You and your team members can learn how to separate thinking into six valuable functions and roles. By breaking down thoughts into six parallel or lateral areas, it allows a spectrum of thought, from gut feeling to data analysis, to be separately discussed. His most famous work deals with the concept of lateral thinking. These are sequences of hats which encompass and structure the thinking process toward a distinct goal. Six thinking hats is a good read if one is interested in improving ones thinking skills, both at work and outside. By using the six thinking hats, you can get everybody thinking about the problem in a collaborative way. A thinking hat is a metaphor for a certain way of thinking. His work is now widely used in education and business. This hat covers intuition, feelings and emotions about the problem.
The six thinking hats can be used with parallel thinking or lateral thinking as a way for people to focus on a specific type of thinking all at the same time. Six thinking hats six thinking hats is a strategy that teaches students be flexible thinkers. Using the red hat gives you an opportunity to express feelings, emotions, and intuition without any need to explain or justify them. In our humble opinion, six thinking hats differ from other personal development books because it offers concrete evidence and tips that are both applicable and practical. Of course these concepts can be introduced in a simple form for the young ones, allowing them just to become more aware of ways of thinking and to begin building thinking. The key point is that a hat is a direction to think rather than a label for thinking. Dec 09, 2014 the six thinking hats technique for problem solving duration. How to use the six thinking hats to improve your thinking. Students should critique the value of this process as a problemsolving tool. Six thinking hats and the associated idea parallel thinking provide a means for groups to plan thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive way, and in doing so to think together more effectively in 2005, the tool found some use in the united kingdom innovation sector, where it was offered by some facilitation companies and had been. Each hat is a different colour, and represents a different type of thinking.
The key theoretical reasons to use the six thinking hats are to. Six thinking hats change your hat according to the situation. Use the six thinking hats to solve your next creative. Its been a while since i studied the 6 hats so apologies if those examples arent on the mark but similar scenarios ought to work and explain the principles in a. Each hat plays a different role and brings to the table various perspectives that can help bring about a solution to the problem at hand. When you change from one hat to another, you change thinking modes. In the metaphor, the six hats are coloured black, blue, green red, white, and yellow, and each coloured hat represents a different logi. The thinking process is like a kayak with two paddles. This method allows to deal with problems, take decisions, and by avoiding the confusion of ideas or avoiding censorship new and unusual ideas. Here is a breakdown of the roles, objectives and purpose behind each of the six thinking hats. Six thinking hats shows you how to disentangle your own and your teams or companys cumulative thinking process into six distinct areas, tackling a problem from different perspectives as a group, in order to solve it with the power of parallel thinking and thus save time and money. Six thinking hats activity thought intuition free 30.
Argument and endless discussion become a thing of the past. Blue hat control of the other hats, thinking about the thinking process, directs attention to other hats to facilitate mapmaking thinking carl, 1996. It is also known as the black hat session, as the black hat is really important to it, as ill describe later. The six thinking hats describes six different ways to approach any one predicament or situation. The six thinking hats metaphor represents six different cognitive approaches to critical thinking and analysis to understand an issue or problem and trying to come up with an appropriate resolution. The idea behind the 6 hats approach is that people bring different approaches to the process of problem solving and there is value in developing flexibility in using all of these to help develop and refine ideas. Yellow hat logical constructive thoughts, positive aspects of why something will work. The blue hat is used to manage the thinking process.
Ideas for using these six thinking hats encourage children to reflect upon their thinking and learn to apply different ways of thinking for different situations. Dec 17, 2010 argument and endless discussion become a thing of the past. The red hat thinking process allows participants to see if there is a change of perception at the start to the end of discussion. In short, the six hats direct thinking in a certain way. Six thinking hats one of the issues with groups of people trying to think creatively is that individuals will criticise the ideas of others and derail creative thinking. The blue hats final objective is to then collate all the ideas, facts, and opinions brought forward by the other thinking hats. The red hat focuses on feelings, hunches, instinct and intuition. Green hat creativity, generating new ideas, provocative thoughts, lateral thinking. Everybody can put on the same hat at the same time. This hat covers facts, figures, information needs and gaps, and other objective elements of the problem. The six thinking hats technique for problem solving duration. It then uses that information to structure a practical plan of action for solving the problem.
Be honest with your emotions when you wear the red hat. It is a means to organize thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive manner. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. I believe that wearing the red hat at the proper time, putting it under control, will give all participants greater level of productivity as they had to think through properly and take the necessary selfcontrol of. Obviously i should have worn the black hat for the latter problem and not the red.
Students could be given only the meaning of their own hat and be asked to guess the viewpoint of the others. By mentally wearing different thinking hats people are forced to look at a problem from different perspectives. Free download or read online six thinking hats pdf epub book. Parallel thinking is an excellent strategy to use when trying to streamline a. By debleena roy, bridgei2i analytics solutions, aug 2014. The six thinking hats explained examined existence.
A number of these are included in the materials provided to support the franchised training of the six hats method. How to give effective feedback that leads to positive change. Heres a quick outline do refer to the book or our full 9page summary for more details on each of the hats, with guidelines and tips on how to use them. Abstract excerpt the difference between poor and effective teams lies not so much in their collective mental equipment but in how well they use their abilities to think together. The process focusses on six team roles, represented by different coloured symbolic thinking hats by getting students to wear and switch the hats and the roles, they can consider issues, problems, decisions, and opportunities systematically. Combined with the parallel thinking process, this technique helps groups think more effectively. Having identified the six modes of thinking that can be accessed, distinct programs can be created. The six thinking hats allow us to change our focus in order to have more productive discussions each hat is a different color representing a different way of thinking. How to solve problems using the six thinking hats method. The idea is a little like a party game but it helps develop awareness of the different modes of thinking which operate in a group problemsolving session and the value or.
