The Demise of Thinking Skills in the Workplace

Three years ago, I wrote a book called Future-Proofing Your Organization by Teaching Thinking Skills.

In the introduction, I wrote:

As I write this book unemployment is at an all-time low, the stock market is at an all-time high and things look exceedingly rosy. So you might think I am behaving like Chicken Little crowing “the sky is falling, the sky is falling…”

I didn’t know when the other shoe was going to fall, but I knew that it would. And here we are.

As we work to rebuild our organizations, I am making a plea that business owners, managers, and other folks in charge of professional development reskill their employees in a thoughtful way that ensures the long-term development of both the individual and the organization. The time is right for us to do it right this time.

How we ended up with a workforce of “non-thinkers”

For centuries work was a physical activity with a visible output. But in the 21st century people are paid to think – to solve problems, make decisions, and lead organizations based on analyzing and synthesizing information. The problem is – most people don’t really know how to do this.

How did this “sudden” inability to think happen? It took a few decades, actually, and involves a “perfect storm” of three things:

1.     Massive cuts to training budgets during the early 1990’s recession, resulted in a pull-back in offerings as well as personnel whose sole responsibilities was to develop others in the workplace

2.     About a decade later, the emergence of eLearning, which formatted everything into a linear delivery with a multiple-choice ending (nothing in business is that cut and dried)

3.     Finally, more recently, training has been designed to cater to a generation that doesn’t like to work too hard to learn. Day-long classes have been reduced to one-hour; pre-work has been eliminated; passing grades have been done away with – and we just let folks back out on the job as “trained.”

We’ve lulled people into thinking that there is always a logical path from beginning to end, there is only one right answer, and if you wait long enough or whine loudly enough, somebody will lower the bar.

In the end, what has emerged is a generation of workers who – through their lack of deliberate, logical, analytical thinking abilities – will contribute to the implosion of corporate America.

Now the good news: What we can do to get on the right path

Ask people open ended and high gain questions rather than questions that simply ask for recall. Make people think before responding.

Spread out learning over days, weeks, months, or even years! A one-hour or half-day class is wonderful for becoming aware of a topic, but awareness doesn’t build skill and we all know that training recall is abysmal. If you want people to change their behavior, the learning process requires continuous application, not information.

Have people learn together in mixed cohorts. Humans learn more and are more creative when they are collaborating with others. The exchange of ideas promotes thinking about possibilities. Having individuals learn with fellow workers who aren’t in the same disciplines expands those horizons even more. A bonus outcome is that mixed cohorts of learners allows for relationship building throughout the organization which positively impacts cooperation and corporate culture.

Design learning processes using interleaving methods. Throughout primary and secondary education we are taught in “blocks” of time. And all of us, at some point, have asked, “When will I ever use this?” Interleaving topics enables the learner to see how concepts and skills are related, rather than teaching them in separate “blocks” and hoping the learner makes the connection themselves. (They don’t.)

These are just a few ideas that will enable us to build a workforce of critical thinkers that can lead our companies into the future. For even more ideas, see Future-Proofing Your Organization by Teaching Thinking Skills.

You can download the first chapter here.

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About the Author:

Nanette Miner, Ed.D. is Managing Consultant of The Training Doctor, LLC a future-leadership development firm that believes Leadership Begins at Day One. She has over 25 years’ experience creating customized curriculums that get results.

Nanette speaks on Zero-Cost Leadership Development to professional and trade associations nationwide.

Learn more about The Training Doctor's offerings, here, or give us a call at 843.647.6304 (US)

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