2. It is a technique that helps meetings become more
productive.
The attendees of the meeting separate thinking
into six distinct categories.
Each category is identified with its own coloured
metaphorical “thinking hat.”
The hats are red, black, yellow, green, white and
blue.
Six Thinking Hats
3. By mentally wearing and switching "hats," the
whole meeting focuses better attention at the
problem.
The whole meeting wears one hat at a time and it is
the role of all the attendees to come up with
information which is relevant during that part of
the meeting to the hat being discussed.
The hats can be worn in any order and more than
once in a discussion on a particular topic.
The hats can also be used by an individual thinking
about a problem.
Six Thinking Hats
4. Change from adversarial to parallel thinking
More focused thinking
Saving time from doing one thing at a time
Removing ego from decisions and more
collaboration
More creativity and innovation
Results of Six Hat Thinking
6. The White Hat calls for information known or
needed
Neutral and objective
The White Hat
7. The Red Hat signifies participant’s feelings,
hunches and intuition
Do not have to give any reasons or
justification
Keep it short
The Red Hat
8. The Black Hat is judgement, the devil’s
advocate or why something may not work
Cautious, dangers, problems, faults
Logical reasons must be given
The Black Hat
9. The Yellow Hat symbolizes brightness and
optimism
Why it may work
The good points in the idea
Positive Thinking
Constructive
Give logical reasons
The Yellow Hat
10. The Green Hat focuses on creativity: the
possibilities, alternatives and new ideas
How to overcome the Black Hat problems
How to reinforce Yellow Hat values
The Green Hat
11. The Blue Hat is used to manage the thinking
process
Setting the Focus
Making summaries
Overviews
Conclusions
Action Plans
The Blue Hat
12. Define the focus of your thinking
Plan the sequence and timing of the thinking
Ask for changes in the thinking if needed
Handle requests from the group for changes
in the thinking
Form periodic or final summaries of the
thinking for consideration by the team
Facilitator’s Role
13. Follow the lead of the facilitator
Stick to the hat (type of thinking) that is in
current use
Try to work within the time limits
Contribute honestly and fully under each of
the hats
Participant’s Role
14. Six Thinking Hats is a useful technique to
make meetings more productive.
The whole meeting wears one metaphorical
hat at a time.
It can save time, bring about more focused
thinking, more collaboration and more
creativity.
Summary
15. Edward De Bono. Six Thinking Hats (1985) ISBN 0-316-
17831-4
http://www.debonogroup.com/six_thinking_hats.php
Further Reading