{"id":3883,"date":"2026-09-11T13:00:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T13:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/?p=3883"},"modified":"2026-09-14T14:13:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T14:13:01","slug":"six-thinking-hats-meetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/six-thinking-hats-meetings\/","title":{"rendered":"Why your meetings keep going in circles (and how to fix it)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Too-many-meetings.-Too-much-conflict.-Nothing-moves-forward.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-3884\" src=\"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Too-many-meetings.-Too-much-conflict.-Nothing-moves-forward-300x123.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"123\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Too-many-meetings.-Too-much-conflict.-Nothing-moves-forward-300x123.png 300w, https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Too-many-meetings.-Too-much-conflict.-Nothing-moves-forward-768x316.png 768w, https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Too-many-meetings.-Too-much-conflict.-Nothing-moves-forward-500x206.png 500w, https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Too-many-meetings.-Too-much-conflict.-Nothing-moves-forward.png 880w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><strong>Too many meetings. Too much conflict. Nothing moves forward.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If that sentence made you think of a specific meeting, you\u2019re not alone. Ask most leaders what gets in the way of good decision-making and the answers come quickly: conversations that go in circles, decisions that take too long, the loudest voice in the room winning by default, ideas shot down before they\u2019ve had a chance to develop, meetings with no clear direction.<\/p>\n<p>The instinct is often to treat this as a people problem: a \u201cdifficult\u201d team, a dominant personality, a lack of discipline. It isn\u2019t. It\u2019s a thinking problem.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why good people can still have bad meetings<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Most teams don&#8217;t lack intelligence, experience or good ideas. The problem is that a group discussion asks people to do too many different kinds of thinking at once.<\/p>\n<p>People weigh facts, raise concerns, suggest ideas, react emotionally, look for opportunities, and try to work out where the conversation is going &#8211; all at the same time. The result can be familiar:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Someone raises a concern just as someone else is developing an idea.<\/li>\n<li>Someone challenges a useful suggestion before the group has properly explored it.<\/li>\n<li>The same point comes up three different ways.<\/li>\n<li>The most confident person dominates the conversation.<\/li>\n<li>A decision that seemed close suddenly becomes another meeting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Nobody is necessarily doing anything wrong &#8211; <strong>the group just hasn&#8217;t organised it&#8217;s thinking.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indigobusiness.co.uk\/Workshop\/de-bonos-six-thinking-hats\">Six Thinking Hats\u00ae<\/a>, developed by Dr Edward de Bono, address that problem. Rather than people thinking in different directions at the same time, Six Thinking Hats\u00ae gives groups a shared way to look at an issue from different perspectives.<\/p>\n<p>The result is a more deliberate, focused approach to thinking together, without requiring people to change their personalities or opinions.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What can Six Thinking Hats\u00ae help solve?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>Meetings that go round in circles<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Circular conversations are rarely caused by a lack of ideas. More often, it&#8217;s because the group keeps moving backwards and forwards between different questions. One person discusses the facts, another debates the risks, another generates alternatives, and someone else tries to make a decision.<\/p>\n<p>The conversation moves, but it doesn&#8217;t necessarily progress.Six Thinking Hats\u00ae helps give group thinking greater focus, making it easier to move a discussion forward rather than repeatedly revisiting the same ground.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Decisions that take too long<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Some decisions slow down because every concern has to be debated against every opportunity, idea, and opinion at the same time. That can turn a straightforward decision into an exhausting argument.<\/p>\n<p>Six Thinking Hats\u00ae helps teams look at an issue more systematically, so they can consider important perspectives without everything becoming one long debate. The aim isn&#8217;t to rush the decision. <strong>It&#8217;s to make the thinking behind it more productive.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>The loudest voice winning<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In an unstructured meeting, confidence can easily be mistaken for clarity. The person who speaks first, speaks most or argues most forcefully can end up having disproportionate influence &#8211; while quieter people with equally valuable perspectives contribute less.<\/p>\n<p>Six Thinking Hats\u00ae creates a shared structure for participation. The emphasis shifts away from \u2018who has the strongest argument\u2019 and towards \u2018what does the group need to consider\u2019. That can create a more balanced conversation without asking anyone to become louder, more confident or more assertive.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Ideas being rejected too early<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>One of the biggest frustrations in team discussions is watching a potentially useful idea disappear because the group identifies its weaknesses before it has explored its possibilities. This can happen particularly quickly when creative thinking and critical thinking collide.<\/p>\n<p>Six Thinking Hats\u00ae helps separate different types of thinking, creating more space to explore ideas without immediately turning the discussion into a judgement of whether they will work. That gives teams a better chance of developing good ideas, rather than losing them too early.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Conflict becoming personal<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Disagreement isn&#8217;t necessarily a problem. In fact, disagreement can be exactly what a team needs to make a better decision. The problem comes when disagreement becomes personal.