The six thinking hats technique for problem solving by Edward De Bono is an extremely useful way to debate an issue, solve a problem or to arrive at an important decision. It forces you to move outside your habitual thinking style. While looking at things from a number of different perspectives. This allows you to get a more rounded view of your situation. With these roles, you can formulate the best possible solution to any problem.
Let’s explore six thinking hats technique for problem solving and what each hat represents!
White Hat: with this thinking hat, you focus on the available data. Factual information can be used to help find a solution by looking at what you have, and noticing what is absent.
Red Hat: “wearing” the Red Hat, you look at problems using your intuition, gut reaction, and emotion and think about how others could react emotionally.
Yellow Hat: this hat helps you to think positively. Because of that, this thinking role helps you to keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult.
Black Hat: the way the black hat works, is by forcing you to think negatively. Therefore, you get to weed out potential future problems.
Green Hat: the Green Hat represents creativity. This is where you develop creative solutions to a problem.
Blue Hat: this hat represents process control. The blue hat mentality helps you stay in control during the whole decision-making process.
You were probably aware of all these ways of thinking. But, you may not have labeled them as “colored hats.” Nonetheless, this technique will quickly become one of the habits that will change your life. Now you see just how important each of the six thinking hats are in the decision-making process! So the next time you are faced with changes and options, make sure you exhaust six thinking hats technique for problem solving and reap the best possible outcome from your situation.