meetings decisionmaking
**See you next week
**Issue #253: scrobbling, sign language, and self-perception
By Harris Sockel
“The problem with normal meetings,” writes Bobby Powers in a review of one of his favorite books — Six Thinking Hats by physician and prolific author Edward de Bono — is that “rather than collectively viewing a problem from various perspectives, each person… chooses a side and digs in their heels.”
This isn’t always true, but it often is. People are usually polite about it, but they come into a meeting with an idea or theory, and (sometimes) subtly campaign for it. As Powers quotes Bono in his review: “It is so often the case in an argument that both sides are right but are looking at different aspects of the situation.” As a result, we wait our turn to speak and then talk past each other.
As we’ve explored previously in this newsletter, meetings are some of the most expensive (but most valuable!) parts of being at work. They’re practical and emotional at the same time — often, the most memorable meetings are the ones where people express some of their most vehement feelings, hopes, and fears. Basically, meetings are what makes work (and the third of your life spent there) feel human and motivating.
But they can easily become bogged down in entrenched, or unspoken, disagreement. To solve this, Powers says Bono (who throughout his career published over 25 books containing frameworks for thinking) recommends a colorful, structured process for examining any idea: the “six hats.”
- The White Hat: Objective data, metrics, and information
- The Red Hat: Emotion, feelings, and intuition
- The Black Hat: Risks, cautions, and pessimism
- The Yellow Hat: Benefits, hopes, and optimism
- The Green Hat: Creativity, ideas, and new approaches
- The Blue Hat: Control, organization, and guidance
The key is for everyone in the group to wear each hat together. Go through them one at a time. When you’re all wearing the White Hat, pull up your OKRs. When it’s Red Hat time, get very emo and don’t explain why (this is key! please don’t explain your feelings whilst under the influence of RH):
It’s a meeting tactic, but it’s also good advice for decision making: Everyone can (and should) give themselves the freedom to be fully emotional and objective, hopeful and cautious, adventurous and risk-averse.