Critical thinking skills
Using critical thinking at the workplace require organising facts, data and information to clarify a problem and find effective solutions. It is always a good idea to improve the critical thinking skills you already have and highlight that in your resume and job interviews.
What is critical thinking?
This is a form of emotional intelligence where a person has the talent to analyse facts and form a judgement in a clear and rational way when needed. With this, problem-solving and decision-making is easier and much more effective. You get to see the situation in different ways to gain insights and see further beyond any obvious solution and work towards a more innovative and unique one.
It requires being able to understand logical ideas and concepts like when a company’s pricing technique needs a more critical approach, both sales and marketing teams need to work together and analyse how to increase their sales while meeting the standards in profit targets. This is the only way to get good results and help improve the company.
Importance of critical thinking in the workplace
This is important in many ways just like how some jobs need someone with this specific set of skill to figure things out without personal feelings and opinions getting in the way of important decisions. They are expected to look at things in a bigger picture and consider all factors that may influence a situation. It’s like putting a puzzle together to get a better understanding of what is happening or going to happen. It is not just about coming up with any old solution but also be able to think outside the box and have ideas that may not be obvious at first. At the same time, you always want to make sure that those answers are realistic and can easily be acted on.
Whether you are dealing with a tricky situation, a tough decision or just facing challenges with your business, critical thinking skills is a must have.
Top critical thinking skills
There are a lot of key techniques that stand out from others. Here are a few:
- Analysis
This is all about breaking down ideas or situations that are complexed and turn them into small pieces so that you can understand them better. See how they fit together and if they make sense.
- Interpretation
This is taking all of the information that you have gathered and trying to make a sense of it in a meaningful way like reading between the lines and see the true meaning behind something.
- Inference
This is where logical conclusions are based on the information you already have. It’s like playing detective and piecing together the clues you have found to solve a mystery.
- Evaluation
This is like being a judge and deciding whether the information or solution is either good or bad, useless or useful. This is where assessing the value of something takes place.
- Explanation
This is where you are able to be in touch with your thoughts and ideas clearly. It’s like being a teacher where you have to explain a complicated concept in a way that anyone and everyone understands.
- Curiosity
One sure-fire way to develop this skill is to be curious and explore the different possible outcomes of a situation. This keeps you have an open mind and perceive things you may have not noticed. Play around with your thoughts and think of “what ifs” to help find better and effective ideas.
- Ask a lot of questions
There is nothing wrong with asking questions, especially when this helps evaluate a situation better.
Some examples include:
- Why is this information being provided?
- What other perspectives exist on this topic?
- What research exists on the issue?
- Who is providing this information?
- In what ways can this problem be solved?
- Form an opinion
When gathering the right answers, everyone involved can form an opinion. You can base your opinion on a facts, logic and realistic views.
- Determining relevance
This is known to be the most challenging part of thinking critically as a group in a challenging situation. You need to figure out how one information is important yet another may be better than the other. Are you tasked with finding a solution? Should you be identifying a trend? If you figure out your end goal, you can use this to inform your judgment of what is relevant.
- Follow up with research
Before you can make a final opinion, you need to do enough research. Try to look for a more well thought out information from reliable resources like the library, company document archives, and standard operating procedures.
- Judge the relevance
For you to finalize your opinions and make a critical judgement based on facts, it is important that you judge the relevance of all the information you have gathered. Do not waste your precious time on details that do not actually matter and not see what is the most fittingly logical. You can weigh out the facts and finally make your conclusion.
David Alssema is a Body Language Expert and Motivational Speaker. As a performer in the personal development industry in Australia he has introduced and created new ways to inspire, motivate and develop individuals.
David Alssema started his training career with companies such as Telstra and Optus Communications, and then developed Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) within workplace training as principal of Paramount Training & Development.
As an author/media consultant on body language and professional development David has influenced workplaces across Australia. He contributes to Media such as The West Australian, ABC Radio, Australian Magazines and other Australia Media Sources.