| | | Six
Thinking Hats | | | | A
Hat is a direction to think rather than a label for thinking. The key theoretical
reasons to use the Six Thinking Hats are to: - encourage
Parallel Thinking
- encourage
full-spectrum thinking
- separate
ego from performance
White
Hat on the Hats There
are six metaphorical hats and the thinker can put on or take off one of these
hats to indicate the type of thinking being used. This putting on and taking off
is essential. The hats must never be used to categorize individuals, even though
their behavior may seem to invite this. When done in group, everybody wear the
same hat at the same time. |  White
Hat thinking | | This
covers facts, figures, information needs and gaps. "I think we need some white
hat thinking at this point..." means Let's drop the arguments and proposals, and
look at the data base." |  Red
Hat thinking | | This
covers intuition, feelings and emotions. The red hat allows the thinker to put
forward an intuition without any ned to justify it. "Putting on my red hat, I
think this is a terrible proposal." Ususally feelings and intuition can only be
introduced into a discussion if they are supported by logic. Usually the feeling
is genuine but the logic is spurious.The red hat gives full permission to a thinker
to put forward his or her feelings on the subject at the moment. |  Black
Hat thinking | | This
is the hat of judgment and caution. It is a most valuable hat. It is not in any
sense an inferior or negative hat. The rior or negative hat. The black hat is
used to point out why a suggestion does not fit the facts, the available experience,
the system in use, or the policy that is being followed. The black hat must always
be logical. |
 Yellow Hat thinking
| This
is the logical positive. Why something will work and why it will offer benefits.
It can be used in looking forward to the results of some proposed action, but
can also be used to find something of value in what has already happened. | 
Green Hat thinking | | This
is the hat of creativity, alternatives, proposals, what is interesting, provocations
and changes. |  Blue
Hat thinking | | This
is the overview or process control hat. It looks not at the subject itself but
at the 'thinking' about the subject. "Putting on my blue hat, I feel we should
do some more green hat thinking at this point." In technical terms, the blue hat
is concerned with meta-cognition. |
| This
is an excerpt from Edward de Bono's "Why Do Quality Efforts Lose Their Fizz?"
Quality is No Longer Enough, The Journal for Quality and Participation, September
1991 |
| |