Encyclopedia of Leadership

HOW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL

“The main difficulty with thinking is confusion. We try to do too much at once. Emotions, information, logic,

hope and creativity all crowd in on us. It is like juggling with too many balls.”

—Edward de Bono, SIX THINKING HATS

Think of a problem that you are currently facing, one for which you could use different view-

points or perspectives. Use the attributes required by each of the six thinking hats to increase

the chances of assessing and resolving this problem successfully. Use the workspace provided

to plan how someone with an attribute from each thinking hat would approach this problem.

If you use thinking hats in meetings, you will also want to think about the sequence of

thinking hats, and the balance of airtime for each type of thinking. If you seek to ensure full

airing of an issue or problem, you should include a person from each of the six hats of think-

ing. A group of black hats is unlikely to really agree to do something innovative or new. This

tool can also help you in understanding where another person is coming from in a group, and

why you may be agreeing or at odds.

WEB WORKSHEET

SECTION 6 TOOLS FORCRITICALTHINKING ANDINNOVATION 187

Defines, sets boundaries

for discussion, shapes

the questions, summa-

rizes.

Blue

(process,

summarize)

White

(facts,

objective)

Red

(emotions,

feelings)

Black

(risks,

problems)

Yellow

(optimism,

positive)

[☛11.1 Process Cycle]

[☛6.1 Logic Errors, 6.2 Assumption Analysis, 10.9 Visible Information]

[☛8.6 Communication 101, 10.5 Group Disturbances, 12.7 Dealing with Conflict]

[☛5.9 Resistance, 7.6 Potential Problems]

[☛2.4 Visioning, 14.1 Scarcity and Abundance]