My white hat thinking is that we need to drop the arguments and proposals, and look at the facts. Browse the amazon editors picks for the best books of 2019, featuring our. Six thinking hats in the classroom 6 thinking hats. But as simple as it might seem at first, is has an incredibly positive impact on our brains. The six hats are tools that help us to conceive new ideas and improve thinking. Its the control mechanism that ensures the six thinking hats guidelines are observed. Can the 6 thinking hats really enable such lateral thinking or am i talking through my hat. Solve problems using the six thinking hats iq doodle. Six thinking hats and the associated idea parallel thinking provide a means for groups to plan thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive way, and in doing so to think together more effectively. The yellow hat focuses on values and benefits why something may work. Whats even cooler though, is coming up with such a method, i think.
The black hat cautions you against looming dangers and negative outcomes. Creative problem solving six thinking hats and other tools. And where do data scientists come into this argument. Students should debrief about what they learned when taking a role that is unfamiliar. A new approach to problem solving and decision making. Each of the six thinking hats represents a different style of thinking. Creative problem solving six thinking hats and other. Saying something like i think we need some greenhat thinking here allows you to easily convey this. How to read anyone instantly 18 psychological tips duration. Plans developed using the 6 thinking hats technique are sounder and more resilient than would otherwise be outcome of six thinking hats. Six thinking hats, introduced in 1985 by edward debono, is an effective tool for decision making and problem solving that uses both sides of your brain. It forces you to move outside your habitual thinking style, and to look at things from a number of different perspectives. Yellow hat thinking is constructive and generative.
Its an opportunity to express new concepts and new perceptions. Using 6 thinking hats for better design thoughtworks. To keep the group focused on providing feedback based on different views of the same situation minus the conflicts, im using a methodology created by edward debono called six thinking hats. Each thinking role is identified with a colored symbolic thinking hat. Green hat for creative thinking and new ideas the green hat is put on. The real key here is that rather than circular or deadlock debates, you focus the group on a particular viewpoint at a time. Its easy to grasp, can be applied in nearly any situation and provides a great way to approach. An average datascientist does have to wear multiple hats to do his job, from mining through data to delivering insights that make a difference.
Under this hat options and ideas are laid out, modified and improved. Six thinking hats, introduced in 1985 by edward debono, is an effective tool for decision making and problem solving that. It is now commonly known as a tool for group discussion and individualcritical thinking. Six thinking hats in the classroom 6 thinking hats activities. Using the red hat gives you an opportunity to express feelings, emotions, and intuition. Each participant chose a hat and looked at their reality from this particular viewpoint. The main characters of this non fiction, business story are. The white hat focuses on data, facts and information. One is creative thinking while the other represents critical thinking.
Get into a group with other people who were assigned the same color thinking hat as you and discuss what type of thinking students are asked to do when wearing that color hat. In such regards, we feel like this book speaks to any person, whos aware of the selfimposed concepts that shape his presence and future. The hats were meant to be an aid for lateral thinking and brainstorming. Pick up the key ideas in the book with this quick summary. The goal of effective thinking is to make complexity managable. The technique outlines different thinking processes associated with a different coloured hat.
Its easy to grasp, can be applied in nearly any situation and provides a. So when the group is in freewheeling mode the green hat is worn, when someone makes a judgment the black hat, when someone asks for information the white hat, and so on. Whilst youve got the 23 rule correct you take and give them 23s, an hour is not. Six thinking hats is a parallel thinking process that helps students and groups to focus more productively on problems and issues. The six thinking hats technique helps actualize the thinking potential of teams. The technique is based on the idea that there are six imaginary hats. Wearing six thinking hats 3 benefits the six thinking hats technique provides a common language that works in different cultures. Eight creative problem solving techniques that work. When you put on one of the hats, you operate exclusively in that mode of thinking. The more thoroughly its able to piece together these dispersed thoughts and ideas, the more ammunition it has to. Each hat is assigned a different color and refers to a different thinking approach. Apr 24, 2016 the thinking process is like a kayak with two paddles. Six thinking hats is a simple, effective parallel thinking process that helps people be more productive, focused, and mindfully involved.
The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 177 pages and is available in paperback format. Working at a company that gives new management practices, like the six thinking hats method, a try must be cool. Posting a permanent six thinking hats display in your classroom will provide an everpresent thinking tool to use when you and your students tackle any kind of problem. Everyone wears the same thinking hat and pools ideas, and then all change to a new thinking hat together. Optimistic judgmental creative emotional directiongiving factual. By mentally wearing and switching hats, you can easily focus or redirect thoughts, the.
For the six thinking hats method to be used effectively, each person in a meeting can and must be able to wear each hat in turn. Dealing with disappointment recently, one of my colleagues had an opportunity to put the six thinking hats thinking tool to use. Students learn about six different types of thinking they can apply to any situation, represented by different colored hats. And once learned, the tools can be applied immediately. It promotes collaborative thinking, sharpens focus, facilitates communication, reduces conflict, enables thorough evaluations, improves exploration, fosters creativity and innovation, saves time, and boosts productivity. Thats because its essentially training to learn to think better. An individual or a group wears each hat in turn, fully exploring the mode of thinking it represents. When you put on a hat, you operate exclusively in that mode of thinking.
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