Use Six Thinking
Hats to Break the Idea Killer Habit
By Lynda Curtin, The Opportunity
Thinker
The Idea Killer Habit
These are the critical/negative phrases that often
slip out of your mouth when you first hear an idea. You may not have
even had time to think about the idea and you kill it, just like that.
Eventually this habit kills the creative process. People simply stop
offering their ideas.
Red Hat Thinking Idea Killer Phrases
These are the phrases that offer no logical
rational. They are immediate responses - gut instinct, feelings,
intuition. Sometimes these phrases are said with such authority they
are taken to be true, yet the idea has not even been discussed. Let's
review some of these red hat idea killer phrases:
- "It'll never work."
- "It costs too much."
- "That's stupid."
- "We'll never get funding for it."
- "It's too progressive for us."
- "You've got to be kidding."
- "It's too political."
- "Get real."
- "It's too much work."
- "It's way too complex."
- "They'll never go for it."
- "We tried it before and it didn't
work."
- "I just don't like it."
- "We would never do something like
that."
- "I don't think it will sell."
- "The staff will never go for it."
- "We don't have the time to do it."
- "Management will never approve it."
- "We don't have time for this."
- "We've never done it that way
before."
- "Forget it."
- "Don't be ridiculous."
- "Are you crazy?"
- "Next."
- "No way."
What red hat idea killer phrases can you add to
this list?
New Habit of Mind to Break
the Idea Killer Habit
When you hear an idea, yellow hat it first. Search
for value and benefits - yellow hat thinking. Develop motivation
around the idea, reasons why you want to move forward with further
exploration. If you can't find any yellow hat value in the idea,
eliminate the idea understanding why. This is especially valuable when
you are eliminating favored ideas of group members.
A Creative Sequence
Blue Hat: Focus.
In what ways could we.. ?
White Hat: Facts. What relevant
information do we know or need to know?
Green Hat: Creativity.
What ideas do we have?
Red Hat: Gut instinct.
Which ideas should we evaluate first?
Evaluate One Idea at a Time
Green Hat Idea: Add detail
to better understand the idea and how it works
Yellow Hat: Logical positives.
What benefits does the idea present to our customers, company,
etc.?
Black Hat: Logical
negatives. What difficulties and problems would we need to be overcome
for this idea to be successful?
Green Hat: Ideas. How could we
overcome each of these difficulties?
Red Hat: Intuition. Now that we have
evaluated this idea how powerful/practical is the idea?
Blue Hat: Process control.
What do we need
to do next with this idea?
The Six Thinking
Hats creative process offers a practical approach to improving and
increasing productive creative output. The key is breaking the idea
killer habit and developing a new habit of mind - first, search for
value and benefits when you hear a new idea, and then search for the
logical negatives/potential problems/difficulties with the idea. If
you do nothing else but develop this new habit of mind, you will be
amazed at the number of ideas you develop that you would have
otherwise dismissed in an instant.
©2002 The Opportunity Thinker.
Six Thinking Hats Master
Trainer, Lynda Curtin, is certified by Dr. Edward de Bono in all of his thinking
methodologies. She an expert ideation facilitator, professional
speaker, trainer and author in the fields of business creativity, marketing and
speaking. To book Lynda for your event call 818-507-6055 or email info@LyndaCurtin.com
For more information on her programs go to www.LyndaCurtin.com
This article is offered for publishing on a nonexclusive basis. You just need
to include the contact information as indicated in the paragraph above.
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