Week 11 - The Application of Six Thinking Hats

Week 11

The Application of Six Thinking Hats

            Six thinking hats is actually a strategy that was created by Edward de Bono. This strategy requires people to extend their way of thinking about a topic by wearing a range of different “thinking” hats. He uses thinking “hat: metaphor because of familiar expressions like “put on your thinking hat.” Putting on a hats means it switches the thinker’s attention to that specific mode to simplify the process. For switching hats just redirects thinking to another mode. There are 6 colors of thinking hats which are white, blue, black, yellow, green and red.

            White hat means cold and neutral. With this hat, you will not make any judgments. You will just convey information. You will be also the one that provides facts, figures and objective information. For example, when you were asked to wear white thinking hat that means you need to focus directly on the information and not about the arguments. You will look to see what information is available, what is needed and how to obtain it.

            Red is a warm color. It has to do with the feelings, intuitions, hunches and emotions. The red hat represents ANGER. It gives the thinker permission to put their feelings forward about the subject. For example, when you were ask to wear red hat that means they are asking about your feelings about the subject. Black is gloomy and negative. It is a color of authority and prevents mistakes by urging caution.

The black hat is for the people who examine every possible action. They will have a role why something will not work. For example, when you are wearing black hat that means you will be putting negative elements onto the discussion. Black hat is very valuable and can be a problem at the same time. It is valuable because you need to be cautions in every idea that you have. So that any further mistakes will not be done. Black hat can be a problem because it can easily kills creative idea with negative thoughts. Yellow is a color that looking for potential benefits based on constructive thoughts. The yellow hat provides constructive and generates proposals and suggestions.

Green is a symbol of vegetation/ grass. It will result in making new ideas. The green hat wearer will look for new ideas or possibilities. They will find a way to find new creative ideas for the problem. For example, when you are in a meeting, you will need someone to find new ideas. They will be the person who think of new ideas and make it better.

The last one is blue. Blue means that you are looking from a higher and a wider perspective to see whether you are addressing the right issue. Usually the person who wear blue hat is the person who are in charge such as a chairman or an organizer. They will be the person who are organizing and controlling the process.

For conclusion, this topic is really helpful for me and for my assignment. It will be more helpful if it is a group assignment. It help us how to solve the problem quickly and effectively. The entire group member plays different roles. Sometimes there will be an argument but we quickly with these thinking hats. With everyone wearing different hats, it making us more away about the wider picture of the problem. So, this topic is really helpful in daily life.