Six Thinking Hats® is a practical business thinking and decision-making tool, developed by Dr. Edward de Bono. The concept involves wearing metaphorical ‘Hats’ of different colours, each representing a different perspective or way of thinking.
Why learn it?
Being able to confidently use the Six Thinking Hats® is a valuable skill that promotes and enhances creativity, collaboration, structured thinking, effective communication and improved decision-making. It provides a practical and adaptable framework that individuals and teams can use across various professional and personal contexts.
Learning how to implement the Six Thinking Hats®:
- Encourages Parallel Thinking™ – by focusing on one mode of thinking at a time. This helps in avoiding conflicts that may arise when individuals approach a problem from different angles simultaneously.
- Promotes creativity and innovation – by assigning specific ‘Hats’ to different thinking styles (e.g., creativity, critical thinking, optimism), allowing individuals to explore a problem or idea from multiple perspectives. This can lead to more creative solutions and innovative ideas.
- Structures decision-making – it’s a structured framework for decision-making. Each ‘Hat’ represents a different aspect, such as facts, emotions, benefits, risks and creative possibilities. This structured approach helps in considering all relevant factors before making a decision.
- Enhances communication – it fosters effective communication within a team or organisation by using a common language and framework. Allowing team members to express their thoughts and perspectives in a structured manner, leading to better understanding and collaboration.
- Effectively manages the time spent in discussions and meetings – by allocating specific time for each ‘Hat’, it prevents discussions from lingering on one aspect for too long. This ensures a well-rounded exploration of the topic and means that everyone in the room can input, even the quietest attendee.
- Reduces conflict – it provides a way to express different opinions and perspectives without creating conflict. People can step into different hats to consider alternate viewpoints, fostering a more collaborative and open-minded environment.
- Provides an alternative approach to problem-solving – each ‘Hat’ provides a different approach to analysing and addressing problems, making it easier to identify and implement effective solutions.
- Produces well thought out, high-quality decisions – by considering various perspectives and factors systematically, it improves the quality of decisions made by a group or individual.
Who should learn it?
The Six Thinking Hats® is a structured and versatile tool that can benefit a wide range of individuals and teams across a range of fields.
Having a team trained in Six Thinking Hats® enhances team dynamics. The structured and inclusive process ensures team members feel empowered to share their thoughts, helping to manage discussions in a way that respects everyone’s input.
Individually, anyone interested in improving their critical thinking skills, decision-making abilities and problem-solving techniques can benefit from learning and applying the Six Thinking Hats® to their personal and professional lives. Especially:
- Executives, managers, and employees – use it to enhance decision-making, problem-solving and strategic planning.
- Leaders and managers – incorporate it into their leadership styles to guide their teams through effective decision-making processes.
- Project teams – utilise it to brainstorm ideas, analyse risks and develop creative solutions, contributing to the success of their projects.
- Healthcare professionals – medical teams and administrators can apply it to analyse complex medical cases, make informed decisions and improve patient care processes.
- Government officials – individuals in government roles can apply it in policy-making and decision-making processes, to consider the diverse impacts and perspectives of different policies.
- HR professionals – use it for various aspects of their work, such as conflict resolution, decision-making – in personnel matters and organisational development.
How do you learn it?
Indigo is an official distributor for Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats®. It helps you explore, develop and implement ideas – unlocking the creative thinking power and agility of your team. It’s also a great meeting management tool.
It provides a memorable and practical way to save time when thinking, problem-solving and evaluating ideas. It improves behaviour without attacking it – reducing conflict, encouraging cooperation and empowering both individuals and teams to open up new possibilities and opportunities. It’s simple to learn, quick to implement and accelerates productivity.
We can train:
- Individuals online or face-to-face at one of our public workshops, see the full calendar.
- Groups and teams online or face-to-face through our in-house training option, enquire to find out more.
