Concept of the method

2. Identifying 6 thinking hats

2.5. Green hat

GREEN HAT - creative and lateral thinking

Green hat is associated with the growth, vegetation and fertility, and indicates creativity and new ideas. The green hat thinking is creative and searches new approaches to problem solving. It is the deliberate attempt to search for alternatives, new concepts and new perceptions. It concerns change and focuses efforts in this direction. “For most people the idiom of creative thinking is difficult because it is contrary to the natural habits of recognition, judgement and criticism. The brain is designed as a ‘recognition machine’. The brain is designed to set up patterns, to use them and to condemn anything that does not ‘fit’ these patterns.”[1] Therefore the green hat will not make anyone more creative, however it can give thinkers a sort of artificial motivation. Very often the creative people are the ones who just spent time to deliberately search for new ideas. Creativity needs time and focus, and the green hat allows this. It is not possible to force one to have new ideas, however it is possible to ask one to put the green hat on and to try focus on creating them. What may help is provocation, which may take one out from the usual pattern of thinking.