When it comes to professional development and career progression, employers value certain soft skills above others. From communication to problem solving and teamwork, joining this group of essential soft skills in demand today is critical thinking. With critical thinking skills highly sought after, below you’ll find our insights on what critical thinking is, why it’s important, and how to improve critical thinking to advance your career and job satisfaction today.
First things first
So, what exactly is critical thinking and what are employers looking for when evaluating critical thinking skills in the workplace? Essentially, critical thinking involves reaching a decision, judgement, or conclusion based on the rational analysis of information you’ve been presented with.
In contrast to a common perception, the term ‘critical thinking’ is not the same as intelligence, yet intelligence is a core component of critical thinking. We’ve probably all met someone who can recall obscure information or solve complex equations, yet still make poor decisions. Instead, critical thinking involves exploring a problem from every possible angle, questioning assumptions, then analysing and reflecting rationally to come up with a sound solution.
Too many business leaders are simply not reasoning through pressing issues, and it’s hurting their organisations.
Employees perform all kinds of critical thinking activities that require strong analysis. It’s a skill called upon daily in our working lives when we’re required to make informed decisions and back it with careful analysis. These might include:
- Collaborating with a team to identify a problem and evaluating potential solutions
- Delegating to people and allocating resources for projects within a set budget
- Analysing data observations to form insights that guide your decision-making and strategy
Organisations with employees who excel in critical thinking can solve problems before they escalate into bigger issues. They can use critical thinking skills to form successful strategic plans and operations, taking advantage of new opportunities and performing effectively. They rationally analyse all the relevant data and information to find the best solutions to the problems at hand. Applying critical thinking in the workplace will boost others’ confidence that you’ll respond in an informed and rational way to challenging situations.
5 ways to expand your critical thinking skills
When developing your critical thinking skills, it’s important to integrate a rational process suitable for the problems you’re trying to solve. One that allows you to assess all the evidence and reach an informed conclusion.
We can ultimately boil it down to three simplified steps: hypothesis, experimentation, and conclusion.
To improve your critical thinking skills, try applying the following strategies:
1. Mindset & outcomes focus
Start out by choosing a time when you’re not under stress. Emergency situations can lead to panicked thinking, so start your critical thinking when things are calm and you have some clear head space to focus on it. Keeping the end goal front and centre can help you avoid getting side-tracked and be more discerning about what information you consider.
2. Cast a wide information net
When you begin the critical thinking process, you should gather information widely – as if from the mouth of a funnel. Ask broad questions and collect data from a wide range of sources. As you learn more, you should narrow your focus to get to the goal. Start focusing on the most credible sources of information and asking more pointed questions.
3. Recognise your biases
Cognitive bias often creeps into decision-making at many levels, especially in leadership ranks. Being wary that the eventual solution is the one you first thought of, or is most convenient, will help pressure test this thought pattern.
4. Collaborate with others
Any time you’re attempting to come up with an objective strategy, two or more heads are always better than one. Staying receptive to feedback that goes against your thinking is vital, gathering diverse opinions to make collaboration more valuable. Try seeking perspectives from people with a different background, skill set, or life experiences.
5. Test your hypothesis
Once you’ve come up with a conclusion, stress-test it by conducting thought experiments. Assessment like A/B tests or pilot programs are great options to ask yourself questions like: what information would change your mind? What would need to change in the current scenario for the conclusion to be wrong? Is it possible such variables exist?
A final word
The good news is, critical thinking is a learned behaviour. And there are some simple things you can do to train yourself to become a more effective critical thinker: question assumptions, reason through logic, and diversify your thoughts and perspectives. They may sound obvious, but deliberately cultivating these key habits of mind go a long way in helping you become better at clear and robust reasoning.
Remember that critical thinking is a skill. And like any skill, keeping it sharp and improving it takes fine tuning through practice. At first, if you find any of these exercises confronting, stick with it. It’s a valuable skill both inside and out of the workplace that will improve your life and wellbeing.
