How do you make decisions in life? Are you clear about your decisions all the time or do you experience confusion often? Most of us are bound to make decisions according to our gut feelings which may or may not be misleading. Sometimes we even go with the flow because it’s highly uninteresting or stressful to make a good choice. But how do we change our thinking perspective towards a problem? What effect will it have on the solution if we have a different approach to problem-solving? How can you start making effective decisions about a problem? It is highly interesting to note that behavior or Naya is directly correlated to decision-making. Several behavioral factors have a direct impact on our everyday decisions. Values, Personality, Social constraints, etc also do influence the process.
The six thinking hats was introduced by a Maltese physician, Edward de Bono with an aim of using them in everyday life to solve problems. The Six Thinking Hats is a technique that makes an individual look into a problem from different perspectives. The human brain is found to work in a surprising different number of ways and has the capacity to challenge a number of things. Now, why hats? Hats symbolize power and authority. It covers the head that contains thought. The different hats show that one can have different opinions and signifies a different hierarchy. DE Bono identifies six distinct directions in which the brain can be challenged. In each of these directions, the brain will identify and bring into conscious thought certain aspects of the issues being considered. All these six hats are really important for the best outcome. In addition to this, the seventh and the eighth hats are added which represent integral thinking and magical thinking respectively.
Now that we are introduced to the concept of thinking hats, won’t it be interesting to know what each represented and meant so that we can start using them? Let’s get a look at each of these.
The Blue Hat: Conductors hat: The Blue hat represents the thinking process. One focuses on the summary and proceeds to manage the process.
The Green Hat: The creative hat: As the name suggests, it represents the creative aspect. One explores the creative perspective by finding the maximum possible range of ideas.
The Red Hat: The hat for the heart: The red hat is representative of feelings and instincts. Using this hat, you’re free to express your emotions, feelings, fears, likes, dislikes love, and hates.
The Yellow Hat: The optimists’ Hat: Yellow hat symbolizes brightness and optimism. One looks into the problems in the most positive light possible. It looks for benefits in the situation and encourages a positive view.
The black hat: The judge’s Hat: One makes possible critical judgements using this hat. It is one of the most powerful hats, yet overused. It is very important to use this hat wisely to prevent it from dominance.
The White Hat: The factual hat: This hat represents the collection of information. One gets a lot of knowledge and insights while going down through this. It is natural and objective.
Later on, to this concept of six thinking hats by Dr. De Bono, other thinking hats were added with the idea of elaborating the content. Though these were very good suggestions, the basic concept by Dr. De Bono is an important and prominent contribution. Just like the other thinking hats, both the seventh and the eighth hats allow you to take a look at the problem from different angles and allow for a different thinking perspective.
The seventh hat: The seventh hat is believed to represent the integral usage of the other six approaches for the best outcomes. It involves integral thinking. It ensures that values and cultural perspectives are considered alongside the change drivers, systems, and processes.
The Eighth Hat: Also defined as “Magical Thinking”, it involves wise decision-making between the rational and irrational factors. It is believed to work alongside the other hats, especially the black hat.
The Grey Hat for Wisdom: This final concept hat evolved from the idea of Duns Scotus. He believed that the pointed hat would act like a ‘reverse funnel’ for knowledge. Wisdom cannot be taught. It is earned from the experience of surviving for a complete generation. Wisdom Hat seeks a different point of view. It is the willingness to express and learn from others that are symbolized here.
All the above-mentioned hats are of at most importance. The ideas of these hats can be used effectively to make more organized, wise, and disciplined decisions. It is significantly applied in several fields around the globe including leadership development, Project management, process improvements, etc. It is also important to note that it is not necessary to use all the hats at once. You are free to choose the hats that are right for you and the situation. It is said to have a lot of benefits and some of them are:
1) Organized thinking
2) Creativity assurance
3) Increased interpersonal skills
4) Better decisions
5) Achieve significant outcomes
6) Use parallel thinking
Using these hats, you can encourage not only yourself but also your whole team which increases the chances of getting the best outcome. The metaphorical usage of hats allows room for complete and elaborated segregation of thinking directions. The sequence of these hats represents the structure of the thinking process. And if the strategy is used properly, just like the eighth hat suggested, it can contribute to magical answers and solutions.