In team coaching, there is a fabulous tool for cohesion: the six hats of Bono's thinking .
The aim of this exercise is to get participants to take a fresh look at a situation in order to turn them into action, using six different coloured hats, each representing a state of mind.
The six colour hats are an interesting tool for the coach who wishes to lead employees towards a different representation of change. Often, the aim is to unblock conflictual situations or situations that are holding back the transformation project.
But how does it work?
In a workshop facilitated by the coach, the participants are gathered around a table where it is known that not everyone shares the same opinion on the ongoing transformation.
After setting the framework (freedom of expression and non-judgment), the coach invites each person to express in turn how they feel about the change in progress: how they perceive it, how they experience it, what they think about it.
The aim is for everyone to become aware of how others view the same situation.
Then the coach gives the floor to each person, symbolically giving them a hat of a colour that symbolises a different state of mind from that expressed spontaneously.
The participant then has to talk about the change again but in a new frame of mind represented by the colour of his hat. The coach continues to look after the "ecology" of the participants.
For example, an employee who expresses great enthusiasm about the change is given the white hat. He or she must now speak again about the situation, providing more neutral and unemotional elements to help him or her take a step back.
Or the coach may give the yellow hat to a person who is expressing very negative feelings about the situation (red hat) to get them to express optimistic and positive ideas.
In the same way that a colleague who presents the situation in a factual and neutral manner (white hat) could be given the red hat by the coach, thus inviting him to express his emotions and his feelings about the change in progress... etc.
Several rounds can thus be performed.
If a participant shows any form of resistance, the coach can suggest that they take the blue hat representing orchestration, and ask them to distribute the hats to the others in turn.
The aim of this workshop is first of all to make everyone aware that the same objective and factual situation - the change underway or to come - can be interpreted in many different ways by people working in the same organisation.
Then, with the role-playing allowed by the coloured hats, everyone represents the situation in different ways.
It is a real restructuring of thought that this exercise allows, aiming ultimately at changing the way employees look at the state of things, especially when it is not constructive for the team and the company.
The coach can go further.
Those who are resistant to change - in this case those who spontaneously wear the black hat or not - can be useful in the coach's intervention.
They are the ones who express the possible risks of the ongoing change.
By playing it safe, they are revealing dimensions that might not have been considered, let alone by the yellow hats.
Thus the workshop on Bono hats can lead to a subsequent brainstorming session aimed at collectively defining an action plan to avoid the pitfalls and limit the risks expressed by the black hat.
To do this, the group can rely on the creativity of a green hat or the positive thinking of a yellow hat for example.
Olivier Croce
Skeelz is the HR Collective that helps 100+ start-ups and small businesses become impactful. Our Consultants, Coaches and Trainers help build large-scale, sustainable, high-performing and responsible organizations. To do this, we are committed to bringing out the best in everyone individually and collectively. If you need advice or dedicated support to recruit, hire or develop your teams, we are here to help ☞ hello@skeelz.com
