Edward de Bono is best known for his work on lateral thinking. In fact he has become a very influential writer in shaping generations of managers. He has the distinction of being famous for more than one approach - that is, as well as being extremely well known for his work on lateral thinking, his six thinking hats framework has also been very well received and proved to be of great benefit to a wide range of organisations.
The approach is based on making sure that decision making is based on six types of thinking:
i) that concerned with objective facts and figures;
ii) the emotional dimension;
iii) a consideration of weaknesses and limitations;
iv) positive thinking and optimism;
v) creativity and innovation; and
vi) control and coordination - linking the six hats together.
The success of this approach is indicated by the comments made by de Bono in the second edition of the book:
A major corporation (ABB) used to spend thirty days on their multinational project team discussions. Using the parallel thinking of the Six Hats method, the discussions now take as little as two days. A researcher from a top IBM laboratory told me that the Six Hats method had reduced meeting times to one quarter of what they had been... In a simple experiment with three hundred senior civil servants, the introduction of the Six Hats method increased thinking productivity by 493 per cent. (1999, p. ix)
No doubt a significant part of its appeal is the fact that structured frameworks such as this can be very useful in raising confidence, giving a sense of purpose and direction and providing a useful tool that can be helpful in working through the complexities of management practice. Such tools can be a very helpful bridge between theory and practice.
However, despite the success and usefulness of de Bono's six thinking hats framework, I would argue that there is a key dimension missing, hence the need for a seventh thinking hat. For me, any approach that fails to put equality and diversity at the heart of its thinking is a flawed approach. If respect, fairness and valuing difference are not central themes, then there is a significant danger that the approach will fail to do justice to the complexities of human resource management.
I would therefore want to propose equality and diversity as a seventh thinking hat. In considering any project or set of issues there should be explicit and detailed consideration of the equality and diversity dimensions. As De Bono's six hats are coded by colour I would propose that this hat be referred to as the gold thinking hat. This is because I see it as a gold standard. If people genuinely are an organisation's most important resource, then it is important surely to make sure that people are treated with fairness - and this makes a spirit of valuing diversity crucial. Some people may argue that equality and diversity can easily be incorporated into the existing six hat framework. However, I would not see this as being sufficient, as it is essential to make sure that it is covered and not seen as an optional extra.
We have learned over the years through the difficult and demanding history of tackling discrimination that problems can arise at a number of levels - often unwittingly - therefore there is a great danger that any approach that does not put equality and diversity explicitly on the agenda may allow problems of discrimination to creep in. It is therefore important to think of seven thinking hats, with the addition of the gold hat of equality and diversity, rather than simply try to see equality and diversity as subdivisions of the other six hats.
It is several decades now since Edward de Bono's work first came to our attention. During that time, he has established himself as a major writer who has emphasised the importance of thinking. I would want to endorse not only his six thinking hats approach in particular (as amended to incorporate the seventh hat) but also more generally in terms of his commitment to the value of thinking as a management tool. There are significant dangers in uncritical reliance on management fads. To my mind, this is the great strength of de Bono's work - that he emphasises the importance of thinking, but also provides tools to assist in that process. If we can now add the seventh dimension in terms of a gold thinking hat for equality and diversity, we can build on great strengths of de Bono's work.
Reference
Reference
De Bono, E. (1999) Six Thinking Hats, 2nd edn, Harmondsworth, Penguin.
Dr Neil Thompson is an independent author, educator and adviser. For more information about Neil and his work, visit http://www.neilthompson.info This article first appeared in the THE humansolutions BULLETIN. For details of this and other free resources, visit http://tinyurl.com/freeresourcesfromneil
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