Leadership and Critical Thinking = Thinking for Yourself

Incline Insights, LLC Tailored. Focused. Solutions.

CONTEXT: The primary focus of a true leader is to prepare themselves, the team, and the organization for a desired future state. To achieve and sustain a desired future state a leader needs to develop the capability to align the organization on a common plan so they will execute it and realize a competitively superior future state. The capability to align, execute and renew is referred to as organizational health (https://www.operatingpartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/OMS-1a-People-Organization.pdf).

To develop a competitively superior future state a leader needs to assure their Strategic Leadership Team and the organization as a whole has an authentic and accurate understanding of the current state of the business. Why? Because if an organization aligns on a future state that is too much of a stretch from their current state they will likely exceed the organization’s capability to execute it. Many organizations commit a huge mistake by only focusing on their desired future state without gaining a thorough understanding of their current state. It is as if they think understanding the current state is a waste of time that prevents them from focusing on the future. When they take this approach, they fail to appreciate how significant the gap might be between the current and future state. To gain an authentic and accurate view of the gap between the current state and the desired future state of the business requires Critical Thinking.

Every client that I helped analyze the current state of their business benefitted significantly from doing so. Some clients go on the defensive when they are faced with their current reality. On one assignment a team of managers reviewed their current state analysis with a VP of Global Operations. When they finished their presentation, the VP went on the defensive and said, “there is no way that we are that bad.” What the analysis showed was their on-time-performance vs. the market’s expectation in lead-time was approximately 60%. But, the team of managers that completed the analysis confirmed their results and then they explained how they would make the required improvements to achieve their desired future states.

WARREN BUFFET ONCE SAID, “What the human being is best at doing is interpreting all new information so that they're prior conclusions remain intact.” It turns out he is a wise man, because there is science to back up his theory. Our brains are hardwired to look at new information in such a way that it confirms the ideas they already have, instead of trying to disprove or test them.” Schuster, Steven. The Critical Thinker: The Path to Better Problem Solving, Accurate Decision Making, and Self-Disciplined Thinking (p. 25). Kindle Edition. https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Thinker-Accurate-Decision-Self-Disciplined-ebook/dp/B07CWBC291/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=the+critical+thinker&qid=1629201581&sr=8-3

WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING?

“Critical thinking is the ability (skill) to think about an issue and reach an objective, informed conclusion … based on facts and evidence … without being unduly influenced by personal biases and interests, unsubstantiated assumptions, or … the unproven opinions of others.” Schuster, Steven. The Critical Thinker: The Path To Better Problem Solving, Accurate Decision Making, and Self-Disciplined Thinking (p. 125). Kindle Edition.

CRITICAL THINKING OCCURS when we ask ourselves, and others:

- What quantifiable evidence substantiates your assumption that this is the most significant problem? What other problems did you consider? How did you align on this one?

- What are impacts to our business when this challenge is overcome? What are the impacts to our business if this challenge is not overcome? How do you know that is true?

- What is the logic that supports your assertion that this is the primary cause to the challenge identified?

- What other solutions did you consider? What criteria did you use to select your solution? What are the three most significant risks that will need to be mitigated to implement your solution?

- What is the net present value of your proposed solution? How did you come up with those numbers?

THE CORE CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS

- Interpretation - Having the ability to understand the information you are being presented with and being able to communicate the meaning of that information to others.

- Analysis - Having the ability to connect pieces of information together in order to determine what the intended meaning of the information was meant to represent.?

- Inference - Having the ability to understand and recognize what elements you will need in order to determine an accurate conclusion or hypothesis from the information you have at your disposal.?

- Evaluation - Being able to evaluate the credibility of statements or descriptions of a person’s experience, judgment or opinion in order to measure the validity of the information being presented.?

- Explanation - Having the ability to not only restate information, but add clarity and perspective to the information, so it can be fully understood by anyone you are sharing it with.?

- Self-Regulation - Having the awareness of your own thinking abilities and the elements that you are using to find results.

A DIAGRAM IS POSTED ON THIS LINK to provide you with an example of how one of our clients rated their Critical Thinking Skills from best (1) to worst (6). As part of our Results-based Leadership Program (https://www.inclineinsights.com/post/leadership-development-what-works-and-why-should-you-care) we ask our clients to complete a Critical Thinking Skills self-assessment and to receive a peer-assessment from five peers. In addition to the assessment of the Critical Thinking skills we ask them to respond to the following questions:

- How have you applied your strongest Critical Thinking Skill in the last 2-weeks?

- What was the situation?

- What obstacles did you have to overcome? What objective/s did you need to achieve?

- Why was achieving this objective so important?

- What actions did you take to overcome the obstacles and achieve your objectives?

- What results did you achieve?

- How did those results benefit you and others?

- What did you learn about yourself from this experience?

- How will what you learned about yourself benefit you in the future?

We also ask participants to identify and receive peer feedback on which Critical Thinking Skill they need to focus on most for improvement.

We all can improve our ability to think critically.

SOME COMMON ERRORS IN JUDGEMENT that impacts our ability to thinking critically. We may believe:

- “It’s true because I believe it.” This is egocentrism at work in its purest form.

- “It’s true because we believe it.” This is a display of socio-centrism

- “It’s true because I want to believe it.” This is the human nature to not want to have to admit when we have made a mistake

- “It’s true because I have always believed it.” Our long-held beliefs are a source of comfort for us, and it can be scary to step out of our comfort zone

- “It’s true because it is in my own personal interest to believe it.” This is another example of egocentric thought

KEY TAKEAWAYS

- It is important to develop your Critical Thinking Skills to improve your ability to lead and manage.

- Developing Critical Thinking Skills is a lifelong process that takes time and focused effort.

- There are many barriers that can prevent you from reaching your full potential as a Critical Thinker.

- Barriers to Critical Thinking have the potential to exist in all of us at all stages of our life.

- When we allow the barriers to overpower our thinking, we are robbing ourselves of the chance to learn and grow

- Developing Critical Thinking Skills can have many far-reaching positive effects on our lives.

NEXT – CRITICAL THINKING AND THE FRAUD TRIANGLE

We will post an article on the Incline Insights, LLC site that is a follow-up to this one. The focus on that article will be on fraud, the Fraud Triangle, and how Critical Thinking helps mitigate the risk of fraud in organizations and society. Pressure + Rationalization + Opportunity = High Risk Fraud

If you want to learn more about how we can help you overcome your most significant business and leadership challenges, contact us at Incline Insights, LLC Tailored. Focused. Solutions.