Have you ever been there, as a manager, when you had to make an important decision even though the information wasn’t complete, your team wasn’t fully ready, and deep down you still wondered, “What if I make the wrong call?”
Whether it’s approving a new plan, choosing the right person for the team, or having a difficult conversation with an employee — decision-making often feels like one of the heaviest responsibilities a leader carries.
Many managers know they need to make a choice — yet somehow, it feels impossible to choose. Because in reality, decision-making isn’t just about logic. It’s also about feelings, fear, and pressure that quietly shape every option on the table.
Meetings that were meant to find solutions often turn into endless debates.
Some people talk too much, some stay silent, while others hold great ideas but don’t dare to speak up.
In the end, we often choose to delay the decision — not because we don’t care, but because we don’t want to be wrong. Yet in the real world, not deciding can sometimes mean losing the opportunity altogether.
Because our thinking is complex — and often filled with invisible biases we’re not even aware of. Sometimes we decide too quickly, confident that our experience alone is enough. Other times, we hesitate — wanting to consider every angle, but not knowing where to start.
Many managers say,
And that’s exactly where the Six Thinking Hats comes in.
Edward de Bono introduced the concept of Six Thinking Hats to help people look at challenges from multiple perspectives.
Each “hat” represents a distinct mode of thinking — encouraging us to separate our thoughts instead of mixing logic, emotion, creativity, and caution all at once.
WHITE
RED
BLUE
Managing the thinking process
ROLE: Facts and information
GUIDING QUESTION: What information do we already have, and what do we still need to know?
HAT: RED
ROLE: Feelings and intuition
GUIDING QUESTION: How do I feel about this option? What does my gut tell me?
HAT: BLACK
ROLE: Risks and caution
GUIDING QUESTION: What could go wrong? What should we be careful about?
HAT: YELLOW
ROLE: Opportunities and possibilities
GUIDING QUESTION: If this works, what benefits or value will it bring?
HAT: GREEN
ROLE: Creativity and new ideas
GUIDING QUESTION: Is there a new option or approach we haven’t tried yet?
HAT: BLUE
ROLE: Managing the thinking process
GUIDING QUESTION: What’s the next step? Who will do what, and how do we move forward?
Using the six hats helps us separate different types of thinking instead of letting them clash. It means we don’t have to let logic fight with emotion, or rush to a conclusion too soon. Instead, everyone on the team can think better together — in a clear and structured way.
One of the biggest challenges in decision-making meetings is this —
a few voices dominate the room, while many others stay silent.
LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) creates a space where every voice matters.
Instead of just talking, participants are invited to think with their hands — building models that represent their thoughts and perspectives.
For example, they might be asked to build a model that represents “obstacles to effective decision-making.”
Once everyone builds and shares, ideas that were once invisible become visible.
Thoughts that were hidden inside start to take shape — allowing the team to see, understand, and communicate with each other more openly.
It’s not about playing with LEGO. It’s about playing with PURPOSE.
It’s about thinking with your hands and communicating with your eyes.
Hands connect to deeper parts of the brain — the ones that often “know more than we realize.” And when we learn to listen with our eyes, we begin to notice what others really mean — the unspoken insights and the hidden factors that can determine success.
At Rasmussen Consulting Thailand, we combine the Six Thinking Hats approach with the hands-on process of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® to create a space for collaborative thinking — one that is both engaging and deeply powerful.
In these Learning Lab workshops, participants:
The outcome isn’t just a new way of thinking — it’s the beginning of a thinking culture that stays with your team long after the workshop ends.
