Six Thinking Hats 
                                                                                                                
                                                                             Compiled by Martha A. Walker, Ph.D. 
                                                      Community Viability Specialist, Virginia Cooperative Extension 
                
               Individuals and organizations want to be creative and develop ideas that effectively address 
               pressing issues and opportunities.  Edward DeBono developed the Six Thinking Hats method to 
               guide participants in managing the confusion intense thinking creates and published his parallel 
               thinking concepts in 1985.  Six Thinking Hats creates a common sign language for thinking 
               through issues and creating viable action plans. 
                
               White Hat focuses on available data (facts          Black Hat is the basis of logical, critical 
               and figures) while remaining neutral.               thinking offering careful, cautious, and 
               Participants are encouraged to review               defensive insights.  Try to see what is 
               existing information, search for gaps in            wrong; why it might not work; what are the 
               knowledge, analyze past trends, and                 dangers, problems, and obstacles; what are 
               extrapolate key learnings from historical           the deficiencies in the thinking process.   It 
               data.                                               allows you to eliminate the negatives, alter 
                   Questions                                       plans, or prepare contingency plans to 
                       What information do we have?                counter any problems. 
                       What information do we need?                   Questions 
                       What information is mission?                       What will happen if we take this 
                       What questions do we need to ask?                  action? 
                       How are we going to get the                        What can go wrong if we proceed 
                       information we need?                               with this idea or implement this 
                       Is it fact or belief?                              suggestion? 
                                                                          What are the weaknesses that we 
               Red Hat uses intuition, gut reaction, and                  need to overcome? 
               robust emotion.  Encourages participants to                How does this “fit” with our (or 
               think about how other people will react                    other’s) experience, policy, strategy, 
               emotionally and try to understand the                      values, ethics, and resources? 
               responses of people who do not fully know                  How will people respond? 
               your reasoning.  Participants do not need to               Will it work . . be profitable . . be 
               explain or justify individual expressions of               acceptable? 
               feelings.                                            
                   Questions                                       Black Hat thinking is not an argument, but 
                       How do you react to this?                   helps to make plans “tougher” and more 
                       What is your intuition/opinion about        resilient.  It can help to spot fatal flaws and 
                       this?                                       risks before you embark on a course of 
                       Gut feelings . . .Hunches or insights .     action.  There is a danger of overusing 
                       . .Likes/dislikes?                          black hat thinking by remaining in the critical 
                       What emotions [fear, anger, hatred,         mode and delaying green and yellow hat 
                       suspicion, jealousy, or love (53)] are      thinking. 
                       involved here?                               
                
                Yellow Hat is a deliberate search for the                   This idea won’t work in its present 
                positive (optimistic viewpoint) through                     form, but can we shape it or adapt it 
                exploration and speculation defining the                    so that it might be usable? 
                benefits of the decision and the value in it.               We’ve always done it this way; let’s 
                Yellow Hat thinking is constructive blending                “green hat” it . . .does it have to be 
                “curiosity, pleasure, greed, and the desire to              done this way? 
                make things happen” (91) enhancing the                
                proposal by generating alternative ideas             Blue Hat is process control “thinking about 
                “based on experience, available information, 
                logical deduction, hints, trends, guesses,           thinking”.  This is the hat worn by people 
                and hopes” (98).                                     chairing or facilitating the session.  Blue Hat 
                   Questions                                         may be used at the beginning of the session 
                                                                     to set the agenda or the sequence for using 
                       What ideas, suggestions, or 
                                                                     the “hats” and at the end of the session 
                       proposals are there for how to                when seeking a summary and next steps.  
                       approach this problem? . . .to                Blue Hat focuses on questioning (fishing 
                       achieve this goal?                            and shooting – p.153) and provides the 
                       What is the merit of the approach?            structure for use of other hats and other 
                       What positives can you see in this            thinking/problem-solving tools 
                       idea?                                          
                       What could be done to make this                   Questions:  Define the Issue and 
                       work better? Faster? More                         Process 
                       economically?                                        What is the problem? 
                       Under what conditions could this                     Is this the real problem? 
                       work?                                                What is the underlying problem? 
                       What would it take to make this                      Why do we need to solve this 
                       proposal acceptable?                                 problem? 
                       What is your vision for how this                     Where should we go first? 
                       could work?                                          Where do we start? 
                                                                            What should we be thinking about? 
                Green Hat stands for energy and creativity.           
                This is where you generate new, innovative               Questions:  Assessment of the 
                ideas and develop creative solutions to a                Process 
                problem.  It is freewheeling way of thinking                Are we getting anywhere? 
                in which there is little criticism of ideas, and            What factors should we consider? 
                “movement” is made using provocation to                     What sort of outcome would we 
                move “forward with an idea or from an idea”                 regard as successful? 
                (125) seeking alternative solutions.  Green                 What have we achieved so far? 
                Hat thinking must involve shaping the idea            
                for the user or “buyer”.                                 Questions:  Management/Facilitation 
                   Questions                                                Could you put on the “X” hat? 
                       Let’s think “outside the box.”                       You’re not using the “X” hat. 
                       What are some fresh ideas or                   
                       approaches?                                   References:   
                       This is the time for any wild or crazy                  de Bono, E. (1999).  Six Thinking Hats.  Little, 
                       or “far out” idea.                                                  Brown and Company.  Boston. 
                       What are all of our alternatives                                                   MindTools 
                       here?                                                 http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED
                       Aren’t there some other alternatives                                                 _07.htm 
                       . . . perhaps too outside the box?