Six Thinking Hats

Everyone has felt frustrated by inefficient, wasteful meetings that are plagued by divisive arguments, lack of preparation, side conversations, and inaction.

Seminar & Certification Schedule

Imagine what might happen if you, your team, your department, or entire organization learned specific thinking tools that would instantly eliminate these issues, opening the door to thorough decisions, better communication, and easier problem resolution . . .

Six Thinking Hats, a thinking skills training course from Edward de Bono, teaches parallel thinking as an alternative to argument.

Parallel thinking guides thought processes in one direction at a time so we can effectively analyze issues, generate new ideas, and make better decisions.

Six Thinking Hats helps put our opinions aside so we can focus on a way forward, without argument. 

The Six Thinking Hats training course is fast-paced, practical, and interactive. Participants learn how to separate emotion from facts, the positive from the negative and critical thinking from creative thinking.

Six Thinking Hats participants leave with tools they can apply immediately.

Six Thinking Hats Brochure

This was the first real opportunity we had to practice and use the Six Thinking Hats training.  And it worked!

This is a good sign that we can make efforts to concentrate on a specific matter and stick to that matter.  We channeled our discussions in the same direction.  We found a lot of solutions in a very short period of time and it helped us concentrate and focus.  Created a common direction for all people involved and brought discipline to the group.

Click here for the full story as it was presented at the First International Dr. Edward de Bono Thinking Skills Conference.

Simona Adelina Popovici, Associate Director of Organizational Development and Employee Communications
CONNEX - a Trademark for MobiFon S.A.
 
 

Who Needs Six Thinking Hats?

Anyone who wants to think clearly, objectively, and creatively will benefit from Six Thinking Hats training.

HR Professionals Project Managers Meeting Facilitators Engineers New Product Developers

Team Leaders & Members Trainers & Consultants Sales & Marketing Professionals Advertising & PR Professionals Patent Attorneys

How Might You Use The Six Thinking Hats?

Six Thinking Hats is a simple, effective technique your team may use in a variety of applications.

Facilitation of meetings Preparing for discussions Continuous process improvement New products / new designs Conflict resolution

Decision making and problem solving Customer focus groups / interviews Leadership development Presentations Virtual meetings Individual thinking

Six Thinking Hats Training Course Objectives and Outcomes

Six Thinking Hats training participants will show evidence of the following:

• A marked tendency to identify themselves as thinkers
• Confidence that they have the ability to cope with and improve their environments
• Competencies enabling them to solve problems including the ability to:
  • identify a problem
  • propose alternative solutions
  • predict the consequences of each alternative
  • assess the usefulness of each set of consequences
  • select the best alternative
  • implement it
  • evaluate it
• Competencies enabling them to identify and pursue opportunities including the ability to:
  • develop a habit of perceiving events and situations as opportunities
  • identify the benefits/desired outcomes of pursuing each opportunity
  • identify the risks/dangers of pursuing each opportunity
  • design ways to minimize risks and dangers
  • select opportunities based on weighing the benefits against remaining risks
  • design plans for pursuing a selected opportunity
  • assess and reevaluate plans in progress
• Competencies enabling them to think cooperatively including the ability to:
  • understand and take on the facilitator role in a group meeting
  • identify and articulate other people's points of view
  • devise an agenda and demonstrate the necessary discipline to follow it provide for equal participation among group members

We hope you will remember the Business Process Reengineering Team from Honeywell because you certainly made an impression on us. Six Thinking Hats has become part of our team psyche and we take the work out into our organization. Using the Six Hats method we have worked through many emotion issues, and in conjuction with brainstorming techniques, have come to consensus on many issues thought to be unresolvable. We use the "Hat method" even when we're not discussing specifics. This training has made our task, which is very challenging, a little less overwhelming.

BCAS BPR Team Honeywell

 

The Six Thinking Hats

	The White Hat White Hat thinking focuses on data, facts, information known or needed.		The Black Hat Black Hat thinking focuses on difficulties, potential problems. Why something may not work.
	The Red Hat Red Hat thinking focuses on feelings, hunches, gut instinct, and intuition.		The Green Hat Green Hat thinking focuses on creativity: possibilities, alternatives, solutions, new ideas.
	The Yellow Hat Yellow Hat thinking focuses on values and benefits. Why something may work.		The Blue Hat Blue Hat thinking focuses on manage the thinking process, focus, next steps, action plans.

