Conscious, Unconscious Mind and The Seven Hats.

What is the different between conscious and unconscious mind? Conscious mind is about analyzing, synthesizing and valuing while unconscious mind involved the depth mind which is the most important element in creative thinking. Unconscious mind is closely related to neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). NLP consists of a set of powerful techniques for rapid and effective behavioral modification, and an operational philosophy to guide their use.

The balanced thinking approach involved seven hats thinking which are white hat, red hat, black hat, yellow hat, green hat, blue hat and grey hat. The white hat has to do with data and information. It also involved questions and problem. The red hat is about feelings, intuition, hunches, and emotions. In a meeting, people use white hat by disguising their emotions as logic. Red hat also gives people permission to put forward their feelings and intuitions, without apology and explanation.

The black hat is the ‘caution’ hat. Black hat prevents us from making mistakes, doing silly things and doing things which might be illegal. The yellow hat is for positive thinking. It looks for health but they must be logically based. Yellow hat thinking often requires a deliberate effort. The green hat is for creative thinking, new ideas and additional alternatives.

The blue hat suggests the next step in the thinking. It also can ask for summaries, conclusions and decisions. The last hat is the grey hat. It is a religious hat and the final screening process.

During this session, we were given a task where we have to find a problem and use seven hat thinking approach. Our groups have come out with a problem which is bringing back Malaysian professionals residing aboard (brain drain).

1. White hat
- Most of them do not want to come back because they already satisfy with their life there.

2. Red hat
- It will affect the emotion of Malaysia family and the government.

3. Yellow hat
- We will able to get new technology from other country and increase our productivity.

4. Black hat
- They will compete with local graduate for a job.

5. Blue hat
- We can ask them to sign a contract with government. The government also can give incentives such as tax and medical exemptions.

6. Green hat
- Give them high salary as their previous salary. We also can collaborate with multi-nasional company.

7. Grey hat
- We should loyal to our country and contribute to our nation and religion. As malay proverb, “Dimana bumi dipijak, di situ langit di junjung”.

As a conclusion, these seven hats allow us to get right away from argument in order to get more productive discussions.