Picture credit - Experteer
Day 4 - Critical Thinking Skill
What is Critical Thinking Skill?
Critical thinking is the ability to think in an organized and rational manner in order to understand connections between ideas and/or facts. While Creative Thinking is about finding new ways of solving problems, Critical Thinking is about evaluating the new ways proposed by the Creative Thinker.
How to improve Critical Thinking Skill?
Set a goal to become a go-to person by mastering the art and science of Critical Thinking.
Follow the LAST model to build your personal brand as a Guru of Critical Thinking.
- Learn - Invest time in learning different models/ techniques of Critical Thinking
- Apply -
- Identify a model suitable to you
- Create a template to document the flow of the process
- Find opportunities to use the selected method/ template
- Maintain record/ process flow of every Critical Thinking exercise you did
- Maintain notes of your thoughts/ insights/ failures/ challenges…. to be used for sharing/ training others
- Share - Share the insights captured in step 2 above in a planned manner (social media posts, blogs, videos, study notes…)
- Train - Generate opportunities to train your peers and team members so that, over time, your organization benefits from your efforts
My learning for the day
Author - Helen Lee Bouygues
Many organisational problems share a common root cause - lack of critical thinking
Creative thinkers in our organisation need support from Critical thinkers to think through their ideas. If you develop your critical thinking muscle, you could become a great asset to your ‘creative’ peers and to your organisation.
Here are three simple things (habits) that could help you build your critical thinking skill - 1. Question assumptions, 2. Reason through logic, 3. Diversify thought
Questioning assumptions - Look at this example - During discussion about long-term company strategy, one could ask some basic questions (e.g. How do you know that business will increase? What does the research say about your expectations about the future of the market? Have you taken time to step into the shoes of your customers?) and some questions to challenge the assumptions (e.g. What if our clients changed? What if our suppliers went out of business?). Such questioning will help the team evaluate the ideas better.
Reason through logic - Sometimes companies make reasoning mistakes of over- generalization, drawing a sweeping conclusion based on limited or insufficient evidence.
Some of these questions could help in realising/ correcting these mistakes (e.g. Is the argument supported at every point by evidence? Do all the pieces of evidence build on each other to produce a sound conclusion?).
Good to study some of the logical fallacies we encounter in our worklife. These will help you when you are given a task of evaluating someone’s ideas/ plans/ ‘stories’. Here’s a list of 15 logical fallacies that you may find interesting. Just to generate your interest - here’s an example of a fallacy called Ad hominem fallacy - resorting to personal attacks and threatening voices unrelated to the truth of the matter rather than sticking to rational arguments.
Seek out diversity of thought - Get outside your personal bubble (e.g. if you are in Accounting, make friends with the Marketing folks, have lunch once in a while with juniors or seniors…. Such interactions (with an aim to understanding different views) will expand your thinking style.
Purpose of this document
I took a 66 day challenge to study Life Skills last year (10 April 2019). To my astonishment, I succeeded in studying for 66 days one skill a day.
My objectives of learning these skills were - To strengthen my mind to face life’s challenges with ease, To use these skills in my worklife for a better performance, To use these skills in my personal life for enriching my relationships, To open new possibilities to surprise myself.
This is my next 66 day challenge (from 10 April 2020) - To share my Life Skills learning with my social media friends.
I pray that my toil helps you in your success journey.
What are Life Skills?
UNICEF defines Life skills as - psychosocial abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. They are loosely grouped into three broad categories of skills
- cognitive skills for analyzing and using information,
- personal skills for developing personal agency and managing oneself,
- inter-personal skills for communicating and interacting effectively with others.
Which LifeSkills are covered?
The World Health Organisation identified these basic areas of life skills that are relevant across cultures:
- Decision-making
- Problem-solving
- Creative thinking
- Critical thinking
- Communication
- Interpersonal skills
- Self-awareness
- Empathy
- Coping with emotions
- Coping with stress.
Some trivia
‘Life skills’ was never part of the school curriculum. WHO/ UNESCO mandated academia to teach these skills in all schools across the globe in 1993.
Different countries educate their children in these skills with different objectives
- Zimbabwe and Thailand - prevention of HIV/AIDS
- Mexico - prevention of adolescent pregnancy
- United Kingdom - child abuse prevention
- USA - prevention of substance abuse and violence
- South Africa and Colombia - positive socialization of children.
128 words - 1 minute reading - Flesch–Kincaid readability score 70-60 - English
Critical thinking is the ability to think in an organized and rational manner in order to understand connections between ideas and facts
Many organizational issues stem from a lack of critical thinking. Creative minds in our organization require support from critical thinkers to refine their ideas. Strengthening your critical thinking can elevate you as a valuable asset to both your creative peers and the organization.
Three habits can enhance your critical thinking skills: questioning assumptions, reasoning through logic, and diversifying thought. For instance, in strategic discussions, challenge assumptions and envision alternate scenarios to improve idea evaluation.
Reasoning errors like over-generalization hinder decision-making. Ask if evidence supports arguments and if conclusions are logically sound. Familiarize yourself with logical fallacies to refine idea evaluation skills.
Expand your thinking by embracing diverse perspectives beyond your sphere. Interactions with varied viewpoints enrich your thought process. Cultivating critical thinking enriches problem-solving abilities and organizational effectiveness.
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