How you make decisions can impact you significantly. If you are naturally optimistic, you may be inclined to reach decisions without considering possible risks or drawbacks. On the other hand, if you are cautious, you may miss out on opportunities because you spend too long deliberating.

Using Edward de Bono's ‘Six Thinking Hats’ approach, you can consider matters in a wider, more lateral way and from different perspectives. This approach can help you achieve a more rounded view of any situation – and of associated issues - before you decide.

White Hat

When you have your white thinking hat on, you focus on information to hand and what it tells you. You analyse trends and are objective in your approach.

Red Hat

With the red hat on, you are guided by your intuition, gut reaction and emotion. Think about how other people might react to your decision. How would they respond if they did not know your reasoning?

Black Hat

Black hat thinking looks at the potential negative outcomes of a decision. Many people get so used to thinking positively that they cannot see problems in advance. With the black hat on, you think about how and why certain plans may not work. This is important because it helps you make plans that are stronger and more resilient.

Yellow Hat

The yellow hat helps you to think more positively. When you wear it, you look at matters from an optimistic viewpoint. This helps you to see a decision's benefits and can motivate you when things look gloomy and difficult.

Green Hat

The green hat signifies creativity. It involves a freewheeling, brainstorming style of thinking. This hat will encourage you to develop creative solutions.

Blue Hat

The blue hat represents process control. It is the hat to wear when you chair meetings or lead a project.

In some situations, you may use one thinking hat. For example, if you (or a team that you are involved in) are facing difficulties because ideas are running dry, you might try green hat thinking. Or if you need to come up with some contingency plans, you could engage in just black hat thinking.

De Bono's Six Thinking Hats provides a powerful technique for approaching decision making from different points of view. It allows emotion and scepticism to be brought into what might normally be a purely rational process and it facilitates greater creativity within decision making.

Decisions made using the Six Thinking Hats technique are likely to be sounder and more resilient than would otherwise be the case. The technique can also assist you to recognise and to avoid possible pitfalls before you have committed to something.

You can access a video that provides more information on this approach at Six Thinking Hats Overview Video​.

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