Post by Lorna Beaton on Feb 10, 2021 12:50:24 GMT
What gets in the way of critical thinking?
Many people can memorize a solution to a problem but improving your critical thinking skill set means you can create limitless solutions. That said, there is a lot that can get in the way of critical thinking. When we go through the process of evaluating information, we need to consider our own and others bias and prejudices towards the evidence being gathered and analyzed. We need to ask the right questions and cut through the noise and manipulation that lacks evidence.
Unfortunately, not all issues are black and white, it can sometimes feel easier to fall back on our own, grey perspectives therefore sabotaging our own critical thought. Defaulting and limiting our thoughts to our own inherited opinions could be classed as intellectual laziness, an unwillingness to listen, arrogance and a lack of respect for evidence and reason. Moreover, we can be blinded by time constraints and drive a solution through without using a critical thinking framework. One of the risks here could be going down a needless path and losing more time and resource in the long run. Not fully engaging with critical thinking could also mean not challenging our thoughts and fixed ideas, ultimately just operating within our comfort zone. This stagnant approach could lead to the status quo going unchallenged and risk business growth.
Share an example of where you did not use your critical thinking skills. What was the outcome and how could / would it have been different if you had applied critical thinking skills?
During the pandemic many of our key stakeholders suffered from service disruption. Government guidance meant working remotely was mandatory for most services and some services did not have the technology to support their methods of delivery. This disruption posed a risk to our contractual engagement targets and stakeholder relationships. Our key stakeholder is The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), the UKs welfare support and employability service. My main stakeholder priority was to ensure DWP were informed of our service delivery adaptations.
As the DWP opened their communication up again I developed a revised FSS service presentation for all regions to receive remotely. This meant digitally organizing hundreds of DWP staff working from home onto zoom sessions. My plan, not our plan was then to have my team attend and observe these remote presentations for them then to roll out to other stakeholders. I was aware my team was inexperienced with remote presentation delivery but felt I was supporting them by writing up the presentation, organizing meetings and giving them opportunity to observe. Unfortunately, my approach left a few staff very overwhelmed and I had to go back to the beginning of coaching presentation delivery and picking up more presentation delivery until they were up to speed. Although, I had asked questions around skill levels I did not listen to some responses around confidence levels. If I had taken more time to ask the right questions and been open to responses, I would have saved more time in the long run. Ironically, on reflection my approach was probably born of my experience 20 years ago being thrown in at the deep end and getting on with it. If I had stood back, took some time and asked the right questions rather than ploughing on, I would have seen that my approach was flawed and wishful rather than critical thinking.
Many people can memorize a solution to a problem but improving your critical thinking skill set means you can create limitless solutions. That said, there is a lot that can get in the way of critical thinking. When we go through the process of evaluating information, we need to consider our own and others bias and prejudices towards the evidence being gathered and analyzed. We need to ask the right questions and cut through the noise and manipulation that lacks evidence.
Unfortunately, not all issues are black and white, it can sometimes feel easier to fall back on our own, grey perspectives therefore sabotaging our own critical thought. Defaulting and limiting our thoughts to our own inherited opinions could be classed as intellectual laziness, an unwillingness to listen, arrogance and a lack of respect for evidence and reason. Moreover, we can be blinded by time constraints and drive a solution through without using a critical thinking framework. One of the risks here could be going down a needless path and losing more time and resource in the long run. Not fully engaging with critical thinking could also mean not challenging our thoughts and fixed ideas, ultimately just operating within our comfort zone. This stagnant approach could lead to the status quo going unchallenged and risk business growth.
Share an example of where you did not use your critical thinking skills. What was the outcome and how could / would it have been different if you had applied critical thinking skills?
During the pandemic many of our key stakeholders suffered from service disruption. Government guidance meant working remotely was mandatory for most services and some services did not have the technology to support their methods of delivery. This disruption posed a risk to our contractual engagement targets and stakeholder relationships. Our key stakeholder is The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), the UKs welfare support and employability service. My main stakeholder priority was to ensure DWP were informed of our service delivery adaptations.
As the DWP opened their communication up again I developed a revised FSS service presentation for all regions to receive remotely. This meant digitally organizing hundreds of DWP staff working from home onto zoom sessions. My plan, not our plan was then to have my team attend and observe these remote presentations for them then to roll out to other stakeholders. I was aware my team was inexperienced with remote presentation delivery but felt I was supporting them by writing up the presentation, organizing meetings and giving them opportunity to observe. Unfortunately, my approach left a few staff very overwhelmed and I had to go back to the beginning of coaching presentation delivery and picking up more presentation delivery until they were up to speed. Although, I had asked questions around skill levels I did not listen to some responses around confidence levels. If I had taken more time to ask the right questions and been open to responses, I would have saved more time in the long run. Ironically, on reflection my approach was probably born of my experience 20 years ago being thrown in at the deep end and getting on with it. If I had stood back, took some time and asked the right questions rather than ploughing on, I would have seen that my approach was flawed and wishful rather than critical thinking.
