Researches indicate that almost 70% of a manager's time actually goes in communicating with the people. So, one of the ways to increase an organization's productivity is to increase the clarity of communication. Most of the times the communication gap comes when we are not able to comprehend the other person in the way it is desired and vice versa. We generally try to classify thoughts into either blacks or whites, i.e., either right or wrong. But according to De Bono, every thought has its own share of blue, black, green, yellow, red and white shades; which means that it is only a difference of perceptions and not the underlying thought that matters. If only we are able to correctly identify the other person's perspective of viewing the issues, we can establish a smoother flow of ideas and do away with all the possible biases involved in both accepting and expressing a thought. This article basically focuses on how De Bono's work on thinking hats can help in establishing a smoother flow of ideas throughout the length and breadth of the organization.

Interpersonal communication in its simplest form is an exchange of ideas, emotions, views, etc., between two or more persons wherein alternatively the role of a sender and that of a receiver keeps on changing. Most of the times a communication gap arises when we are either not able to comprehend our own thoughts well, while putting them into dialogs or when we are not able to comprehend the other person's thoughts the way he wants them to be comprehended. Interestingly, our mind which is the most powerful creation of God so far, is not only able to collect the ideas from the given set of ideas proposed by the sender but also adds its own set of ideas based on its previous experiences, the environmental factors in which the exchange of ideas takes place and other situational factors. Now all this adds to the existing communication gap.

De Bono, a world famous personality in the area of lateral thinking, propounded this concept of thinking hats in the context of parallel thinking. Companies across the globe like IBM, DuPont, NTT (Japan), Marzotto (Italy), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) and Siemens have been using this method of thinking in order to increase their productivity in decision-making and reducing the time and conflict involved in collective decision-making. A researcher from IBM says that they could reduce their meeting times to one-fourth. In India, the former Indian cricket team coach, Greg Chappel used this concept to train the Team India for effective and efficient decision-making on a real time basis in practical field situations. It did work too initially; though later because of failure of Team India in the World Cup 2007, this concept could not be highlighted. Needless to mention that the ultimate outcome was not because of ineffective results of six thinking hats but more due to great underlying controversies woven around the coach and Indian cricket team itself.

Thinking hats are nothing but directions of thinking. A hat is just a tangible clue that reminds the thinker of the direction or dimension of thinking. According to De Bono, there are six different directions of thinking. Generally in every interpersonal communication, the ideas, emotions or thoughts that we exchange can be viewed from any or all of these six directions though not all the hats to be used in every situation.

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