two spectrums can be offered in White Hat thinking so long as the person who offers it also indicates where on each spectrum it falls.

Here are some of the areas that are pursued under the White Hat:

White Hat Thinking: Information That We Have

We can often find more information by taking a close look at what is known than we might expect. It’s like detective work: each known fact can be examined for its significance.

Example:

“The dates of employment for each position on this applicant’s resume shows that she has never held a job for more than 18 months.” (Note: we don’t jump to conclusions, we just note the fact.)

White Hat Thinking: Information That We Would Like to Have

Here we include everything that comes to mind, without deciding whether there is a way to get the information or how urgently it is needed. Sometimes there are ways of getting information that at first seems unattainable.

Example:

“It would be nice to know how this applicant would cope if George retires early and she is left to sort out his recruiting system on her own.”

White Hat Thinking: Information That We Need

If we focus on information that we need after we’ve listed everything that we’d like to have, then it’s a matter of prioritizing. If we’ve gone straight to thinking about what is most needed, then it’s a matter of discriminating. What’s the minimum information we must have before we can move forward?

Example:

“We have to find out if this applicant has experience in integrating social media into a marketing plan before we put her in the final running.”

White Hat Thinking: Information That is Missing

Here we are pinpointing exactly what information is missing.

Example:

“We do not know why this candidate has never held a job for more than 18 months.”

White Hat Thinking: Sources for Getting any Missing Information

Listing sources of information and planning how to get information are part of white hat thinking. It’s never enough to complain that the information is missing. We have to go out and get it.

Example:

“We could ask people who have worked with her in the past.”

White Hat Thinking is very important because the quality of any decision made depends on the quality of the information on which it is based.


Black Hat Thinking from Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats

Within Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats process, Black Hat Thinking explores ways that an idea may not fit the situation, problems we may need to overcome, faults, or why something may not work. During Black Hat Thinking we consider obstacles, existing or potential downsides, and concerns.

The single word that best describes the nature of the Black Hat is “caution.” If we are not cautious, we risk damage, danger, and disaster both for ourselves and for others. Black Thinking Hat protects us from harm.

Black Hat Thinking: Exploring Lack of Fit

Whenever something is suggested, we need to make sure the idea fits the circumstances. Black Hat Thinking points out things that do not fit the facts, regulations, strategy, our experience, or our values.

Examples

“Following this suggestion won’t fit recent changes in the tax laws. It’s no longer to our advantage to do it this way.”

“This proposal to change the specs for building that addition would be less costly. But it doesn’t fit the building codes.”

Black Hat Thinking: Looking at faults

The Black Hat helps us improve on an idea by drawing attention to the faults in the idea. Once we see the faults, we may be able to think of ways to overcome them. Note: We think of ways to overcome them later, when we’re using Green Hat Thinking.

Example

“If we order these items in larger quantities to take advantage of the volume discount, we will have the expense of renting more storage space to warehouse the inventory.”

Black Hat Thinking: Scanning for Potential Problems

Black Hat Thinking can discover potential problems that might arise. Then we can either design ways to avoid the problems or be prepared to address the problems if they do come up.

Example

“If we describe our product in detail on the website, it may be an open invitation for others to copy our design.”

Black Hat Thinking: Assessing Yellow Hat Output

Black Hat Thinking is a powerful assessment tool to use after Yellow Hat Thinking. Before an idea is put into action, we need to see if it is safe, legal, feasible, profitable, etc.

Example

“We found a lot of benefits to this idea; now let’s black hat it.”


Red Hat Thinking from Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats

Within Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats process, Red Hat Thinking focuses on feelings, hunches, gut instinct, and intuition. Red Hat Thinking should last no longer than 30 seconds and is best described in one to two words.

Red Hat Thinking gives validity to feelings and intuition and doesn't require any explanation. Red Hat Thinking may be used more than once within a Six Thinking Hats sequence to gauge feelings, for example, after new White Hat Thinking is presented, and it is not uncommon for Red Hat feelings to change throughout Six Hat Thinking.
The Red Hat Thinking may be used to measure buy-in or commitment after a decision has been made. Red Hat Thinking is also a helpful tool used to sort or prioritize new ideas generated during Green Hat Thinking.

Red Hat Thinking: Signaling feelings

Red Hat Thinking is very valuable because it makes clear that intuition, feelings, and emotions are going to be expressed as such. There is no need to pretend that they are something else. If feelings are indeed present, it is helpful to know what these feelings are. We can then see what we are dealing with.
Example
“My Red Hat feeling is that I resent the email that was sent out.” (Notice that no reasons are given. It is difficult but important not to explain the reasons.)

Red Hat Thinking: Considering Feelings in Decision Making

Feelings and intuition cannot be checked out, so it is unwise to use the Red Hat alone for decision making. However, Intuition, hunches, feelings, and emotions have a high value as “ingredients” in the thinking that leads up to a decision.
Example
“The facts do not support going ahead with the plan, but my Red Hat feeling is that we should explore it further.”

Red Hat Thinking: Recognizing a Range of Feelings

Red Hat Thinking includes a wide variety of possible feelings. On the positive/negative scale, people may report everything from detesting an idea to being wildly enthusiastic. More subtle feelings are also included: feeling curious or mildly interested, being uncertain or ambivalent, finding a proposal boring, etc.
When taking the general temperature of a group (rather than feelings about a specific issue), various members may report feeling upset, fearful, excited, angry, determined, exasperated, optimistic, tired, or a host of other internal states. It can be helpful to know what state people are in before you even start the agenda. Remember not to ask for explanations.
Examples
“I’m excited that we’re meeting today and can’t wait to get started.” 
“My Red Hat is annoyance.”

