Facilitating the contribution of everyone using the method of the 6 hats

In order to make it easier for everyone to participate and for new ideas to emerge in a group, the psychologist Edward de Bono, specialist in cognitive science, developed in 1987 a method called the “6 hats”. Starting from the idea that searching for solutions goes through six clearly defined phases, this method invites each group member to explore, in a meeting, six concrete ways of thinking, symbolised by six hats of different colours.

Briefly, the objectives are:

• to allow each member to perceive an idea, re-think it from a different perspective and thus make his or her point of view on that idea evolve;
• to avoid any censorship on new ideas that arise in a group;
• to create a favourable climate for exchange and creativity, favouring freedom of speech;
• to solve problems in a collaborative way;
• to offer a global vision and go deeper into the situation;

More specifically, once the problem has been posed, each of the group members adopt, one at a time, a different position by imagining they are wearing a hat, and start exploring new solutions:

• The White hat represents neutrality. The person wearing it must simply announce the facts leaving all possible interpretations aside.
• The Red hat represents emotions. The person can freely express his or her feelings and intuitions.
• The Green hat means creativity. The person wearing it looks for alternatives, while trying to consider the problem from a different perspective.
• The Yellow hat represents constructive criticism. The person "admits their craziest ideas and dreams".
• The Black hat means negative criticism, judging. The person wearing this hat announces the weaknesses and the risks entailed by this idea.
• The Blue hat represents organization, channelling the ideas and process. The person will look at the expressed idea from a distance.

This method that pushes participants to leave their usual way of thinking may prove very useful when it comes to writing collectively.