Anybody Implementing Dr. Edward Debono Thinking Hats ?

Hi,

Greetings to all friends. Recently, I implemented the DeBono 6 Thinking Hats methodology in a brainstorming session without much exposure to it (and found it quite effective). Later, I read the work '6 Thinking Hats' and references on rock logic and water logic.

Can anyone provide inputs on similar tools that can be introduced in day-to-day HR activities (such as meetings, brainstorming, or presentations), as I feel we just take too much time 'discussing' issues?

Regards,
thesysthink

Hi Mr. Roy,

It sounds very interesting. Please let me know more about it and, if possible, start from the basics. I would be very thankful to you. If you have any documents or reports on it, please email them to me at bsrikanth27@yahoo.com.

Goodbye

Hi friend. 😄

Dr. Edward De Bono's work can be said to be revolutionary in its field. On one hand, it probes into processes of cognition (and hence points out erratic cognition) and on the other hand provides ways to 'thing' creative. 💡 The most important thing I learned from this book is that thinking is a skill that can be learned.

Well, to state things clearly, I will first wish you to think about a meeting or a brainstorming session in your office. ❌ In most situations, there is a 90% drainage of ideas because we tend to concentrate on who is speaking rather than what is being spoken about.

Probably our mental cognition model is like that. We tend to 'prove' our point, and the exercise turns into a fight. (However, this may not be true in all cases).

Dr. De Bono suggests wearing 6 'thinking hats'. Hats are nothing but a 'different angle', perspective, viewpoint, objective, or probably a process of thinking.

I am concentrating on the implementation part so that you can actually use it. Think of a situation in your company in which you need to sit with multidisciplinary professionals. They may (will) have different perspectives to solve the issue at hand. Things may go random.

Implement:

1. Red Hat: (RED = Color of Emotion). You don't have to put a hat on somebody's head. Putting the Red hat means to think about how you all are emotionally involved with the project, your intuitions, emotions, perceptions, and chart them all. No other perspective must come when the Red hat is in use. (Nobody should be allowed to contradict others. Just tell 'Your' emotion.)

2. Yellow Hat: (Yellow symbolizes positiveness). Direct your people on what 'logical positive' may follow if you take certain steps. Or try to think in a Cause-Effect framework. But the effects should always be 'positive', i.e., beneficial or motivating.

3. Black Hat: (Logical Negative that you must avoid) Logical Negative.

4. Green: (Color of vegetation). Think creatively. Try out-of-the-box thinking. Try to give as much freedom as possible. Whether it's rational or not, the group members will decide themselves.

5. White Hat: (Information). What information we need. What we have. Which piece we can collect. What source. What's tested information. Which part is 'believed to be true'. Neutral, objectivity.

6. Blue Hat (Authority): Who will take what responsibility.

It's better if you give everybody 2-3 minutes each on each hat. And again, 1 minute to summarize their points under each hat's thinking.

Have someone chart everything. Just keep an eye to see that no one is 'wearing' any other hat (it will be difficult to manage the group if done), and people should respect others' sentiments.

In my experience, this needs no extensive moderation. ➡️ However, you may go through this site (that I found just now): www.edwdebono.com

However, please make sure there is someone to moderate. Be sure to practice it with smaller pretest groups before implementing.

Let me know if you are planning to implement it.

The sole purpose of these 'hats' is to avoid clashes and drive the energy towards thinking. 🧢

I hope this helps!

Hi Aditya,

I came across your article while browsing the site looking for tools/articles on Creativity as i conduct the workshops on Business Creativity & Innovation in B-schools and am very happy to know that you have implemented Six Thinking Hats which i also conduct & it is a fabulous tool for structured thinking & generating ideas. A very good tool for group meetings which generally mostly end in ego clashes & non-results or unproductive.

Creativity is a serious business in today's scenario and attaching an article for your information.

Keep in touch.

Cheerio

Rajat

Techniques for Creative Thinking: Yes, They Work

by Gary A. Davis, Ph.D.

Dr. Davis, Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is author of Creativity is Forever (3rd ed. 1992), Kendall/Hunt Publishers, Dubuque, Iowa.

Creativity techniques are deliberate thinking processes designed to help find ideas and solve problems. They are not mental tricks dreamed up by ivory-tower professors but rather strategies used by many—if not all—productive, creative people. Although the techniques are not complicated, most people are uncomfortable using someone else's thinking or problem-solving methods.

Nonetheless, you might be pleasantly surprised after trying some of the following strategies. They have worked for many others.

Analogical Thinking

The most common creative process is analogical thinking--the transfer of an idea from one context to a new one. Perhaps 80 percent of creative ideas are rooted in analogical thinking, and examples abound in every field of human creativity.

