Transcript THE SIX THINKING HATS METHOD

OUT OF THE BLUE
CREATIVITY & PROBLEM SOLVING IN
LEADERSHIP
PERSONAL INTRODUCTIONS
 Name
 Role
 Why here ?
PROGRAMME
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Personal introductions
Simplicity
Critical thinking
It’s on the cards
How to provoke
The Six Thinking Hats method
Metaphorically speaking
Mind Mapping
Synectics
Reframing
SIMPLICITY
 The workshop materials have been prepared with this
principle in mind
 deBono said that we place far too much importance on
complexity & that simplicity is a value worth striving for
 “dealing with complexity is an unnecessary & inefficient
waste of time, attention & mental energy”
 “there is never any justification for things being complex
when they could be simple”
The Ten Rules of Simplicity
You need to
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Put a very high value on simplicity
Be determined to seek simplicity
Understand the matter very well
Design alternatives & possibilities
Challenge & discard existing elements
Be prepared to start over again
Use concepts
Break things down into smaller units
Be prepared to trade off other values for simplicity
Know for whose sake the simplicity is being designed
CRITICAL THINKING
The ability to be in control of one’s thinking
Examine how one is reasoning
Thinking about thinking
The ability to recognise strengths & weaknesses in
one’s thinking & improve it
 Understanding the assumptions at the foundation of a
path of reasoning
 Realising the limitations of one’s frame of reference
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IT’S ON THE CARDS
(pairs)
 List some work problems you would like to solve creatively
 For each, record on a card :
- a label / name
- up to six defining characteristics
- your name at the bottom
PROBLEM LABEL :
CHARACTERISTICS :
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. YOUR NAME :
HOW TO PROVOKE
(after Edward deBono)
 Creativity can be understood by regarding the human brain as a self
organising information information system
 Such a system makes & uses patterns in a logical way which explains
creativity
 These patterns become preferred, & our usual way of recognising
things
 We think of any new situation through our existing patterns
 The brain can only see what it is prepared to see
 We tend to see only the idea we already have
 This is powerful & efficient method
 Think of a river (information) falling onto a surface (the brain)
 The pattern is the water course
 Lateral thinking is escaping the main track of thinking,
moving across this instead of along it, as in normal
thinking (vertical thinking)
 Provocation (Po) is a deliberate & systematic attempt
to think differently, & produces a movement away to a
new position
eg cars should have square wheels
 The tools & techniques for lateral thinking are the
means of provocation
 One of these tools is the Six Thinking Hats method
THE SIX THINKING HATS
METHOD
 Developed by Edward de Bono in 1986
 A powerful,simple technique for Lateral
Thinking
 IBM reduced meeting time by 40% but
kept effectiveness
 Used in peace processes in South
Africa & Northern Ireland
 A systematic way of thinking creatively :
everyone thinks in the same way at the
same time
 Works from traditional connections between
‘thinking’ & ‘hats’
 “Put your thinking hat on’’
 “Wearing my management hat,I’d strongly
advise we should do this”(role switch)
 Each hat represents a different type of
thinking
 Putting on a hat means thinking exclusively
in that mode
 Each hat is a tool selected for a particular
purpose
 Any hat,any individual
THE WHITE HAT
 Think of a piece of paper carrying
information
 “What information do we have?
 What information is missing?
 What information would we like?
 How are we going to get it?”
 In a meeting,set aside proposals &
concentrate on the information to hand
THE RED HAT
 Think of a warm,red fire
 This hat concerns emotions , hunches,
intuition , feelings
 Wearing it allows you to put forward your
feelings without apology/justification
 “I just don’t like the way this is being
done
 My gut feeling is that this will never work”
 Intuition can be wrong,but it can be
valuable to bring emotions out into open
THE BLACK HAT
 Think of a sombre judge in black robes
punishing wrong-doers
 It cautions us from making mistakes
 It points out that something will not work
 “Our policies do not allow us to do that
 We cannot achieve that target”
 Overuse of the black hat can kill creativity
THE YELLOW HAT
 Think of sunshine,a logical positive view
 It looks for what is possible,how something can
be achieved
 The benefits are reasonably based
 “This might work if we could transfer some staff
to the site
 Let’s look at the benefits of your suggestion”
 There should be some self conscious effort to
search out benefits/value
THE GREEN HAT
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Think of abundant growth,vegetation
Think of new ideas & alternatives
Think of possibilities & hypotheses
“We need some new ideas here
Lets find some alternatives
Lets think creatively”
Unlike Yellow Hat,ideas need not be
logical
 Using the Green Hat,you can ask directly
for some creative effort
THE BLUE HAT
 Think of ‘cool’,the sky & overview
 It controls the thinking process by
reviewing it
 It sets the agenda for thinking
 “Should we start off with some White Hat
thinking?
