Diane Kennedy
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- Aug 31, 2007
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Is your group a committee or a mastermind?
Mastermind: A group of 2 or more people who get together in a focused manner to create something bigger than any of them individually could.
Committee: A group of 2 or more people who get together to find someone to blame for their problems
Okay, I know that’s not the Webster’s definition, but it seems pretty true to me.
Just calling a group a mastermind won’t make it become a mastermind. All too often groups denigrate into something less than they were supposed to be.
One of the secrets that I found to keep a group working at its highest and best purpose is based on some great work by Edward deBonno. If you haven’t read him yet, do so. He’s considered one of the best critical thinkers alive today.
He had a theory of something called “the hats.†We expanded it and to be honest, have changed it so much that it’s hard exactly to say what started off as his ideas and were molded into ours, but I want to always give him as a reference because we’d never have come up with this if it weren’t for his work.
In a group, people take on different roles. Too often we get stuck in those definitions – the optimist, the pessimist, etc… In fact, we take on labels that we are always an “optimist†etc.
Use of the “hats†lets everyone in the group take on a different role for a period of time and just like a hat, you can take it off and put on a different hat. This is figurative, by the way. We don’t usually actually have hats sitting there.
The hats are:
Red hat: Emotion
White hat: A reporter, “just the factsâ€
Blue hat: Organizer, action lists
Green hat: Creative, outside of the box thinker
Yellow hat: Taking an idea and making it better
Black hat: Bodyguard, what could go wrong?
In general, our society teaches us how to use the black hat really well, to avoid the red hat and that green and yellow hats are flakey. We’ve found that if everyone in the mastermind groups tries new roles you get amazing results. By the way a mastermind group can be formed from your friends, competitors, co-workers, employees – anywhere you can get people who want to be part of something bigger.
Here’s how we might use the hats in a creative mastermind session of business owners:
Everyone starts with a 30-60 sec red hat check-in. Just say how you feel. Don’t explain or complain. This is also a great way to start a business meeting. It gets everyone present very quickly as it lets them acknowledge whatever is going on for them.
One person becomes the blue hat organizer for the meeting – directing it and taking notes.
Then one by one, each person asks a power question. (Power questions are questions that are open-ended and allow for a lot of creativity in the answers.)
For example: “How can I get more people to visit my website in a way that improves my business and is fun and ethical?†(I throw the “ethical†in there because I wouldn’t want to spam to do it.)
Then for 5 min (or whatever you all agree on) everyone puts their green hats on and comes up with every creative idea they can. The blue hat organizer keeps track of the ideas. Don’t argue or justify – just listen at this point. Later you can go back and figure out what might work.
Then the next person asks their power question and everyone else gives them green hat ideas.
After everyone has had their chance, everyone takes another red hat moment to say where they are then.
We use the hats in my business on a regular basis and we use them at home for our family meetings.
A note on the red hat: If you don’t take a moment for the red hat, I’ve found it always shows up. All decisions are ultimately red hat decisions. If you don’t acknowledge that, it’s just like throwing a red sock in with the white laundry – the red tints everything. And that’s when you start making business and financial decisions based on deep seated fears, instead of smart analysis.
This has become such an integral part of my businesses that I sometimes forget that everyone else doesn't know what I'm talking about when I say "Let's green hat that" or "What's going on 'red hat' for you" (typically said to my 16 y.o. son)
So what do you think? Helpful? Do-able? Something you'd try?
Mastermind: A group of 2 or more people who get together in a focused manner to create something bigger than any of them individually could.
Committee: A group of 2 or more people who get together to find someone to blame for their problems
Okay, I know that’s not the Webster’s definition, but it seems pretty true to me.
Just calling a group a mastermind won’t make it become a mastermind. All too often groups denigrate into something less than they were supposed to be.
One of the secrets that I found to keep a group working at its highest and best purpose is based on some great work by Edward deBonno. If you haven’t read him yet, do so. He’s considered one of the best critical thinkers alive today.
He had a theory of something called “the hats.†We expanded it and to be honest, have changed it so much that it’s hard exactly to say what started off as his ideas and were molded into ours, but I want to always give him as a reference because we’d never have come up with this if it weren’t for his work.
In a group, people take on different roles. Too often we get stuck in those definitions – the optimist, the pessimist, etc… In fact, we take on labels that we are always an “optimist†etc.
Use of the “hats†lets everyone in the group take on a different role for a period of time and just like a hat, you can take it off and put on a different hat. This is figurative, by the way. We don’t usually actually have hats sitting there.
The hats are:
Red hat: Emotion
White hat: A reporter, “just the factsâ€
Blue hat: Organizer, action lists
Green hat: Creative, outside of the box thinker
Yellow hat: Taking an idea and making it better
Black hat: Bodyguard, what could go wrong?
In general, our society teaches us how to use the black hat really well, to avoid the red hat and that green and yellow hats are flakey. We’ve found that if everyone in the mastermind groups tries new roles you get amazing results. By the way a mastermind group can be formed from your friends, competitors, co-workers, employees – anywhere you can get people who want to be part of something bigger.
Here’s how we might use the hats in a creative mastermind session of business owners:
Everyone starts with a 30-60 sec red hat check-in. Just say how you feel. Don’t explain or complain. This is also a great way to start a business meeting. It gets everyone present very quickly as it lets them acknowledge whatever is going on for them.
One person becomes the blue hat organizer for the meeting – directing it and taking notes.
Then one by one, each person asks a power question. (Power questions are questions that are open-ended and allow for a lot of creativity in the answers.)
For example: “How can I get more people to visit my website in a way that improves my business and is fun and ethical?†(I throw the “ethical†in there because I wouldn’t want to spam to do it.)
Then for 5 min (or whatever you all agree on) everyone puts their green hats on and comes up with every creative idea they can. The blue hat organizer keeps track of the ideas. Don’t argue or justify – just listen at this point. Later you can go back and figure out what might work.
Then the next person asks their power question and everyone else gives them green hat ideas.
After everyone has had their chance, everyone takes another red hat moment to say where they are then.
We use the hats in my business on a regular basis and we use them at home for our family meetings.
A note on the red hat: If you don’t take a moment for the red hat, I’ve found it always shows up. All decisions are ultimately red hat decisions. If you don’t acknowledge that, it’s just like throwing a red sock in with the white laundry – the red tints everything. And that’s when you start making business and financial decisions based on deep seated fears, instead of smart analysis.
This has become such an integral part of my businesses that I sometimes forget that everyone else doesn't know what I'm talking about when I say "Let's green hat that" or "What's going on 'red hat' for you" (typically said to my 16 y.o. son)
So what do you think? Helpful? Do-able? Something you'd try?
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