Different Thinking Hats in Achieving Team Performance

Heard of the Six Thinking Hats ™ ? Developed by Edward de Bono, the 'Six Thinking Hats' technique, encourages full-spectrum thinking and separates ego from performance. Each metaphorical hat is a different colour and represents a different kind of thinking - data, intuition, logic, judgement, etc. Using the hats, members of the team can introduce different ways of thinking to the group as they are required.

This requires creativity and when working with a team, we find that there are so many ideas being thrown about that it’s easy to loose focus or tempers and maybe even both. Roger von Oech is an author, inventor and creator of the 'Creative Whack Pack', - this is a creativity tool comprising of a pack of cards, each featuring a different strategy for finding, developing or implementing your idea. People have used the pack in problem-solving and creativity workshops with some amazing results.

If you want to change the way your team uses its creative abilities, the first thing I would suggest is that you take them out of the office – hence team building. And this doesn’t have to mean toughing it out in the jungles. Find somewhere you are unconstrained by tables, walls or equipment. Talk to your team and see what works for them – what a great way to begin positive communication and start of creative ideas from many “hats.”