 Putting on my Red Hat,I feel really angry
with the way this meeting is going
 Lets summarise that argument “
 Usually,but not exclusively,worn by the
chairperson
 Any group member can productively put
on the Blue Hat to make the thinking
process more effective
 The Blue Hat is for thinking about
thinking
SEQUENCING
 “Begin & end with Blue. In between, use any
reasonable sequence”(de Bono)
 Move the process of discussion in a desired order
 eg
-Blue, White, Red, Yellow, Green, Black, Blue
 Each part/hat should be time limited – try two
minutes
THE SIX THINKING HATS
 TOPIC/PROBLEM :
 SEQUENCE OF HATS :
 DURATION OF EACH HAT :
METAPHORICALLY SPEAKING
 Metaphors imply a way of thinking & a way of seeing
 We try to understand one element of experience in terms of
another
 We say that A is (or is like) B
 If we say “the man is a lion”, we use the image of a lion to
draw attention to the lion-like aspects of the man
 Metaphors produce a one-sided insight, eg emphasising
bravery, strength or ferocity
 The same man may also be a chauvinist pig, a saint, a
bore, of a recluse
METAPHORS
ACTIVITY ONE
In pairs:
 Each draw a picture to represent the culture
of the team or service you work in
 Use a images, symbols, colour & a few
words
Let your partner interpret your picture
METAPHORS
ACTIVITY TWO
Complete the following sentence, using the
card you have selected :
“ If Bradford Council were a detail from card,
it would be a ……..
because it’s ……..
MIND MAPPING
 Created by Tony Buzan
 Left brain thinking:
Right brain thinking:
analysis
synthesis
dissociation
association
step by step logic
fuzzy logic
straight lines
circles
maths
music
words
images
rationality
intuition
reason
dream
 Used for first thoughts, generating ideas, creative thinking,
organising ideas, taking notes
SYNECTICS
 Greek word “synectikos” meaning “bringing forth together or
“bringing things into unified connection”
 All things, regardless of dissimilarity, can somehow be linked
together
 It’s discovering the links that unite seemingly disconnected
elements
 This increase creative output, emphasises the emotional & the
irrational so that they can be used with precision
 Synectics is:
based on the fusion of opposites
based on analogical thinking
synergistic – the result is greater than the sum of it’s parts
PUZZLES & PROBLEMS
 A PUZZLE :
A single answer knowable on advance, you simply have to
find it – eg a crossword
 A PROBLEM
Many alternative answers, which cannot be known in
advance, as the problem is unique, & the solutions have to
be created by the problem holder
CLASSICAL PROBLEM SOLVING
 DEFINE THE PROBLEM
observation, perception, diagnosis
 EXPLORE THE PROBLEM
gather information, reflection, creativity, analysis
 GENERATE ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS
imagination, creativity, open-mindedness
 CHOOSE A SOLUTION
reasoning, analysis, decision making
 IMPLEMENT THE SOLUTION
planning, delegation, time management, review &
evaluate
REFRAMING
 To change the meaning about something
 This causes a change in perception & opens up new possibilities
 Frames are used in NLP to provide a context, focus or guidance for
thoughts & actions
 NLP uses various frames:
OUTCOME - what you want to achieve, & the resources required to
achieve it
ECOLOGY – what impact on other systems, body, family, work,
environment, community
EVIDENCE – how will you know when you have achieved your
outcome, what will you see, hear, feel & experience?
AS IF – acting as if the outcome has been achieved
BACKTRACK - to check what has been agreed, understood
REFRAMING ACTIVITY
In pairs:
 Help your partner to reframe their problem
 Use the OUTCOME, ECOLOGY,
EVIDENCE, AS IF frames
 Use the BACKTRACK frame to check your
understanding about the results of your
discussion
 Review the advantages & drawbacks of the
process