I have been inspired by various things from Edward de Bono – but especially the experience of using the ‘six thinking hats’ with groups of people thinking about a complex problem, on which there are mutually unintelligible points of view. The six hats express ‘attitudes’ or ‘points of view’ to a situation, in ways that can be adopted as a role by someone, or swopped round as roles. The effect of this is in an inter-action is to dramatise difference in a way which provide people with an experience of ‘how-to-make-use-of-difference’. The six hats are six stances in relation to a situation or an issue:
- Black hat for caution
- White hat for data & information
- Blue hat for overview
- Red hat for feelings, hunches & intuition
- Green hat for creative thinking
- Yellow hat for sunny optimism
Effective teams and partnerships draw on these various stances, but it is so striking how pronounced my tendency is to revert to one of them in any given situation. I find it so hard to wear more than one hat, with any seriousness of intent. I need you to help me to wear the different hats and gain an experience of what it feels like to make use of my own difference.
Slingshot