MAL42:21 | Page 39

What if we were to train our minds to look at all angles of a situation , whether in personal life or in our careers as marketing professionals to constantly grab the imaginary hats and look at perspectives every time we need to move forward ? A distribution challenge ? A price reduction by the competitor ? A process that is a bottleneck in the organization ? Time to pull on some hats !
You can start with a red hat or a blue hat or even a white hat - expressing the emotions e . g . frustrations around how bureaucratic the process of onboarding a new customer and moving to the actual problem and reviewing what you know using the white hat .
Another key thing is that you can wear the different colored hats as many times as you like . It doesn ’ t mean you must stay with just one color .
As a team leader , you could assign a hat color to a particular team member . It would be a lovely exercise to get people to choose the hat they “ like ” the most and then give them one they don ’ t normally default to - so someone who is always the practical one ( black hat person ) can take up a creation of ideas and solutions role ( green hat person ). That way you drive yourself out of your comfort zone and get to stretch your creativity muscle .
So as a team , this is a wonderful way to drive creative thinking and help build creative skills . As an individual , you can grab a hat anytime you like to help you view decisions around your personal development .
Be curious - be creative - and learn to think differently , come up with new ideas and of course don ’ t forget to implement them . your organization is structured ) to address customer wants and needs . Great ideas come from all sorts of places and the most innovative teams will tell you how valuable they find a brainstorming session .
The black hat is sometimes called the ‘ devil ’ s advocate ’ - the voice that helps people to be realistic and cautious . What is called being practical . Some people get so carried away by the ideas that they forget to review if the idea is practical or not . You may want to have a launch event that has fireworks , but looking at the costs and the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions would it be the best use of resources ? What could go wrong ? Mitigate for the risk to reduce the overall impact on the brand .
Edward de Bono ’ s 6 hat approach helps one to learn how to have a 360 approach to finding solutions and driving creativity . As marketers , we think about the 360 approach when it comes to integrated communication campaigns . We already know the value and importance of the holistic approach .
Thrity Engineer-Mbuthia is a seasoned marketing professional and a personal development coach . Want to build your leadership skills ? Drop her a line at : Mycoach @ thrityengineer . org for a free virtual 30 minute coaching consultation .