<br \/>\n\u201cThis won&#8217;t work.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cYou always say that.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cWe tried this before.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cYou&#8217;re being too negative.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Six Thinking Hats\u00ae helps separate <strong>the thinking from the thinker<\/strong>. You can examine a concern without labelling the person raising it as negative. You can challenge an idea without making the person who suggested it defensive. That creates a different kind of conversation: one where people can disagree without feeling personally attacked.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Risks being missed or dominating everything<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Some teams are too optimistic. Others see problems everywhere. Both can create problems. When risks are raised in an unstructured discussion, they can either be overlooked in the enthusiasm of the moment or become the reason an idea never gets off the ground.<\/p>\n<p>Six Thinking Hats\u00ae helps teams give different perspectives the attention they deserve, so they can consider risk properly without automatically making it the conclusion. The result is a more balanced view of the issue.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Important perspectives being left out<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Most meetings don&#8217;t deliberately ignore certain perspectives. They simply get crowded out. A discussion becomes focused on the immediate problem, someone changes the subject, another person raises an objection and suddenly the meeting is running out of time.<\/p>\n<p>Six Thinking Hats\u00ae provides a framework that helps groups consider an issue more broadly, reducing the chance that an important perspective disappears simply because the conversation took an unexpected turn.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Complex problems feeling overwhelming<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The bigger and more complicated the issue, the easier it is for a meeting to become unfocused. There may be incomplete information, competing priorities, risks, opportunities, strong opinions and no obvious answer. Trying to consider everything simultaneously can make the problem feel even more complicated.<\/p>\n<p>Six Thinking Hats\u00ae helps teams bring greater structure to complex thinking, making difficult issues easier to explore collectively It doesn&#8217;t make the problem simpler. <strong>It makes the thinking about the problem more manageable.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Meetings ending without a clear outcome<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Perhaps the most frustrating meeting is the one where everyone talked, but nobody knows what was actually decided. There may have been useful discussion, but no clear conclusion. Or the team leaves with several different interpretations of what happens next.<\/p>\n<p>A more structured approach to thinking can help groups move from discussion to clearer outcomes, rather than letting the meeting simply run out of time.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>It&#8217;s not about changing the people in the room<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>One of the strengths of Six Thinking Hats\u00ae is that it doesn&#8217;t require a team to become a different team. You don&#8217;t need to eliminate strong personalities, attendees don&#8217;t need everyone to communicate in the same way and you don&#8217;t need to train everyone to agree.<\/p>\n<p>And you certainly don&#8217;t need to remove disagreement.<strong>The method changes the way the group thinks together, not who the people are.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s why it can be useful even for teams that already work well together. The goal isn&#8217;t to fix \u201cdifficult people\u201d. It&#8217;s to give good people a better structure for thinking together.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>A framework that can be used again and again<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The problems Six Thinking Hats\u00ae helps address aren&#8217;t limited to one type of meeting. The same challenges can appear in project reviews, strategic discussions, innovation sessions, planning, problem-solving, one-to-ones and important business decisions.<\/p>\n<p>Once a team has a shared language for thinking together, they can use it whenever a discussion needs more focus, balance or structure. That&#8217;s what makes it more than a meeting technique. <strong>It&#8217;s a repeatable way to improve how groups think.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indigobusiness.co.uk\/Workshop\/de-bonos-six-thinking-hats\"><strong>Explore Six Thinking Hats\u00ae workshops \u2192<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h1><strong>Frequently asked questions<\/strong><\/h1>\n<h2><strong>Is Six Thinking Hats\u00ae just about running better meetings?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>No. Meetings are one of the most common applications, but the method can be used anywhere a group needs to think through a problem, opportunity or decision together.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Do people need to change their personality or communication style?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Six Thinking Hats\u00ae changes the structure of the thinking, not the personality of the people involved.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Does it add more process to meetings?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The purpose isn&#8217;t to add process for its own sake. It&#8217;s to reduce unproductive debate, repetition and people working at cross purposes.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Will it work for remote or hybrid teams?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Yes. The shared structure can be particularly useful when teams are working remotely or across different locations, where keeping a discussion focused can be more challenging.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Is this only useful for large organisations?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>No. Small groups and larger teams alike can apply Six Thinking Hats\u00ae. The underlying challenge is the same: how do people think more effectively together?<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What&#8217;s the difference between the demo and the full workshop?