Six Thinking Hats

I was doing some research the other week for a keynote I'm giving at a sales conference next month, and came across something I thought you might find interesting.

I'm going to be speaking about complacency and comfort zones, but the article I read was about the 'Six Thinking Hats' method of decision making.

When we're trying to solve a problem or overcome a challenge, we have a tendency to look for information that supports our existing beliefs.

For example, for several decades we were told that it was the fat in our diets that was unhealthy and lead to weight gain.

Even when evidence about the issues with sugar started to become more mainstream, many people disregarded it and focused on the studies and stories that proved what they already believed to be true.

This 'confirmation bias' can be an issue when we're looking for the best solution to a problem, as it can lock us into sub-optimal behaviours.

The Six Thinking Hats was developed by psychologist Edward de Bono, and is a strategy for developing a less restrictive perspective.

The Six Hats

Each coloured 'Hat' helps us access a different system of thinking...

The WHITE Hat gets you thinking purely with the raw data, information and facts in mind.

The RED Hat uses your intuition and gut instinct.

The BLACK Hat is a more pessimistic approach, and looks at what could go wrong.

The GREEN Hat gets you into your outside-the-box creative thinking space.

The YELLOW Hat is positive and optimistic, looking at all of the potential upsides to the different ideas

The BLUE Hat is like your master of ceremony - deciding when to switch between the different Hats.

Although it's often used as a team-based approach to critical thinking and decision making, it's an approach I believe that we can all benefit from.

When you next have a decision to make, imagine thinking with each of these hats on in turn.

Consider the problem from the 6 points of view and you may find that you are able to overcome the natural bias you give to your gut feel and intuition... and what you already believe.

That's not to say this isn't important, but that considering other perspectives can lead to better quality, faster decisions, without the same levels of worry and doubt that you often get after making a choice.

The Six Thinking Hats method is one of the strategies we're going to be applying in my new 'mastermind' small group coaching program that starts on Monday.

I'm looking for about a dozen people who are looking to make a few changes to habits and characteristics that are currently holding you back from making consistent progress towards your goals.

The only way to change your results is to change the way you do things.

So we're going to be unpacking habits and old stories, and rebuilding those that are no longer serving.

One of the benefits of the mastermind approach is that you get to harness the power of the hive mind... different perspectives and experiences, that spark new thoughts and ideas that you (or I!) might never have thought of.

It does need to be a small group though, hence the short (3 question!) application form on the other side of this link:

6 week group coaching program application form >>

Sound like something that may help you take the brakes off?

Take a look at the form.

It contains all the details of the financial and time commitments.

If it feels right, take a 5 minutes to fill it in.

You may find that even just ?thinking about the answers to the questions gives you a bit more clarity on where you need to focus your attention.

If not no worries... have a think about how you can apply the Six Thinking Hats method to your next conundrum and let me know how you get on!