I am currently reading a book titled "Six Thinking Hats" by Edward De Bono and applying it to church, specifically to church meetings. In Six Thinking Hats, De Bono explains that while we are meeting, we try to do too much all at once: experience emotion, ingest information, create hope, inspire creativity and make decisions. Wouldn't it be great to separate all that out so that we have clarity and clearer communication?
De Bono asserts the following positives for this process:
* everyone in the group (regardless of intelligence, experience and knowledge) can provide input
* saves time (one company set aside 4 hours for a discussion on an important decision. Using this method cut their meeting down to 45 minutes with more buy-in from everyone)
* removes ego (Six Hats helps you to analyze and dissect ideas instead of people)
* provides clarity
What are the hats?
WHITE = facts and figures. Information here is neutral and objective.
RED = emotion. How one feels about a decision, idea or fact.
BLACK = weaknesses of an idea. This hat sees caution and carefulness in every idea. De Bono asserts that this hat comes naturally to many people.
YELLOW = hope and optimism. Seeing the positive aspects of an idea or thought.
GREEN = creativity and new ideas. Looking for growth and new direction.
BLUE = organizing the thinking process. Goals and step-by-step action items.
In future posts, I'll summarize each "hat" and how to use them.
No comments:
Post a Comment