Jumpstart Your Creativity (13 page)

The six thinking hats model was developed by Edward de Bono. Edward de Bono is a Maltese physician, author, and consultant who is the originator of the term,
lateral
thinking. His book
Six Thinking Hats
is a perennial favorite and best-selling classic popular in schools and universities to teach people how to think through a problem, situation, or challenge in a different way, utilizing six different types of thinking for individuals, groups, or team processes.

The main idea behind six thinking hats is the human brain thinks in a number of distinct ways and each of these ways can be challenged. De Bono thought there should be a structured way to develop tactics or processes for thinking about a problem. He wanted to remove the randomness of the thinking process. The concept behind the six thinking hats is to think about a problem from the perspective (filter) of a particular hat color. Thinking in each of the six hats, the brain will identify and bring to mind certain aspects of issues being considered. In essence, it forces people to think about a problem in a different way from how they probably would otherwise. The six thinking hats are described by de Bono as follows:

This is the “information hat” or as people often describe it, the doctor hat, where you're considering what information
is available, “just the facts,” with no emotions involved whatsoever—this is the purely objective viewpoint.

This is the one that operates from intuition or instinct involving emotions and feelings but not particularly with any specific justification.

This could be considered the hat of the pessimist, focused on all the reasons why a solution will not work and should not work, and the logic applied to why the organization should be both cautious and conservative toward the solution.

This is described as the “hat of harmony,” and considers the logic identified with the benefits of the solution and the positive upsides to this potential solution.

This is thought of as the “magic hat” and how we can make it work using statements of provocation and investigation, and seeing where the thinking goes in evaluating all of the possibilities.

This is the hat that always finishes the discussion. This is the “hat of the facilitator” who then clarifies the who, what, where, and when. As for the solutions, the blue hat evaluates the outcomes of the thinking and what should be done next.

We have seen de Bono's hats used in many different ways. As an example, when a group forms to consider a problem, opportunity, or challenge, you would ask each person in the group to adopt the perspective of a certain hat color. Some people bring the specific colored hats to a meeting for everyone to wear. “Owning” a certain hat forces the wearer to think about a problem in a different way. If a person is normally an optimist who thinks about all the reasons why something should work, then having them wear the black hat to identify all the reasons why something won't work can lead to new ways of thinking and possibly identify issues otherwise missed by the group. We often hear people say thinking of a problem or situation from this perspective is extremely helpful.

Here is a variation of the six thinking hats model, which can be very effective. When thinking through an issue and evaluating with a group, you can ask different people to assume hats for various departments. We call these functional hats. Even though clearly they are not part of the department, we get together in our group and for example say, “Let's look at this issue from the perspective of sales, marketing, accounting, legal, human resources, manufacturing, and shipping.” Individuals in the group would then each assume the perspective of the sales hat, the marketing hat, etc. The six thinking hats model forces you to think from a different viewpoint.

Alex Osborn was one of the partners and founders of BBDO advertising. In the 1950s he became fascinated with
the process of creativity and wanted to know if the creative process could be labeled and organized into a step-by-step model. He consulted with Dr. Parnes at the University of Buffalo and together they created the Osborn-Parnes Model of Creative Problem Solving (CPS). This model is complex and designed to look at a problem in a different way, and most people in our creativity programs find the process to be extremely valuable. The only objection some people have with the Osborn-Parnes (OP) model is that it is time consuming. Once you've used the process a few times, it does not take nearly as long. The argument in support of OP is that taking the time to identify the real problem before you work on it saves you time on the back end. Far too many times people try to solve problems before they know with any certainty what the real problem is. This model is public domain and can be used by anyone. The model is designed to generate many different ideas through brainstorming and to deliberately defer judgment in order to critically evaluate possibilities and ideas.

Before giving you the steps of the OP model, it's important to understand how they define certain terms.
Creative
is an idea that has an element of newness or uniqueness, or at least the one who creates a solution and also has value and relevancy.
Problem
is any situation that presents a challenge, opportunity, or a concern.