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A short demo gives participants a chance to experience the approach and see how parallel thinking can change a group. The full one-day workshop goes much further, helping participants develop the capability to use Six Thinking Hats\u00ae effectively in their own work and apply it to real challenges.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Public workshop or in-house, which should we choose?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A public workshop is a good option for individuals or smaller groups who want to learn the approach using shared scenarios.<\/p>\n<p>An in-house workshop can be tailored to your organisation, using your team&#8217;s own challenges, meetings and decisions as the context for learning.<\/p>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/training.indigobusiness.co.uk\/acton\/attachment\/9727\/f-0142dbf6-9329-4523-acd3-949b19fd9a5e\/1\/-\/-\/-\/-\/ADVERGRAPHIC%20The%20power%20of%20de%20bono%27s%20Six%20Thinking%20Hats%20%281%29.pdf\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-3635\" src=\"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/rsz_1advergraphic_the_power_of_de_bonos_six_thinking_hats-221x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"221\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/rsz_1advergraphic_the_power_of_de_bonos_six_thinking_hats-221x300.png 221w, https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/rsz_1advergraphic_the_power_of_de_bonos_six_thinking_hats.png 323w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 221px) 100vw, 221px\" \/><\/a>Want to see what Six Thinking Hats\u00ae could change for your team?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/training.indigobusiness.co.uk\/acton\/attachment\/9727\/f-0142dbf6-9329-4523-acd3-949b19fd9a5e\/1\/-\/-\/-\/-\/ADVERGRAPHIC%20The%20power%20of%20de%20bono%27s%20Six%20Thinking%20Hats%20%281%29.pdf\">Download: one-page Six Thinking Hats\u00ae <\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/training.indigobusiness.co.uk\/acton\/attachment\/9727\/f-0142dbf6-9329-4523-acd3-949b19fd9a5e\/1\/-\/-\/-\/-\/ADVERGRAPHIC%20The%20power%20of%20de%20bono%27s%20Six%20Thinking%20Hats%20%281%29.pdf\">overview<\/a> &#8211; a visual introduction to the approach and the problems it can help teams solve.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indigobusiness.co.uk\/contact-us\">Get in touch<\/a> to discuss a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indigobusiness.co.uk\/calendar\/12\">public workshop<\/a> or an in-house session built around your team&#8217;s own meetings, decisions and challenges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Too many meetings. Too much conflict. Nothing moves forward. If that sentence made you think of a specific meeting, you\u2019re not alone. Ask most leaders what gets in the way of good decision-making and the answers come quickly: conversations that &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/six-thinking-hats-meetings\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,252],"tags":[74,25,165,143,164,186,13],"class_list":["post-3883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-edward-de-bono","category-six-thinking-hats","tag-collaboration","tag-creative-thinking","tag-decision-making","tag-dr-edward-de-bono","tag-meetings","tag-shorten-meetings","tag-six-thinking-hats"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why your meetings keep going in circles (and how to fix it) - the indigo blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Meetings going in circles? Discover how Six Thinking Hats meetings fix slow decisions, dominant voices and unfocused discussions for good.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/six-thinking-hats-meetings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why your meetings keep going in circles (and how to fix it) - the indigo blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Meetings going in circles? Discover how Six Thinking Hats meetings fix slow decisions, dominant voices and unfocused discussions for good.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/six-thinking-hats-meetings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"the indigo blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Indigo-Business-Services-140481199304927\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-11T13:00:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-14T14:13:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Too-many-meetings.-Too-much-conflict.-Nothing-moves-forward.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"880\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"362\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Richard Evans\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@indigotraining\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@indigotraining\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Richard Evans\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/six-thinking-hats-meetings\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/six-thinking-hats-meetings\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Richard Evans\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/349834f9c980ec8163e9186fc92058e4\"},\"headline\":\"Why your meetings keep going in circles (and how to fix it)\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-11T13:00:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-14T14:13:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/six-thinking-hats-meetings\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1601,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/six-thinking-hats-meetings\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Too-many-meetings.-Too-much-conflict.-Nothing-moves-forward-300x123.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Collaboration\",\"Creative Thinking\",\"Decision-Making\",\"Dr Edward de Bono\",\"Meetings\",\"Shorten Meetings\",\"Six Thinking Hats\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Edward de Bono\",\"Six Thinking Hats\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/six-thinking-hats-meetings\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/six-thinking-hats-meetings\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why your meetings keep going in circles (and how to fix it) - the indigo blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/six-thinking-hats-meetings\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/six-thinking-hats-meetings\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Too-many-meetings.-Too-much-conflict.-Nothing-moves-forward-300x123.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-11T13:00:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-14T14:13:01+00:00\",\"description\":\"Meetings going in circles? 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