Why the need for critical thinking skills in business?
The capacity to respond well to change is heavily dependent on adaptive decision-making.
Organisations operating during times of ‘extreme change’, experience significantly more stress than during ‘business as-usual’. This is because there is increased pressure on the decision-making capability of the teams, as decisions often need to be made where there is:
Incomplete or conflicting information
The decision-making spectrum runs from ‘business as usual’ to ‘crisis’ mode and the closer the organisation is to ‘crisis mode’ the more likely it is that teams will be forced to make decisions with incomplete or conflicting information.
High levels of scrutiny
Increased pressure from the regulators and greater demands for transparency from customers, employees and communities, expose the decision-making capabilities of leaders in ways that they have not done previously.
Compressed timeframes
Social media, mainstream media and community expectations now have the power to drive the timeframes for when decisions need to be made by leaders, particularly where there are social, customer or community impacts.
Significant impacts
A more agile workforce with distributed decision-making puts pressure onto the quality of the day to day decisions. The cumulative effect of poor decision-making can create significant negative and lasting impacts on an organisation.
What business leaders say
Critical thinking skills in complex organisations
Organisations need teams that are agile, able to learn new skills quickly, solve problems and make decisions with confidence.
The World Economic Forum in its Future of Jobs Report ranked complex problem solving #1 in its Top 10 Skills for jobs.
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Why is it important?
“Team-based critical thinking allows us to be both agile and robust in our decision making, drawing upon the brains trust of our organisation”
CEO, Energy Company
“Critical thinking skills are essential skills for our organisation when responding to the rapid onset of change”
Managing Director, Critical Infrastructure
“By developing our critical thinking capabilities our teams can manage difficult situations well and also see the opportunities to execute our strategy more efficiently”
Executive Leader, Insurance
Why is it so hard?
Critical thinking is a multi-disciplined skillset that relies on input from others.
Currently, there is no universal definition or process to enable team-based critical thinking.
The skills required for critical thinking are:
7 Steps
Enabling Team-Based Critical Thinking
This 7-Step Process is currently used by leaders to help them through critical decision points when there is incomplete or conflicting information, high levels of scrutiny, consequences and compressed timeframes.
The 7-Step Process draws upon a combination of strategic and critical thinking skills from teams and provides thought diversity in problem solving.
The steps allow teams to leverage their individual skills to enable team-based critical thinking.
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Developing critical thinking skills in your organisation
Building a culture of critical thinking relies on strong support structures, tools and a willingness to work well together.
The vast number of skills required to be a critical thinker, highlights the need for a team-based approach that draws upon the brains trust of the organisation.
Scenario-based training, eLearning and experiential learning are ways in which organisations can build capability.
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The value of team-based critical thinking
- Align a diverse group of stakeholders
- Facilitate deeper levels of thinking on a complex problem
- Provide a more robust and objective approach to decision-making
- Challenge assumptions and uncover blind spots
- Build a shared view of the risk and opportunities
- Enable a more adaptive capacity to deal with change
Workforce of the future
85
of companies intend to invest in new technologies like robotics and machine learning by 2022
54
of all employees will require significant re- and upskilling by 2022
41
of employers are set to focus their reskilling provision on high-performing employees
How to develop critical thinking skills in your organisation
The Critical Thinking Training and Accreditation program is designed to uplift and embed capability for individuals, teams and organisations.
The three levels of accreditation are:
Critical Thinking Professional
An individual with exceptional thinking skills who can apply critical thinking process to a range of problems whilst taking input from others.
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Critical Thinking Specialist
A specialist who can lead teams through critical decision points, enable complex problem-solving and drive outcomes.
Critical Thinking Master Facilitator
A facilitator who can lead any team, from the executive to the project team, to enable team-based critical thinking and uplift capability across the whole organisation.
Join our community
Our growing community connects you with other critical thinkers and gives you the tools to enable exceptional thinking…
As a member, you will be exposed to a broad mix of practical experience, senior business leadership ideas, and experts in critical thinking.
7-Step Process and eLearning
Participation in critical thinking labs
Collaboration and networking with critical thinking professionals
Videos from our experts and leadership feedback