In music, Aaron Copeland's Appalachian Spring was based on the Quaker folk tune, Simple Gifts. You may know that the U.S. national anthem Star Spangled Banner originated as an English drinking song. And the Broadway musical Cats was based on T. S. Eliot's Book of Practical Cats.

Political cartoonists and creators of cartoon strips continually borrow ideas from movies, television commercials, the Bible, children's stories, and the headlines. Remember the caricature of Ronald Reagan, Ronbo? Did you notice the caption by cartoonist Gary Larson: "Moses as a kid," under a boy who was raising his arms to part the milk in his glass? Many movies, from Gone with the Wind to The Ten Commandments, derive from historical or Biblical themes.

We also see analogical thinking in the mechanical realm. The irreplaceable fastener Velcro was inspired by the obnoxious cocklebur. Gutenberg's printing press was a combination of the stamper used for minting coins and a wine press. Eli Whitney was inspired to invent the cotton gin after watching a cat pluck at a chicken through a fence. The resulting pawful of feathers apparently reminded him of cotton fibers.

One technique is asking how nature has solved a similar problem. Pringles Potato Chips were conceived via the analogy of wet leaves--which stack compactly and do not destroy themselves. Darwin reversed the situation, using a human solution to explain a natural phenomenon: His origin of species explanation stemmed from selective cattle breeding practices.

Finally, virtually every architect and designer keeps stacks of books and magazines filled with ideas waiting to be adopted.

But you need not sit back and wait for analogous connections to appear by themselves. Analogical thinking can be a conscious technique if you deliberately ask questions like these:

"What else is like this?"

"What have others done?"

"Where can I find an idea?"

"What ideas can I modify to fit my problem?"

Brainstorming

The granddaddy creative technique, brainstorming, was the brainchild of Alex Osborn, co-founder of a major advertising agency. The procedure is simple and familiar. First you devise wild--even preposterous--ideas, and jot down every one. But the key is this: save the criticism and evaluation until this process is completed. Osborn tells us, with disarming logic, that we cannot simultaneously be creative and critical. Furthermore, he adds, wild ideas can often be "tamed" into workable solutions.

Although most people consider brainstorming a group technique, you can brainstorm by yourself as well as before a large audience. But the recommended small group, with 10 or 12 members, is usually suitable to a variety of situations. Brainstorming, I'd say, has survived for half a century because it works.

Attribute Listing

While brainstorming is a general procedure, attribute listing is a specific idea-finding technique (one that could even be used while brainstorming). You identify the key characteristics, or attributes, of the product or process in question. Then you think up ways to change, modify, or improve each attribute (in design engineering this is called the substitution method).

Almost anyone can "disassemble" a product into its attributes and then think of modifications for most of them. For example, a can of soda has these attributes: size, shape, color, color pattern, decorative theme, material, possible uses after modification, other audiences for the product if modified. Can you invent alterations for each of these attributes? Fran Stryker supplied himself with plots for Lone Ranger radio and television episodes for a couple of decades by modifying these characteristics: characters, goals, obstacles, and outcomes.

Morphological Synthesis

Morphological synthesis is a simple elaboration of attribute listing. After completing the list of attributes, list changes in one attribute (such as “products”) along the horizontal axis, and list changes in a second attribute (such as “markets”) along the vertical axis. Idea combinations, or syntheses, will appear in the intersections, or cells, of the table. Morphological synthesis will force you to look at many surprising combinations.

Idea Checklists

Have you ever consulted a telephone directory or a supplier's catalog as a "checklist" of resources or ideas for solving problems? You may not know that checklists have been written expressly to solve problems creatively. The best known is Osborn's "73 Idea Spurring Questions." Consider how you would invent a better mousetrap as you read these examples from his idea checklist:

Put to other uses? New ways to use as is? Other uses if modified?

Modify? New twist? Change meaning, color, motion, sound, form? Other changes?

Magnify? What to add? Greater frequency? Longer? Extra value? Duplicate? Multiply? Exaggerate?

Minify? What to subtract? Condensed? Miniature? Lighter? Split up? Understate?

Rearrange? Interchange components? Other sequence? Change schedule?

Combine? How about a blend, an assortment? Combine units? Combine purposes? Combine appeals?

Of course, none of these techniques is guaranteed to solve your research problems. But they can help you find ideas without forcing you to wait for an uncooperative muse.

I also happened to come across. It's fun to learn and remember the steps; otherwise, it becomes too technical for HR persons.

But I found a term "black hat," and I was a little confused about how to relate it to other explanations.

Regards,
umalme