Here are 10-pointers why Critical Thinking is important. Critical thinking is NOT about answering questions but questioning answers.
We are in a constant state of information overload. Time is an essence. We are expected to make decisions in the spur of the moment with little or ambiguous information. The business environment is increasingly experiencing and exposed to VUCA. Here are some of the reasons why Critical Thinking or Enhanced Cognitive Effectiveness is becoming important to your organization.
1) Increasing group thinking – if people remain in one organization or work in a common environment, they would start thinking in the same way as their peers, subordinates or even their bosses. This is a psychological phenomenon where a desire for conformity within a group results in them making an irrational decision, by actively suppressing dissenting viewpoints in the interest of minimising conflict, group members reach consensus without critically evaluating alternative viewpoints. Group thinking must be minimised especially in the current VUCA environment.
2) We are unable to recognise our biases/unconscious biases, such that we make decisions based on preset thinking or environmental variables. The decisions made may not be applicable to the current situation and in some cases be detrimental to the business as a whole.
3) We make assumptions and don’t acquire a greater insight into the motives of others – hence making decisions without exploring in depth the reasons and rationals why people make certain decisions.
4) We are exposed to lack of sound arguments and can’t get a buy-in to our ideas, because we are unable to articulate them logically and rationally to our supervisors, peers and team members. We experience difficulty in building credibility within our organization.
5) Getting sidetracked on key issues and drawing conclusions and not being aware of the relevance. This may result in loss of productivity through engagement of topics that are not related to the issues that are being discussed.
6) Lack of ability to think logically about matters and question them to another level, so that we ensure that the answers may be applied to the decisions that we want to take.
7) Working on least priority issues if we don’t understand of the significance of the topic to the success of our jobs and career.
8) Ineffective problem analysis and decision making outcomes.
9) Lack of ability to identify, organise and effectively use resources to accomplish projects/tasks. With critical thinking, one is able to set objectives and accurately identifies scopes, timeline and task difficulty.
10) Lack of ability to accurately anticipate trends and create appropriate plans and straggles to implement plans.