1.
Mess Finding
—An effort to identify a situation that presents a challenge

2.
Data Finding
—An effort to identify all known facts related to the situation to seek out and identify information not known but essential to the situation

3.
Problem Finding
—An effort to identify all the possible problem statements and isolate the most important underlying problem

4.
Idea Finding
—An effort to identify as many solutions to the problem statement as possible

5.
Solution Finding
—Using a list of selected criteria to choose the best solutions for action

6.
Acceptance Finding
—Making every effort to gain acceptance for the solution to determine a plan of action and implement the solution

One of the most important aspects of the OP model is to be patient and not skip steps in the process. Additionally, the OP model uses both divergent thinking (meaning lots of possible solutions) as well as convergent thinking (meaning narrowing down the possibilities). Now let's take a look at each step in detail.

The first step in the OP model is to discover what the problem may be. Write a list of several statements relating to the topic that begin with “I wish,” “I want,” and “It would be great if….” Next, evaluate your list and decide which items you, a) are most bothered by, b) have the most influence over,
c) are willing to work on. Once this list is worked through, then make a list of “I wishes.”

After you've narrowed down your thoughts in Step One and have your list of “I wishes…,” select one “I wish…” statement that you want to work on through Step Two. Notice, we still have not identified the problem specifically. Now ask yourself multiple questions about your “I wish…” statement:

• What resources do I have?

• Who can help me?

• How did the situation occur?

• What will happen if I don't do anything?

• Why is this important to me?

• Why can't I just do nothing?

• What are the benefits of a solution?

• What are the drawbacks of a solution?

• What other information do I need?

• Has this problem/situation occurred before?

• When does it bother me most?

• When does it bother me least?

Some of the answers may make sense and be relevant and some may not, but we still have not identified the problem.

There are three techniques used in Step Three to find out more about the problem. The techniques are 1) “Five Whys” 2) In what way might I…? 3) Keywords. In the “Five Whys,” keep asking “why” to determine your true motivation for your initial wish.

Someone says:

“I want a new house.” Why?

“Because I need a larger house.” Why?

“Because I like to have big dinner parties and invite all my friends.” Why?

“Because right now my house is kind of embarrassing because it's too small.” Why?

“Because status and image are very important to me.” Why?

So the “Five Whys” help you get to the root cause of the issue, or awfully close.

“In what way might I…” is used to keep you from boxing yourself into a corner. You make a statement, and then change one word in the statement to see if you can change the question because the answers also change. For example:

• In what way might I
generate
more revenue?

• In what way might I
create
more revenue?

• In what way might I
build
long-term revenue?

• In what way might I
create other sources
of revenue?

• In what way might I
find
more revenue?

• In what way might I
borrow
more revenue?

• In what way might I
need less
revenue?

In this part of the process, simply use different creative brainstorming techniques to come up with potential solutions. Please see
Chapters 1
and
7
for additional ways to generate solutions. Be sure to download our RD
²
Ideation tool from our Creativity Toolbox.

This is the step in which you will judge the quality of the ideas generated and select the best ideas based on specific criteria and standards. Please see
Chapter 8
for an explanation of criteria charts and weighted criteria charts.

This is the final phase of the process where we have moved past defining the problem and finding solutions and on to the rest of the process. First, envision the project as complete; second, evaluate a list of events needed to complete the project, plan events, and figure out how to sell the idea to others. Think of this as the marketing phase of the OP model.

The OP model can be extremely helpful in evaluating complex problems, issues, and challenges; people in our training programs have found the process to be extremely valuable.

These are some models you may want to consider using in your specific situations to solve problems, generate new ideas, or address challenges in a unique fashion. As Shawn's father
often says, “It's not the job, but having the right tools.” These models are powerful tools.

One caution: We are not suggesting you use these techniques without reading about them further, so we strongly recommend that you read more about the RD
²
model by visiting our site at:
www.ultimatelaunchpad.com
. We believe exposure to these models will help you begin to understand there are hundreds of models out there relating to creativity and innovation that can be used to stimulate and motivate you to higher levels of creativity and better ways of generating ideas.

WORK IT

What creative thinking tools have you used in the past?

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