What Is Your Thinking Hat?
What hat are you wearing when you think? Years ago when I was studying what makes an effective team I came across a book, The Six Thinking Hats by Edward DeBono. One of the premises was that for effective teamwork that it was important to have different perspectives. And, as a team leader it is important to have a variety of prisms in thought in order to be able to move forward on a project or task with greater confidence. First, it is important to understand that each team member has preferred ways of thinking. As a leader, you may be able to discern what is the best hat for someone to wear. 1. White Hat Thinking- With this thinking you focus on the data available. You analyze from past trends and extrapolate from historical data. 2. Red Hat Thinking- You look at problems using your intuition, not reaction and emotion. Your goal is to understand others’ response intuitively, even if they don’t know your reasoning. 3. Black Hat Thinking- You look for all the bad points in a dec