Examine a concept from as many angles as possible
Leaders MUST shape the learning of others through experiences that reinforce desired behaviors and actions to prevent wasted effort. Leaders help members identify and avoid prior pitfalls while engaging some of the previously involved members to help challenge the thinking. Prior efforts provide the ability to understand what the limitations were the last time and gain shared knowledge that can apply this time around such as:
- Can you change the point of view? look at the problem in different ways, and they'll define it differently depending upon their point of view. The problem will look very different from 10,000 feet versus 50 feet
- Can you change the context? can you reimagine the problem in new ways? We tend to approach the problem from our own functional perspective
- Can you change reality? what if you may find a different way to define the problem that enables you to pursue different opportunities
Spending this critical thinking time around looking at the problem from different angles and understanding what aspects of it can change may help the team uncover that one really big solution that never would have identified with a very limited scope. The ability to think clearly and rationally is important whatever leaders are engaged in. Being able to critically think well and systematically is an asset for any individual. Leaders must develop critical thinking through:
- Seeking out ideas—old and new
- Reading books, periodicals, articles, etc.
- Experimenting, brainstorming, having discussions
- Daring to be different!
- Being open-minded and flexible
- Using a mix of logical, imaginative, and wild thinking
- Building knowledge and intuition base
Leaders with critical thinking competencies can:
- Develop a healthy skepticism toward any information presented as fact
- Apply reasoning and logic to new or unfamiliar ideas, opinions, and situations.
- See things in an open-minded way and examine an idea or concept from as many angles as possible.
- Look past one’s own views of the world and better understand the opinions of others.
