1. CREATIVE BRAINSTORMING
Six thinking hats

2. CONTENTS
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Understand importance of thinking
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Argumentative vs. Parallel thinking
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Introduction of Six Thinking Hats
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Benefits of using Six Thinking Hats
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Details of Six Thinking Hats
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Usage in Work life
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Testimonials

3. THINKING ABOUT THINKING
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Thinking defines quality of life including work performance, relationships and growth
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No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking. - Voltaire
•
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every
difficulty. – Abraham Lincoln

4. THINKING ABOUT THINKING
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The main difficulty of thinking is confusion
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Thinking is not same all the times; varies as per day, weather, mood, topic, vision of futue
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Difficulties in involving participants actively in meetings.
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Difficulties in changing long held perceptions of self and others
Can thinking be controlled or directed to get better outcomes/decisions?

5. ARGUMENTATIVE VS. PARALLEL THINKING
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Argumentative – in a discusion each party deliberatly takes an opposite view
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Parallel – each party looks in parallel from the same point of view
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Argumentative – in case of disagreement one party tries to prove other party
wrong
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Parallel – both views of disagreement are put down in parallel. Decision is
made, if required, later on
•
Argumentative – Generally based on “What is”
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Parallel – based on “What Can be„

6. SIX THINKING HATS
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Tool by Edward De Bono to implement parallel thinking in group
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Six colored hats correspond to six directions of thinking – white, red, black, yellow, green, blue
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Set of rules to be followed by everyone
Edward De Bono gave the concept of lateral thinking and his tools are widely used in Government
and educational & commercial enterprises.

7. SIX THINKING HATS

8. SIX THINKING HATS - BENEFITS
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Maximum utilisation of intelligence, experience and knowledge of all the participants
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Huge time savings as members are thinking in parallel rather than argumenting
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Uses ego constructively in discussions
• In Argumentative thinking, ego is biggest obstacle to quick and
effective thinking.
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One thing (information, emotions, caution, creativity, optimism, control) at a time
• Confusion is the biggest enemy of good thinking

9. SIX THINKING HATS - DETAILS

10. SIX THINKING HATS – BENEFITS
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Brain is more sensitised to problems/issues than positive value in situation/idea
• Will help in finding positive values by deliberate effort and removing confusion
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Many great opportunities are lost just due to wrong assumptions and negative thinking
• Will help in assessing opportunities objectively by balancing emotions and creativity
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Customer and senior management always want solution and not problems
• Will help in finding 3-4 creative solutions to problems

11. SIX THINKING HATS – HOW TO
Guidelines
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There is no one right sequence to follow
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Some sequences are appropriate for exploration, some for problem solving, for dispute
settlement , for decision making, and so forth
A Blue hat should always be used both at the beginning and at the end of the session

12. SIX THINKING HATS – 1ST BLUE HAT
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Why we are here
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What we are thinking about
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The defintion of the situation (or problem)
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Alternative defintions
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What we want to acheive
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Where we want to end up
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The background to the thinking, and
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A plan for the sequence of hats to be used

13. SIX THINKING HATS – LAST BLUE HAT
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What we have acheived,
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Outcome,
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Conclusion,
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Design,
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Solution and
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Next steps

14. SIX THINKING HATS – TESTIMONIALS
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NASA, IBM, DuPont, NTT, Shell, BP, Federal Ex and others
• Use six thinking hats successfuly for problem solving
effectively and creatively
• Optus (Australia)
• Discussion is concluded in 45 minutes only even planned time
was 4 hours
• ABB
• Cuts short project discussion time from 20 days to 2 days