Sharing Ideas

my friend robyn told me about a unique system for sharing ideas. she said in her former workplace they had an excellent creative team that was largely responsible for coming up with new ideas that would generate excitement and help communicate vision. however, because everyone got into the process, people often became connected to their ideas and were sometimes secretly offended when those ideas weren't chosen. over time this reality was divulged and the team found a better way to share ideas by expressing  those ideas based on their importance (to the individual). they would share each thought by giving it a priority level or hat.

White Hat Idea - "Just a random thought (brainstorm)..."

Green Hat Idea - "This is a go (green light)..."
Red Hat Idea - "I feel like this one is so good it is God's idea"
Black Hat Idea - "I'm the boss, here is what we're doing (mafia)..."
Purple Hat Idea - "Can I use this as a moment to instruct (grad robe)...."

the process helped everyone know what ideas needed to be considered more closely and which were simply thrown out to get the group going.