DE BONO’S THINKING HATS

In class, we presented our media self portraits to our peers and in turn, they had to use Edward De Bono’s Thinking Hat system to evaluate what we had presented to them. The Thinking Hat system uses six hats but we only used four:

Red Hat: The Red Hat signifies feelings, hunches and intuition. (I think I relate to this hat the most.)

Yellow Hat: The Yellow Hat symbolises brightness and optimism.

Green Hat: The Green Hat focuses on creativity: the possibilities, alternatives and new ideas

Black Hat: The Black Hat is judgement — the devil’s advocate or why something may not work. (This hat is my nemesis but I reluctantly acknowledge it’s importance in the thinking process)

At the end of the exercise we were asked to reflect on the process:

Were you kind of nervous about presenting your work?

I wasn’t very nervous showing the media that I had but there was a small amount of hesitation when explaining the how it related to me and my identity. I was definitely more nervous about critiquing everyone else and their work. It’s hard to critique someone when the work is personal to them.

What kind of feedback did you get? Was the feedback useful?

I got a mixture of critical feedback as well as praise. The critical feedback was definitely more useful as I got told what I could do better next time or what doesn’t work. The main thing I was told was that I needed to make the focal point of the photo or video the most obvious thing in the composition.

What is the most difficult about the process of using these hats and why?

The most difficult part of the process was in the way we had to get into the mindset of the hat we were wearing. When evaluating someone’s work I often had many thoughts about it that often weren’t relevant to my hat and struggled to think of thoughts relevant to my hat. The black hat was the hardest especially when you feel that there is nothing wrong with the work. I also felt rude about it sometimes.

How might you get better at this hat system over time?

Practice is always the best way of getting better at something. I have used this thinking process before in high school and the previous experience with it made me more comfortable when using it in class. If I continue to use this hat system, I will probably be able to think more critically about my and other people’s work without feeling rude.

What might be a good way to separate the moments of receiving feedback and actually evaluating it and doing something with it?

What I would do is write down the feedback that is given and then put it away for a few hours or a few days before coming back to it. I think giving yourself time away from your work and the feedback before coming back to it gives you a fresh perspective and might allow you to be more rational when evaluating your work against the feedback.

Is it worth reflecting on the feedback both close to the experience and a bit further on?

I think it’s important to do both. You will have a different mindset at the time of the experience and later on so reflecting on the feedback at different points in time may help you view it in a different way. Personally, I am very attached to my work when people give me feedback and might be reluctant to change anything. However, a few days later when I realise that some things may need to be change, I will go back to the feedback with an open mind.