Six Thinking Hats

Believed facts arise from comments made in good faith or personal beliefs. They can be put forward under white hat thinking, but de Bono stresses that they are “second-class” facts. Only believed facts found to be useful should be considered, and they must be verified.

Checked facts can be verified. They are not used to further a point of view, as believed facts sometimes are used. Instead, they are approached with neutral objectivity.

When de Bono says the Six Hats method follows the Confucian approach, he means that people should use the right behavior with colleagues, subordinates, superiors, and others regardless of their personality or psychological makeup. He refers to this as “going straight to behavior” (8).

Along with the preset sequence, the evolving sequence is one of two methods for employing the six thinking hats method. Using the evolving sequence, a person or facilitator chooses the first hat and someone else chooses the next. De Bono cautions that only experienced users of the method should employ the evolving sequence. This is because the choice of which hat to use can lead to arguments, and the particular choice can be used to manipulate a desired outcome.

Forward effect is the end result of using an idea to see where it will lead. The idea helps the decision-makers to move forward. Ideas should be used for their movement value, rather than their judgment value.

According to de Bono, who coined the term in a 1967 book called The Use of Lateral Thinking, lateral thinking describes using unorthodox methods to solve problems by generating as many alternative answers as possible. It is the opposite of vertical thinking, where people look for only one answer to a question.

The mismatch mechanism is a function of the mind that compares something new to patterns of expectation formed by experience. It creates discomfort and ensures that people don’t make mistakes, but de Bono believes it can sometimes limit thinking about what is possible.

Movement is the act of using an idea to see where it will lead. As an example, the seemingly impossible idea of “What if everyone became a police officer” led to the idea of a neighborhood watch in which everyone helps to police the neighborhood.

Operacy is the “action element” that considers risk assessment under black hat thinking and yellow hat thinking. With black hat thinking, it asks questions such as what will happen if an action is taken, whether the group has sufficient resources to take the action, how competitors might react, or whether the action will be profitable. With yellow hat thinking, it looks for benefits.

The Six Thinking Hats method is an example of parallel thinking. It calls for looking at an issue from multiple thinking modes, or idioms. De Bono asserts that Western thought starts with an answer and then looks for support, while his mode starts with a question and then looks for an answer.

The preset sequence differs from the evolving sequence in that only the group leader can indicate a change of hat. This sequence is set up under the blue hat as a meeting begins. Each change should take a short time, which can be extended if genuine ideas are still being generated. Under the preset sequence, the facilitator can ask individuals to think on their own before discussing the thoughts they have generated. In addition, facilitators can call on specific individuals for their thoughts.

Provocations, which are provided by nature, are accidents that arise because of asymmetrical patterns and are recognized as good. People can wait for them to occur or try to produce them deliberately through lateral thinking. The use of provocations is an important part of lateral thinking.