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.
