Post by Tiffany Linscott on Feb 8, 2021 12:13:31 GMT
Some of the more commonly known deterrents to critical thinking are biases, where one does not acknowledge fact from opinion. Many times, this type of thinking relies on what they have experienced, are familiar with, and perhaps those include generalizations. Being closed minded to other’s stances and information relevant to a problem, will likely lead to no resolve or uninformed decisions.
These biases can arise when one relies on their personal assumptions based on past experiences, as well as political, moral, and ethical beliefs to make a judgement.
A time when I failed to utilize my critical thinking was when I progressively had a difficult time with an employee that was transferred to me. They were triangulating various requests to manager’s when the requests should have come to me for approval. They did not complete tasks assigned and would say that they had other obligations. The employee had a difficult time when faced with feed-back on their work as well. Being a newcomer to the agency, I respected the work everyone put forth, but the situation had become progressively worse. There were short falls in goals and a decline in their acknowledgement of tasks. I was receiving complaints from clients as well, I knew it had gone too far.
Being their direct supervisor, I said to myself, “How can I effectively and thoughtfully provide feedback to this employee? Why is the area confusing as far as reporting? How can I clear this up? Who is involved in their various reporting? What are the tasks she is assigned during her day? How can I monitor that?”
I realized that I needed to pull together the other managers involved and verify any tasks the employee was completing for them. I would also inventory what was assigned from myself as well. I presented the issue to the other managers and requested that they refer the employee to me in the event there is a request, as well.
I then contacted the employee and discussed some of the data I review weekly and addressed the areas needing improvement overall. I asked, “Where do you feel the issues are? What do you feel the solution is? What do you think about your tasks and how do you feel about your performance in those areas? What do they need for resources and tools? How can I assist? Thoughtfully, I addressed that I was the direct contact for any requests or need and it is my responsibility to manage them. I also gave them direction on how to manage their tasks and what priority actions to take first, creating a time management schedule with them.
This individual felt that there was a lot of gray area regarding who they reported to, what tasks were a priority, and the expectations of their conduct, productivity, and focus with my lead. As a leader, I failed to organize this and build structure, as well as follow up and be open about expectation from this employee. When I realized the situation needed attention, I said to myself, “how do I make this better? What is the best approach? Who can give me some insight?”. My previous bias was that this employee had been working in the organization for years, and I assumed they had knowledge of the job, and the structure of reporting daily. It was a positive bias, but a bias that skewed the facts based on my assumptions that employees with tenor are self-directed and “know the ropes”. In my critical thinking, I should have addressed all of these things beforehand.
It is never fun to make mistakes, but they happen to everyone at times. Sometimes our mistakes accumulate slowly, without knowing the impact until its significant. Being a critical thinker involves moving forward and continually attempting to move forward and finding solutions, even when we fail. It is being proactive instead reactive as well. I accept my failures, but I will move on from them, learning a lesson.
These biases can arise when one relies on their personal assumptions based on past experiences, as well as political, moral, and ethical beliefs to make a judgement.
A time when I failed to utilize my critical thinking was when I progressively had a difficult time with an employee that was transferred to me. They were triangulating various requests to manager’s when the requests should have come to me for approval. They did not complete tasks assigned and would say that they had other obligations. The employee had a difficult time when faced with feed-back on their work as well. Being a newcomer to the agency, I respected the work everyone put forth, but the situation had become progressively worse. There were short falls in goals and a decline in their acknowledgement of tasks. I was receiving complaints from clients as well, I knew it had gone too far.
Being their direct supervisor, I said to myself, “How can I effectively and thoughtfully provide feedback to this employee? Why is the area confusing as far as reporting? How can I clear this up? Who is involved in their various reporting? What are the tasks she is assigned during her day? How can I monitor that?”
I realized that I needed to pull together the other managers involved and verify any tasks the employee was completing for them. I would also inventory what was assigned from myself as well. I presented the issue to the other managers and requested that they refer the employee to me in the event there is a request, as well.
I then contacted the employee and discussed some of the data I review weekly and addressed the areas needing improvement overall. I asked, “Where do you feel the issues are? What do you feel the solution is? What do you think about your tasks and how do you feel about your performance in those areas? What do they need for resources and tools? How can I assist? Thoughtfully, I addressed that I was the direct contact for any requests or need and it is my responsibility to manage them. I also gave them direction on how to manage their tasks and what priority actions to take first, creating a time management schedule with them.
This individual felt that there was a lot of gray area regarding who they reported to, what tasks were a priority, and the expectations of their conduct, productivity, and focus with my lead. As a leader, I failed to organize this and build structure, as well as follow up and be open about expectation from this employee. When I realized the situation needed attention, I said to myself, “how do I make this better? What is the best approach? Who can give me some insight?”. My previous bias was that this employee had been working in the organization for years, and I assumed they had knowledge of the job, and the structure of reporting daily. It was a positive bias, but a bias that skewed the facts based on my assumptions that employees with tenor are self-directed and “know the ropes”. In my critical thinking, I should have addressed all of these things beforehand.
It is never fun to make mistakes, but they happen to everyone at times. Sometimes our mistakes accumulate slowly, without knowing the impact until its significant. Being a critical thinker involves moving forward and continually attempting to move forward and finding solutions, even when we fail. It is being proactive instead reactive as well. I accept my failures, but I will move on from them, learning a lesson.
