Arun Dassi Six Thinking Hats(3)

8/8/2019 Arun Dassi Six Thinking Hats(3)

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Six Thinking Hats

CreatorEdward de Bono

Thinking performance drives business performance. Most mistakesin business are mistakes in thinking. Decisions are poorlythought through. Risk factors are overlooked. Faultyinformation is taken as fact. Ideas are killed far too early.Benefits arent built into solutions customers have no ideawhy they should embrace your new efforts. Changes backfire.

If any of this describes the condition at your company we can

help you improve the thinking performance of your employees.The end result for your company:

Increases in bottom-line profit. Increases in top-line growth. More time to develop meaningful customer relationships. More time to work on whats important to develop the

business. A happier and more motivated workforce


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Coloured hats are used as metaphors for eachstate. Switching to a state is symbolized by the actof putting on a coloured hat , either literally ormetaphorically. These metaphors allow for morecomplete and elaborate segregation of the statesthan the preconceptions inherent in people'scurrent language. All of these thinking hats help forthinking deeper the six thinking hats indicateproblems and solutions about an idea or a productyou might come up with. Furthermore, Dr de Bonoasserts that these states are associated withdistinct chemical states of the brain however, nodetails or evidence of this are presented.

Who Needs Six Thinking Hats ?

Anyone who wants to think clearly, objectively, and creatively will benefit from SixThinking Hats training.

HR Professionals Project Managers Meeting Facilitators Engineers

New Product Developers

Team Leaders & Members Trainers & Consultants Sales & Marketing

Professionals Advertising & PR

Professionals

Patent Attorneys

How Might You Use The Six Thinking Hats?

Six Thinking Hats is a simple, effective technique your team may use in a variety of applications.

Facilitation of meetings Preparing for discussions Continuous process improvement New products / new designs

Conflict resolution

Decision making and problemsolving

Customer focus groups /interviews

Leadership development Presentations Virtual meetings

Individual thinking
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hat


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Six Thinking Hats Training Course Objectives and Outcomes

Six Thinking Hats training participants will show evidence of the following:

A marked tendency to identify themselves as thinkers

Confidence that they have the ability to cope with and improvetheir environments

Competencies enabling them to solve problems including theability to:

- identify a problem - propose alternative solutions - predict the consequences of each alternative - assess the usefulness of each set of consequences - select the best alternative - implement it - evaluate it

Competencies enabling them to identify and pursueopportunities including the ability to:

- develop a habit of perceiving events and situations asopportunities

- identify the benefits/desired outcomes of pursuing eachopportunity

- identify the risks/dangers of pursuing each opportunity - design ways to minimize risks and dangers - select opportunities based on weighing the benefits

against remaining risks - design plans for pursuing a selected opportunity - assess and reevaluate plans in progress


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Competencies enabling them to think cooperatively includingthe ability to:

- understand and take on the facilitator role in a groupmeeting

- identify and articulate other people's points of view - devise an agenda and demonstrate the necessary

discipline to follow it provide for equal participationamong group members

Six Thinking Hats

The White Hat

White Hat thinking focuses on data, facts, information knownor needed. The White Hat is the information hat. Thiscovers facts, figures, information needs and gaps. People

can ask for more information or data to help analyze theproposal. The Black Hat

Black Hat thinking focuses on difficulties, potential problems. Why something may not work. The Black Hatis the pessimism hat. This is the hat of judgmentand caution. Everyone has to find fault with the idea.

Even if it was your idea and you are very proud of ityou have to point out some drawbacks anddisadvantages

The Red Hat

Red Hat thinking focuses on feelings, hunches, gutinstinct, and intuition. The Red Hat representsemotions . This covers intuition, feelings andemotions. People have to say how this proposalmakes them feel emotionally: scared, threatened,


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excited, energized, etc. It is important to get thefeelings expressed, as they can be hidden reasonswhy people would oppose or support a proposal

The Green HatGreen Hat thinking focuses on creativity: possibilities,alternatives, solutions, new ideas. The Green Hat is the hatof growth and possibilities . This is the hat of creativity ,alternatives, proposals, what is interesting, provocationsand changes. Everyone has to suggest ways in which theidea could be adapted or improved to make it work better.

