de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats®
de Bono's internationally renowned decision-making, idea evaluation and meeting management workshop - get everyone thinking in the same direction, from the same perspective, at the same time.
Overview
So much time and energy is wasted in ineffective meetings and group interactions. Dr Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats® is a globally renowned tool that streamlines the way your team thinks and communicates, with real effect and impact. With the Six Thinking Hats®, you will learn how to:
- Halve online and face-to-face meeting times and double their effectiveness.
- Shift your thinking (and others) from negative to positive and from emotional reactions to facts within seconds.
- Identify solutions and address problems in a timely and cost-effective manner.
The Six Hats® approach reduces adversarial thinking and encourages clearer, more effective thinking and idea development.
Six Hats® helps to solve |
|
The challenge |
How it helps |
|
Do you hear people complaining about meetings, meetings and more meetings? Hours upon hours spent debating issues, with very few positive outcomes or problems solved? Often, in this environment, creativity and innovation are stifled, and people are hesitant to speak out. |
The approach eradicates situations like this, leading organisations to more effective idea generation and decision making through the use of Parallel Thinking. Read more about unproductive meetings. |
|
Our online meetings are chaotic, with everyone thinking in different directions. |
This world-renowned parallel thinking framework invites meeting participants to think in the same direction simultaneously, directing their collective intelligence toward a single outcome. |
|
My opinion is not valid/I knew that was going to fail. |
Using Six Thinking Hats® in group situations not only breaks down the way attendees think, but it also helps ensure that all attendees feel included and have their say, while isolating personal agendas. This means solutions are reached efficiently with consensus, resulting in less conflict and positive input from the quietest person in the room. |
|
We always concentrate on the negative. |
The approach gives disruptive influencers a voice, forcing them to consider different aspects of a challenge, so that they can identify a positive outcome and reduce their negative focus. |
|
We always come up with the same ideas. |
You may have fantastic ideas, but they may be undeliverable. This approach provides techniques to develop implementable ideas without stifling creative thinking. |
|
There is too much conflict. |
The approach will provide a clear structure and a defined focus to any discussion or problem-solving requirement. It empowers everyone to think in the same way, at the same time, preventing adversarial behaviours and a lack of decision-making. |
Who is it for?
Anyone who wants to improve team-working, hold more productive online and face-to-face meetings, generate new ideas and solve problems faster. It will be especially beneficial to the following groups:
- Project/strategy teams.
- Departmental managers and their teams.
- Managers and executives who require greater levels of innovation and creativity.
- Individual contributors and teams working in highly competitive or changing environments.
What's it all about?
During the workshop, you will:
- Learn to use different approaches to business problems.
- Explore all aspects of each situation and generate alternatives that go far beyond obvious solutions.
- Separate fact from opinion.
- Thoroughly examine both positive and negative options, and expose any hidden agendas that could sabotage the meeting.
- Learn how to stimulate innate creativity.
- Learn how to turn seemingly insoluble problems into real opportunities.
- Leave the workshop with skills that they have practised and can apply immediately on return to the workplace.
The workshop combines teaching and practical exercises. You will work in small groups with continual support from the trainer, who has been certified by a de Bono Master Trainer to deliver the workshop. The practical materials have been developed by Dr Edward de Bono and each delegate is supplied with a comprehensive workbook (an interactive online workbook for online workshops) to provide ongoing reinforcement of the techniques learnt.
What will you get out of it?
Dr Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats® system is a simple and powerful tool. It will change the way your team thinks by teaching creative problem-solving skills. You and your team will learn how to:
- Lead shorter, more productive online and face-to-face meetings.
- Look at decisions and problems systematically.
- Generate more and better ideas.
- Improve team results.
- Reduce conflict.
Workshop outline
You will understand and learn:
- The nature of thinking.
- Why we need to change our behaviour.
- Why argument is inadequate.
- Introducing the Six Thinking Hats®.
- Why very little new thinking is accomplished at meetings.
- Tools and techniques focusing on each hat.
Using the Six Hats®:
- Single use of the Six Hats.
- Systematic use of the Six Hats.
- Frameworks for structuring meetings and focusing thinking.
- How to turn disagreements into positive contributions.
- Techniques for opportunity thinking.
- Programming meetings for a successful outcome.
- Creating the action plan.
The Six Thinking Hats®:
 |
The White Hat |
 |
The Red Hat |
 |
The Black Hat |
 |
The Yellow Hat |
 |
The Green Hat |
 |
The Blue Hat |
Duration and delivery methods available
Indigo is proud to be an official distributor and training partner for Edward de Bono Limited. Six Thinking Hats® is a practical one-day workshop available as:
- Public workshops online (Zoom and Microsoft Teams) and face-to-face in the UK (London, Manchester and Edinburgh).
- Online learning or face-to-face training at your choice of date and location, worldwide, for groups or teams.
- One-to-one coaching.
Delivery can be split into multiple days or sessions.
Training for trainers
Accrediting your trainers is the most cost-effective way to offer Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats® within your organisation or to your clients. After attending the workshop as a delegate, you or your in-house trainers will be taught by some of Indigo's globally recognised Master Trainers, who have been specially authorised to train these programmes to the highest standard for other trainers. Once successful, you will be authorised to dovetail our award-winning programmes into your organisation's training plans, at a fraction of the normal cost.
- Find out more about the public Trainer Accreditation.
- Find out more about the steps you need to take to become an Accredited Trainer.
- Enquire about training for trainers.
Indigo Business Services is proud to be a:
Additional resources
- Article: Neurodivergents: Assemble! Superpowers for staff. How 'Six Hat' thinking boosts engagement with neurodivergent workers
- Article: Graduates, the new innovators of change?
- Article: Unproductive meetings
- Article: Stop talking over me! Making the most of online meetings
- Article: Virtual selling - the new sales disruptor
Public workshops
Our open workshops are ideal for individuals, small groups or anyone reviewing a programme before wider rollout. They’re delivered in small groups, either face-to-face or online.
You can reserve a place on this workshop at up to £485pp + VAT.
In-House workshops
We send our consultant to your offices to train your entire team through an in-company workshop. This allows us to focus on the team's training needs and enables us to deliver it at a time and date that suits them, significantly reducing the per-delegate cost. Prices are based on 12 delegates; we can train up to 20 for an additional fee.
Delegate places are available at from £330pp + VAT.
