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6 Hats

Fill out the form below to get a sense of which of the 6 thinking hats more matches you:  

  1. At the beginning of your weekly staff meeting, your manager tells the group that he/she will be leading a team-building exercise. Your first thought is...
    a. I hate these things.
    b. This is better than talking about work!
    c. These things never work - most employees think they're ridiculous.
    d. I wonder how long this will take
    e. I need to go ahead and figure out what group I am in, who will be the "writer", who will be the group spokesman and where we will sit in the room.
    f. Maybe I can recommend to the manager that we do this at a different time instead of using the staff meeting.
  2. The managers in your area are considering the establishment of a new wage position. Should they move forward? Your approach would be:
    a. To study the current budget to make sure there is plenty of money available once taxes and other employment charges are considered.
    b. To give the employees in the department a chance to voice their opinion so they won't feel left out.
    c. To wait until next fiscal year. Although the budget is good right now, there has always been a calm before the storm in the past.
    d. To bring in a temp.
    e. To fill it. For the most part, departments don't lose wage money once it's been written into their budget.
    f. To call HR and have them conduct a study of other departments on campus and how they have handled their wage dollars, summarize the findings in a brief report and give this to the managers.
  3. The kids have been quiet for a couple of hours now, and you are beginning to wonder what they have up their sleeve. Your 15-year-old comes in the room, followed by the bright-eyed 12-year-old, and a sheepish 8-year-old. "Hey Mom, we have been talking about our family vacation this year. We want to go on a Disney cruise." You say...
    a. How much is it going to cost?
    b. The last time we went on a cruise, your Father got seasick.
    c. Oh, I am so excited. I have always wanted to go on a Disney Cruise.
    d. I wonder if we could get a package that would include going to Sea World as well.
    e. Well, first we should check our budget, then call the travel agent, then book the cruise, find someone to feed the dog, etc.
    f. Great! There are so many things we could do on those Disney Cruises.
  4. You have a project due at noon and the copier just broke (it is 11:30). You need 20 copies made for the people that will attend the presentation. How would you most likely react to this situation?
    a. You would send an email to your coworkers asking each to call 2 companies in the area that have copying services.
    b. You would email the 20 attendees and ask for permission to reschedule.
    c. You would email the presentation to the attendees with an email that says, "You may bring the attached slides with you to the session if you'd like."
    d. You would calculate how many copies need to be made and what the total cost would be at 5 cents per copy.
    e. You would go to the presentation empty-handed. After all, they usually just throw them away.
    f. You would cry.
  5. You have just learned that your department will be reorganized.
    a. You complain to your co-workers and criticize the decision making process.
    b. You contact your supervisor and ask for more information.
    c. You knew this was coming; they never care about the effect on the employees.
    d. You see this reorganization as an opportunity for constructive and beneficial change.
    e. You wait for information about the process, inquire about the history of the decision and research options for possible next steps.
    f. You immediately begin to explore possibilities for personal growth and new ways of conducting business.
  6. The dog is pregnant! You think:
    a. How long is the gestation period for puppies? I wonder how many pups are in a litter.
    b. It would be so cool to have puppies around for a while.
    c. I had a feeling this would happen.
    d. I need to post an ad on the internet for puppies, talk to Home Depot about the cost of a fence and check with the vet about getting this dog fixed!
    e. Maybe we should start breeding dogs to make extra money.
    f. It will be hard to sell them because we'll get so attached.
  7. You are in an argument with a family member about what to have for dinner. You have potatoes, peas and chicken left over from last night. They recommend shepherd's pie which is not one of your favorites. Which would you most likely say?
    a. Do we have enough money to go out?
    b. I hate shepherd's pie!
    c. We could just heat everything up the way they are now instead of mixing them.
    d. If we have shepherd's pie, I'm going to throw up.
    e. Great! That won't take long to cook!
    f. I'll put on the potatoes, you heat up the peas and I'll mix the casserole.
  8. You are a supervisor conducting performance evaluations. How would you most likely begin this review? You would say:
    a. Here is a detailed list of your past year's performance.
    b. Let's do something different. Why don't you evaluate yourself as well and then we can compare our thoughts?
    c. Here is the plan. We need to discuss your performance improvement plan, your next evaluation date and the possible steps for me if you cannot meet the improvement plan.
    d. So, how are you feeling about this past year's performance?
    e. The good thing about performance evaluations is that you can focus on areas that need improvement and receive constructive feedback.
    f. I hate doing performance evaluations.
  9. With your family, you are on your way to the usual Friday night buffet at the Golden Corral. The traffic is horrible and you are stopped at a red light for seemingly hours. The kids are cranky and beginning to whine, "How much longer? When are we gonna be there?" What do you do?
    a. You get mad and scream at the mini-van in front of you.
    b. You tell your family, "We've already been waiting a long time. It can't be much longer. It will be over soon."
    c. You squeeze around traffic, drive over the median and take another route.
    d. You pull out your personal tape recorder and make a note to call the city on Monday and request a meeting to discuss the issue. You ask your spouse to develop a mission statement for the "Campaign to change the traffic light timings" and tell the kids to take a petition door to door.
    e. You know that each stoplight is only 5 minutes long and you have three stoplights to go. You tell your family that you will be at Golden Corral in 15 minutes.
    f. You tell your family that this is why you hate going out to eat on Friday nights because you always get into traffic.

Results:

Red

Intuition - feelings and emotions, of hunches and guesses, and of immediate visceral reactions to ideas.

Feelings only.

Blue

Process - the conductor of thinking activity, structuring information and guiding all the six hats through the thinking process.

Useful plan only.

Green

Creativity - the color of growing things, suggests original ideas, novel insights into problems, and new ways of doing things.

Free creative play only.

White

Data - absence of color, just as data consists of facts and figures uncolored by subjective interpretation.

Facts only.

Yellow

Benefits - sees the potential good in things, illuminating with enthusiasm the benefits of a potential course of action.

Good parts only.

Black

Risks - symbolizes paying attention to the "dark side" of issues, suggesting risk analysis, caution, and conservation of resources.

Bad parts only.

Sources:

Dr. Edward de Bono

Bart Stewart

Richmond Brainstormers (UK)

James Madison University: Talent Development

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