Learn Six Thinking Hats

Six Thinking Hats On-Site Training Seminars
Bring our Six Thinking Hats Instructor in-house to deliver a one- or two-day Six Thinking Hats seminar.
On-Site Six Thinking Hats Training Seminar Details

Six Thinking Hats Open Seminars
Attend a one-day Six Thinking Hats seminar with employees from other organizations.
Six Thinking Hats Training Seminar Dates & Locations

Meeting Facilitation Using the Six Thinking Hats Framework
de Bono Consulting will facilitate your meeting(s) using the Six Thinking Hats framework and other de Bono Thinking Systems.
Six Thinking Hats Meeting Facilitation Information

Six Thinking Hats Train-the-Trainer Certification
Completing the Official Six Thinking Hats Certification is required if you wish to teach Six Thinking Hats to others.

• 4-day On-Site Six Thinking Hats Certification
• 4-day Public Six Thinking Hats Certification

Six Thinking Hats Conference / Convention Presentations
Have de Bono Consulting present a Six Thinking Hats keynote, general session, or breakout session at your next conference or convention.
Six Thinking Hats Presentation Information

Six Thinking Hats Results

• MDS SCIEX shaved 2–3 years off the product development lead-time, cut material costs by $35,000 per unit, eliminated reliability problems, and fostered a collaborative corporate culture.
• Potawatomi Bingo Casino improved morale, cut meeting time by 88%, and saved $50,000 annually.
• A division of Siemens reduced product development time by 50%.
• ABB was able to reduce a series of multinational project meetings from 30 days to 2 days.
• Read more in Innovation: Case by Case by de Bono Consulting CEO and Founder, Barbara Stennes

 

In pockets of R&D, we are using the Six Thinking Hats methodology to structure group processes towards achieving meeting goals in less time. By using the Six Thinking Hats, we made it! It really does work. And, we'll keep on using it and building additional expertise. Thank you for the new tools!

Kenneth Newman, R&D Continuous Improvement Philip Morris

Six Thinking Hats Testimonials

"I was called in to facilitate a major innovation session for one of our business units. We had over 50 participants from all facets of our business (research to commercialization).  I used the Six Thinking Hats process to run this meeting, which was something that most of the participants had not been exposed to.  The result was that we got through as much information and brainstorming in 5 hours that we would have normally accomplished in a year of meetings with tremendous alignment and input from everyone.

I've gotten more kudos over that meeting than anything else I've done at Elanco. And as such, our enrollment for our next open enrollment session of Six Thinking Hats has rapidly expanded!  Thanks for enabling mine (and Elanco's) success."

- Global Training & Development Associate, Elanco Animal Health

"A great process to bring about creative thinking in a cooperative environment."

- Emily Fuerst, Kemin

"Six Thinking Hats systematically provides an opportunity for creativity in an environment that's free of the criticism and confrontation we used to see.  This means that everyone can collaborate and build on even the craziest of ideas to come up with creative solutions.  It's true, we had great results using Six Hats with QSTAR (an increase in efficiency of the development process by 40%), but the long-term impact is even greater.  We can repeat our success over and over because of these changed behaviors."

- Suzanne Wolfe, Human Resource Director, MDS SCIEX

Six Thinking Hats Training Participants

"I thought the [Six Thinking Hats] methods were great and very useful. This will be great to have in the toolbox."

"Six Thinking Hats is a powerful tool for managing discussions while minimizing the distraction from egos."

"Great concepts! Barbara was able to demonstrate the utilization of different concepts in scenarios that are very applicable for everyday use."

"The most rewarding training experience I have had in years!!"

"The course was a practical and practice-based method to integrate the Six Hat thinking into the corporate toolbox."

"I now feel that I can effectively use the Six Thinking Hats to be a change agent in my organization” - Amanda Lapierre

"Great Class! Powerful. It can be used in virtually every aspect of my life and job!"

"Very stimulating. I am eager to use the tools."

"Excellent facilitation and instruction."

"A very good class that needs to be available at all levels of the organization."

"Barbara was outstanding - one of the best trainers I have experienced!"

"It was amazing to see the many ideas that were developed as a result of the positive interaction among group members."  

Just a quick note to let you know that I have enjoyed using the six hats model for lateral thinking in a couple group meetings and for my own personal thought. I was so moved by the concept that I also bought de Bono's book de Bono's Thinking Course to further study the concept.

David Arens, Vice President Bankers Trust

Six Thinking Hats Book by Edward de Bono

Using case studies and real-life examples of his "Six Thinking Hats", Edward de Bono shows how each of us can become a better thinker through deliberate role-playing. This book is an ideal way to prepare before attending our "Six Thinking Hats" seminar. Find out how the "Six Thinking Hats" can change you and your company. $21.99

Related Article by Barbara Stennes

How to Manage Group Dynamics
Conventional wisdom maintains that a team leader is the “boss,” but this belief is mistaken and shortsighted. Rather, the team leader’s role is to guide the process that the rest of the team follows, removing obstacles and enabling the team to flourish.

"Ideas are the currency of success.  They separate you from your competition."

Dr. Edward de Bono