How to make better decisions
Considering my role in various businesses and institutions, I often have to make a lot of decisions everyday. And to make matters more intense, the decisions I make can have a significant impact on someone’s life. So I’d love to share with you the method I use to make decision making easy for me. The method is called Six Thinking Hats.
Making the best decisions often requires looking at them through different lenses so that you don't overlook an important aspect. Six Thinking Hats, created by Edward de Bono, is a tool for doing exactly that. You can use it for your own thinking or in a group where everyone can represent a different perspective.
How to use it?
Each thinking hat represents one lens/perspective/style of thinking. Try "wearing" different hats and look at the decision through each.
If you're in a group, you can assign the hats to everyone to get a balanced discussion. Or you can go through different perspectives as a whole group.
Here's what each hat is about:
🟡 Yellow hat is about positivity. Try seeing the benefits of this decision and what opportunities it opens.
🟢 Green hat represents creativity. Let your mind run free and generate ideas without censoring them. Try coming up with creative options and solutions.
🔴 Red hat is about emotions. How do you feel about this? Use your intuition and gut feelings. Try to see how others might react emotionally. It's a great way to bring emotions into an otherwise rational process.
⚪️ White hat makes you focus on the data. Analyze the available data and trends. This represents a very rational approach.
⚫️ Black hat represents looking at the downside. What are the worst-case scenarios? Take a defensive approach, imagine any potentially negative outcomes, see what might not work.
🔵 Blue hat is for controlling the process. Especially in meetings, it's good to be able to step in when there's no progress and enable the group to move forward (e.g. by shifting the thinking or discussion to a different hat/perspective).
Key takeaway
Six Thinking Hats is a tool that allows you to consider a decision or problem from different angles. It enables you to deliberately see aspects you might otherwise overlook, making your decision better and more resilient in the end.
If you want to find out more about the Six Thinking Hats, Edward de Bono's book with the same title is the best place.
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