The Yellow Hat

Yellow Hat thinking focuses on values and benefits. Whysomething may work. The Yellow Hat is the hat of optimism . This is the logical positive: why something willwork and why it will offer benefits. Everyone in turn has tosay what is good about the proposal. Even if you think theidea stinks you have to find some good points and

redeeming qualities about it.

The Blue Hat

Blue Hat thinking focuses on managing the thinking process,focus, next steps, action plans. The Blue Hat is the processhat. This is the overview or process control hat. It looksnot at the subject itself but at the 'thinking' about thesubject. It is used to check if the process is working well.

When you wear it, you discuss whether you are using themethod in the most effective way.

Dr. Edward de Bono is the world's leading authority onconceptual thinking as the driver of organizational innovation,strategic leadership, individual creativity, and problem solving.Since 1970 his exclusive tools and methods have brought
http://www.1000ventures.com/info/creativity_brief.htmlhttp://www.1000ventures.com/info/creativity_brief.html


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astonishing results to organizations large and small worldwideand to individuals from a wide range of cultures, educational

backgrounds, occupations, and age groups. Dr. de Bono deliversthe advanced training solutions so needed for success in thesechallenging times.

The de Bono Hats system (also known as "Six Hats" or "SixThinking Hats") is a thinking tool for group discussion andindividual thinking.

That are.

1. Save time by providing a framework to: Participate in productive thinking together meetings that

are focused on delivering necessary results. Clear up confusion on rapidly changing challenges and

complex issues. Minimize personality conflicts. Become better focused and to the point in discussions. Separate out: facts from emotions; the positive from the

negative; critical thinking from creative thinking. Help individuals focus on what is important rather what is

irrelevant. Put quiet employees on an equal playing field with those

who are more talkative or monopolize meetings. Sidestep egos which get in the way of performance .

2. Improve performance by providing a framework to:

Make better decisions based on thorough and clear

thinking.


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Be better prepared to implement change. Create communication plans that are clear and concise. See all sides of a situation to avoid being blindsided. Sort through wide ranges of data, quickly, to work with

just the necessary information. Avoid getting boggeddown in unnecessary detail.

Solve problems that are high priority rather than problemsthat are easy to solve and of little consequence.

Design action plans that are supported by the group andcan be implemented.

Complete documentation of decisions and actions for future reference. Think through business challenges more thoroughly.

3. Increase creative and innovative performance by providing a framework to:

Break the idea killer habit that shuts down the creative process.

Generate powerful new ideas that are outside of themainstream.

Follow a practical process for idea evaluation. Consider a broader range of possible solutions and

selecting the one that best meets the business need. Select opportunities to pursue based on balancing value

against risk. Develop action plans to minimize risk. Sell well thought out ideas to management and clients with

more confidence. Look for innovative solutions more regularly out-

think the competition.


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Some brief idea about Parallel thinking In ordinary, unstructured thinking this process isunfocussed; the thinker leaps from critical thinkingto neutrality to optimism and so on withoutstructure or strategy. The Six Thinking Hatsprocess attempts to introduce parallel thinking .Many individuals are used to this and develop theirown habits unconsciously. Sometimes these areeffective, other times not. What is certain is thatwhen thinking in a group these individualstrategies will not tend to converge. As a result,discussion will tend not to converge. Due to thepower of the ego and the identified predilection toblack hat thinking in the majority of westernculture , this can lead to very destructive meetings.Even with good courtesy and clear sharedobjectives in any collaborative thinking activitythere is a natural tendency for "spaghetti thinking"where one person is thinking about the benefitswhile another considers the facts and so on. Thehats allow this to be avoided so that everyonetogether considers the problems, or the benefits,or the facts, reducing distractions and supportingcross pollination of thought. This is achievedbecause everyone will put on one hat, e.g., thewhite hat, together, then they will all put on thenext hat together. In this way all present think inthe same way at the same time. The onlyexception being the facilitator who will tend tokeep the blue hat on all the time to make surethings progress effectively. The blue hat tends tobe the outward-looking, leader/trail blazing hatthat attracts the leaders of all groups.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_thinkinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_culturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_culturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollinationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_thinkinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_culturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_culturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollination

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Arun Dassi Six Thinking Hats(3)