Green Hat Thinking from Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats

Within Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats process, Green Hat Thinking focuses on creativity & innovation: possibilities, alternatives, solutions, new ideas. Green Hat Thinking provides a specific time that is dedicated to creative thinking and innovation. Green Hat Thinking helps us find new ways of doing things, and it also provides an opportunity to think about ways to overcome concerns identified during Black Hat Thinking.
Green Hat Thinking may be used on its own or within a Six Thinking Hats sequence where the hats are used in a particular order to thoroughly explore a subject.

Green Hat Thinking: The Green Hat as a Formal Signal

People often say that they cannot be creative because they don’t have time or their work culture doesn’t encourage it. Green Hat Thinking creates a micro culture for innovation at any given moment.
Example
“We need to think of other ways to do this. Put on your Green Hats.”

Green Hat Thinking: Expecting Creative Effort

You cannot demand that people have wonderful new ideas, but you can expect them to develop a habit of making a creative effort. Use Green Hat Thinking to call for this effort. Creativity is a matter of investing time in generating ideas. You won’t get a wonderful idea every time you use Green Hat Thinking, but if you do not put forth any effort, you may not get any new ideas at all.
Example
“This is a difficult situation. Let’s spend three minutes using the Green Hat. Jot down your ideas individually. Then we’ll see what we’ve come up with.”

Green Hat Thinking: Adopting a Creative Attitude

What if you’re in a Green Hat session and can’t think of any ideas? The simplest form of creative effort is to look for alternatives. Even if these are well-known, it’s a creative effort to recall and list them. The minimum creative effort during Green Hat Thinking is to think of alternatives.
Example
“Here’s one alternative: We could bundle some of the slower selling items in with more popular ones and sell the combination as a package. What are other options?”

Green Hat Thinking: Green Hat Thinking in Problem Solving

When Black Hat Thinking reveals faults, the Green Hat is used to remove these faults. When Black Hat Thinking points out difficulties, Green Hat Thinking tries to overcome these difficulties.
Example
“Let’s use the Green Hat right now to see if we can fix the Black Hat problems.”

Yellow Hat Thinking from Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats

Within Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats process, Yellow Hat Thinking focuses on values, benefits, or why something may work. With the Yellow Hat, we look for reasons for optimism and feasibility. We also separate the specific idea from the underlying concept.

Yellow Hat Thinking: Values and Benefits

Values are more abstract than benefits. We may sense a value in an idea and then need to look around to see how the value can be enjoyed. Benefits are more specific. Who will reap the benefits? How are the benefits going to be enjoyed?

Examples
“Could we implement this idea in such a way that it improves customer satisfaction?”
“Awarding a bonus for employees at their five-year anniversary may reduce our turn-over.”


Yellow Hat Thinking: Reasons for Optimism
In Yellow Hat Thinking, there must be reasons to support the benefits that are claimed. In Green Hat Thinking, we note possibilities even if they are vague and unlikely. With the Yellow Hat, we must have reasons why something has value or might work.
Example
“If we include home décor along with our outdoor sporting equipment, we could attract people who don’t actually get out much, but who like to feel that they lead a healthy, active lifestyle.”

Yellow Hat Thinking: Feasibility

Can this idea be made to work? Will this idea work in practice?  We can estimate feasibility given the existing system, and we can also consider modifying either the idea or the system to increase the feasibility.
Example
“How could we feasibly expand the public school system downward to cover children aged three and up?”

Yellow Hat Thinking: Concepts

Sometimes the idea itself is unattractive, but the concept behind the idea has great value. Any idea is only one way of carrying out a concept. There may be better ways. So we keep the concept alive and later use Green Hat Thinking to develop more feasible ways to carry it out.
Example
“This idea is not very attractive but the underlying concept of creating an online store as well as setting up distributors has a lot of potential.”

Blue Hat Thinking from Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats

Within Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats process, Blue Hat Thinking focuses on managing the thinking process, keeping participants on track, and stating what has been accomplished.

Every Six Thinking Hats sequence begins and ends with Blue Hat Thinking. At the beginning of Six Hat Thinking, the Blue Hat is used to define the focus (what we're going to think about). Under the Blue Hat, we also lay out which hats will be used, in what order, and for what amount of time. During the meeting, the Blue Hat takes requests and maintains discipline.

At the end of a Six Thinking Hats session or meeting, Blue Hat Thinking is used to note conclusions and determine next steps.

Blue Hat Thinking: Defining the Focus

In defining the focus, Blue Hat questions include these kinds of things:

• What is the subject?
• What are we thinking about?
• What is our goal?

Example

“We agreed to hold this meeting to target the customers most likely to keep buying our products during an economic downturn.”

Blue Hat Thinking: Setting out the Agenda

Here we’re referring to making a plan for using the hats as well as for how and when we’re going to handle any other activity during the meeting.

Example

“Okay, Blue Hat, everyone. We have the conference room for one hour. What hat sequence would make the most of our time?”

Blue Hat Thinking: Maintaining Discipline

When discussions become heated or get off track, there is a need for someone to put on the Blue Hat and control the situation. Otherwise, the thinking can quickly revert to the traditional argument.

Examples

”That is a good Yellow Hat point. Right now, however, we are using Green Hat Thinking and listing all of the alternatives we can think of.“

“The focus of this meeting is how to eliminate unnecessary steps in the ordering process. We can change the focus if we all agree, but we don’t want to drift away from it by accident. Let’s stick to the original focus for now.”

Blue Hat Thinking: Noting Conclusions

It is part of Blue Hat Thinking to state conclusions that a group seems to have reached and get agreement to or revision of the stated conclusions. Even if no decision has been made, the conclusion should note new ideas and approaches that have been considered. A summary is concerned with what has taken place. A conclusion is concerned with what has been achieved.

Example

“The conclusion is that each sales area should decide on its own promotion and price-cutting policy.”

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