Monday, September 10, 2012

The Importance of Critical Thinking


Magnetic Consulting Group once again offers pieces of advice and suggestions to help you in your personal and professional life. 

No matter what field you are in, or wherever life takes you, there are certain things that are immensely important to understand and know how to do.  One of those things is critical thinking. 

Critical thinking is the disciplined process of actively and skillfully evaluating information in order to decide what to believe or do.   It’s a skill that is as much as use in puzzling your way through a word problem as it is in deciding whether someone is telling a lie. 

All great leaders think critically and strategically.  They evaluate current situations and see how they might develop in the future.  They can look at a emerging pattern and see the implications of any action, which is an incredibly useful skill for anyone in management.

But how do you develop critical thinking skills?  How can we change the way we solve problems and expand the way we think?

Luckily the first step in developing critical thinking is to start paying attention.  How do you solve problems currently?  Do you try to avoid them?  Do you automatically go with your gut feeling?  Do you waste time worrying about problems rather than trying to solve them?

Looking at your day and noticing patterns in your thinking is the first step towards expanding your intellectual horizons.  Once you know what you need to work on the next step is to practice thinking through problems in a reasonable fashion.

What does that mean?  Primarily, it means that when problems occur you carefully examine the issue rather than jumping to a conclusion.  Engage in what-if thinking. If you implement a solution what are the potential consequences?  What would someone outside of the situation, like a customer or friend, think of the potential solutions?  Discuss the situation with someone else and pause to make sure that you’ve  covered all the bases.

But more importantly, be sure to keep an open mind and be willing to change directions.  Consider the reasons why you feel compelled to follow a certain path and take the time to decide whether that is the soundest decision you could make.

All in all, establishing critical thinking skills is one of the best things you can do to improve your life.  Because the more you think about problems, the better your solutions will be.