The Six Hats Exercise
For this newsletter, I used Claude and YouTube to help.Prompt: First, I asked Claude.ai, which I like a lot for its narrative ease to "explain The Six Hats exercise." Here's the first round:
Response: The Six Thinking Hats is a technique developed by Edward de Bono that allows groups to think through a decision from different perspectives. It works by having each participant wear a metaphorical "thinking hat" that channels a certain style of thinking. The six hats and their associated approaches are:
White Hat - Focuses on facts, figures, and data. What information do we have? What data is missing?
Red Hat - Looks at the decision through emotions, gut reactions, and intuitions. What does your instinct say?
Black Hat - Identifies weaknesses, risks, and potential problems. Points out the negatives in a logical way.
Yellow Hat - Explores the positives, benefits, and opportunities. Sees the brightness in a situation.
Response: Green Hat - Generates creative ideas, possibilities, and new solutions. Thinks outside the box.
Blue Hat - Controls the process, sets the agenda, and organizes the thinking. Looks at thinking about the thinking.
In a meeting, participants can switch hats to shift mindsets. This allows the group to thoroughly analyze a decision from multiple perspectives before coming to a final decision. For example, everyone could start by wearing a white hat to review facts, then switch to red for gut reactions, followed by black for risks, and so on. The six hats method aims to reduce bias by separating different modes of thinking.
Second, having seen The 6 Hats used variously, I then asked a follow-up:
Prompt: What are some ways to use six hats in a group? Individuals wear a hat, and a group wears the same different hats in the session.
Response: You're right; there are a couple of different ways groups can use the Six Thinking Hats technique:
- Individual Hats - Each member of the group is assigned a hat to wear for the entirety of the discussion. This allows each person to approach the decision from a consistent perspective.
- Group Hats - The entire group wears the same hat at the same time during the discussion. You would go through each hat one at a time to cycle through the different thinking modes.
- Hat Switching - Individuals or the group can switch hats during the meeting to purposefully shift perspectives. This allows you to analyze a decision from multiple angles.
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The facilitator or leader typically determines how to use the hats and directs when to switch. Some potential applications:
- Start with Facts (White) - Get grounded in data before reactions.
- Alternate Positive (Yellow) and Negative (Black) - To balance pros/cons.
- End with Creativity (Green) - Generate ideas after assessing.
- Use Blue Hat for process control - Set the agenda and next steps.
- Allow individuals to wear a hat of strength - Let analytical wear Black, creative wear Green.
There is no one right way. The goal is to engage the different thinking styles represented by each hat in the way that best fits the situation. Switching hats purposefully allows examination from multiple modes of thought.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
Finally, I thought a good old YouTube would help, so I watched a few. This one works best
Amazon:
Misfit Leadership is now out on Audible
Steve Gladis Leadership Partners
Self-Awareness Trainer and Coach, Author
10 个月Steve, I use this often in my change management classes. It helps us change our mindset; people love playing this "game". It is an oldie but super goodie! Thanks for the reminder and for showing that even though it is not the newest, bleeding edge concept/exercise, it works. Also, people remember this exercise and can use it to help them at work!