Mastering Critical Thinking

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Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-2: Morning.

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My name is Bianca Cardnis and I'm

your host of next gen leaders.

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Today, we're talking about

a very important skill.

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Critical thinking.

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Whether you're leading a team

or looking to improve your

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leadership critical thinking can

help sharpen your decision-making

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and problem solving skills.

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Let's break it down.

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What is critical thinking?

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It just means being able to think about

information without letting your feelings

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or opinions affect your analysis.

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You also consider very different sides of

an issue and use logic to make decisions.

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And critical thinking helps

you make better decisions.

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Solve complex problems that help

lead your team even more effectively,

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rather than just relying on your

intuition to make decisions.

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Why is critical, sinking

important for leaders?

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Well, for starters leaders often have

to face new or complex situations

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and having good, critical thinking

skills helps them assess information

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and make well reasoned decisions.

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Second, when challenges arise,

critical thinking helps leaders

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find the root causes and develop

even more effective solutions.

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And finally leaders who think critically

can clearly explain their reasoning

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and help persuade other people to

buy into their recommendations.

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So, what are the traits of leaders who

have strong, critical thinking skills?

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I'll tell you a story.

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We have people come through our

assessment centers and the easiest way

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to determine whether or not they have

good, critical thinking skills is to

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put them into a business simulation.

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When leaders come through our team

meeting, That's a perfect way to assess

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whether or not they accept things

for face value, or they're going to

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delve deeper and ask more questions.

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As soon as they enter the team meeting,

they usually delve into both strategies.

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The reason why it's called a team

meeting is because the team proposes

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their recommendations and the team has

to weigh the pros and cons and all the

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questions in a very logical manner.

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Some of the leaders that have very

good, critical thinking skills.

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They tend not to take

things for face value.

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Instead, they ask questions and

seek to understand more deeply.

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Rather than just looking at the

material and saying, okay, I

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think I have everything I need.

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These leaders also get

their team involved.

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They ask more questions they ask

where they even thought of this idea

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in the first place, what information

they were looking at and how did

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they come to this conclusion?

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They're not just looking at things

surface level, they're delving deeper

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with both of their team members to build

a more complete picture of the issue.

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They also know how to break down complex

issues into smaller chunks that's

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easier for everyone to understand.

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A great way critical thinking leaders

do this is that they'll summarize,

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what's been said, but in a way that's

very easy to understand and follow.

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They don't use the same complex

jargon that the team uses.

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And said they summarize

in a very digestible way.

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A way that's like, okay, you said

it way easier than I said it.

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So they know how to just take the complex

down a notch or two and then make it so

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that every single member understands.

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That's the best way that they

can get support and buy-in

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for their decision-making.

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Is that they're able to break

it down into very small chunks.

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The last thing is that they're really

good at influence because they can

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speak to people and just some very

relational, conversational way.

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So we learned that leaders with critical

thinking skills, ask a lot of questions.

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They get people involved.

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And they make sure to assess

all the information before

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making a final decision.

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Here are three tips to help you work on

developing your critical thinking skills.

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Number one.

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Ask questions.

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This is intuitive, but a

lot of people miss this.

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Some of our leaders that come

through the assessment process.

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Or low on critical thinking they

don't ask a lot of questions.

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And these leaders are on both

sides of the scale, right?

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They're either so intelligent that

they can read anything and just get

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a good grasp of what's going on.

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Since they're so intelligent, they

don't really check their assumptions.

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They think that they know everything

and they just want to run it by you

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instead of just really asking for your

opinion and asking why and how to help

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them understand the situation better.

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On the other scale, we have leaders

who just stick to the materials and

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don't want to know anything else.

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They don't want to get context.

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They don't want to get

other people involved.

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Because it tends to confuse them.

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So they'd rather just keep things

very simple and surface level instead

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of getting deeper into the weeds.

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So number one, ask questions,

ask why, how are we doing this?

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What have we done in the past?

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Using the, what.

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So what, and now what is A

great framework we're asking.

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What happened?

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So, what is, why is this important?

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Now, what is, what are

we going to do about it?

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This makes sure that you clear all bases

before proceeding into the next step.

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Number two.

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Seek feedback.

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Always get people involved, even

if you think that they might not

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know or have a hand in whatever

you're trying to solve for.

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Ask any way.

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We have no idea what background

knowledge they have, what they

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heard from their colleagues, what

they've heard from other leaders.

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Including them in the conversation

does a great way to get different

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perspectives to help you build a

more holistic picture of the issue.

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Number three.

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Always take time to reflect on your

decisions and potential outcomes.

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And what I mean by potential outcomes

is positive and negative implications.

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Ask yourself if I'm going

to make this decision.

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What's the positive implications

that could possibly happen.

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Then you write those down.

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Think about the negative implications.

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And then who could I possibly

impact with decisions that I make?

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And taking the time to reflect on

your decisions and the outcomes is

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a good way to test yourself to see

if you're very accurate in your

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decision-making in your critical thinking.

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If you're not next time you can adjust.

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So you're always asking questions, seeking

other people's feedback, reflecting.

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Last, but not least always stay informed.

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Keep learning, keep developing that growth

mindset that we talked about last week.

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I always stay up to date with

new information and trends that

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are coming out in your industry.

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If you're not and know,

have no idea where to begin.

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Look at the latest industry report

that just came out that way your

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decisions are in alignment with

where the industry is headed.

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It'll help you stay more up to date.

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And it'll make your recommendations

that much more impactful.

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To summarize.

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Thinking like a leader means looking

at information in different ways.

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Solving problems and making good choices.

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Good leaders ask questions.

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They listen to others.

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And think about their

decisions before making them.

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To be a better critical thinker,

make sure to ask lots of questions.

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Listen to what other people are saying.

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Take time to think about your decisions.

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And learn new things.

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Thanks for tuning in.

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Next Thursday.

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I'll be talking about the

importance of vision and leadership.

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So why is vision important and

how can it help you become an

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even more effective leader?

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Microphone (HyperX Quadcast)-6: Thank

you for taking this journey with me.

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I look forward to speaking with you soon.

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Take care.