The green hat: vibrant creativity and dynamic growth
The green hat is all about improving suggestions in obvious and fresh ways. The material of this hat consists of creativity.
During the green stage, we aim to produce new ideas or keep quiet. And since people don’t like staying silent, they do their best to contribute. Creativity and invention go hand in hand. While wearing this hat, we go beyond the known and the obvious.
Judgment is not necessary at this stage. What matters here is movement and bouncing ideas off each other. When we judge an idea, we usually compare it with others and past experiences. The green hat encourages us to look forward, not backward. This method is the essence of movement: we consider where the idea might take us if we decide to work with it.
We can move forward with a plan or from it, either adopting the initial suggestion and improving on it or using it as an inspiration for future endeavors. While wearing the green hat, we consider the novelty of an idea and how it differs from others.
⚡️Movement drives the creative process.
Edward de Bono coined the term provocative operation to describe an idea we use for its provoking value. No matter how bizarre they might seem, we can’t shut down any new suggestions during the green hat session. Even the most ludicrous thoughts can be stepping stones to creating success. If they are provocative, they’ll get the creative process going. Such ideas don’t belong to usual patterns because they can’t exist as far as our knowledge goes. Breaking habits are intrinsic to novelty. The bizarre suggestions may lead us nowhere or return us to our old ways. But they can also bring about a fresh outlook and consequent innovation.
An excellent technique for dealing with provocative operations is using reversal. To do this, we take a well-known pattern and turn it inside out. For example, customers are usually the ones who pay in the store, right? What if the store paid customers? This way of thinking may lead to creating a plan when a store offers rewards for regulars or gives prizes for purchasing costly goods. That’s how we design an unusual marketing strategy that can attract more clients.