Abstract
Silence in team collaboration is often viewed as a challenge, as it can indicate either a lack of engagement or moments of deep thinking. This inherent ambiguity can leave team members uncertain about how to interpret and respond. Although previous studies have associated silence with some passive behaviors in design collaboration, the nuanced role of silence during thinking shifts remains insufficiently explored. Building on the six thinking hats, this study confirmed the relationship between silence and thinking shifts and identified specific types of silence corresponding to four distinct shifts of thinking hats. Qualitative analysis further revealed the roles of different silence types in above- mentioned shifts of thinking hats. Overall, the findings reframe the understanding of silence in team collaboration from “avoiding silence” to “leveraging silence”. By identifying thinking shift needs that occur during silence moments, this study provides practical implications for developing more inclusive and effective collaborative design processes that enhance creative problem-solving.
Keywords
Silence; Thinking shift; Six thinking hats; Design collaboration
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.581
Citation
Liang, C., Hu, Y., Liang, Z., Qian, J., Shi, Y.,and Bai, Y.(2025) Uncovering the Role of Silence in the Thinking Shift during Design Collaboration: From the Perspective of Six Thinking Hats, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.581
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 5 - Design Thinking
Uncovering the Role of Silence in the Thinking Shift during Design Collaboration: From the Perspective of Six Thinking Hats
Silence in team collaboration is often viewed as a challenge, as it can indicate either a lack of engagement or moments of deep thinking. This inherent ambiguity can leave team members uncertain about how to interpret and respond. Although previous studies have associated silence with some passive behaviors in design collaboration, the nuanced role of silence during thinking shifts remains insufficiently explored. Building on the six thinking hats, this study confirmed the relationship between silence and thinking shifts and identified specific types of silence corresponding to four distinct shifts of thinking hats. Qualitative analysis further revealed the roles of different silence types in above- mentioned shifts of thinking hats. Overall, the findings reframe the understanding of silence in team collaboration from “avoiding silence” to “leveraging silence”. By identifying thinking shift needs that occur during silence moments, this study provides practical implications for developing more inclusive and effective collaborative design processes that enhance creative problem-solving.