Amidst the world of today that is technology-driven in its peculiar fast pace, finding a work-life balance requires critical thinking. This form of self-development is essential in making the right decisions. Being a skilled thinker is a very important skill that we must have and practice daily to be the best at it. Be it a manager, professional or consultant.
Being a critical thinker will help you find solutions to various circumstances either in the corporate world or in your personal life. Critical thinking no doubt is a discipline art of finding the best decision to approach any kind of circumstances. Am sure many are familiar with the 5Ws we usually ask ourselves during critical thinking which is: Who did what? When did it happen? Where did it happen? Why was it done? and what was the motive behind what was done? All of these will help us in critical thinking and in turn, ensure we make an unbiased decision.
However, we are going a little deeper into critical thinking to analyze the 3Cs in a process of making a rich decision using critical thinking. They are 1. Clarify your thinking. 2. Consolidate your points 3. Criticize your decision and then conclude to make a decision.
Clarify your thinking:
It is important to have the knowledge of how the mind works and filters through our thinking. We must be able to pin down our thoughts, giving them a clear meaning and direction. Take for instance, when in a situation of being a mediator in the conflict between two subordinates at work, you must be able to clarify what each person is saying, see beyond the surface and think beneath what each is saying to justify their actions. The essence of this is to figure out what really transpired.
Consolidate on Points:
Discipline thinking requires staying focused on points. It’s very easy for the mind to wander from salient points to irrelevant points. Ensuring the mind stays focused is the discipline needed to consolidate valid points when thinking or about deciding. The art of disciplining the mind to concentrate on the points that help figure out a particular circumstance is mastering the art of consolidation in critical thinking. Just like in our earlier scenarios of being a mediator between two subordinates in conflict. Being able to find a common point between the two parties and staying on it to resolve the conflict is consolidating on points.
Criticize your decision:
Skilled thinkers have one thing that is peculiar to them, that is: they question their decisions. They are willing to change their thinking when they discover a better one. Skilled thinkers never have a boxed decision because they understand that their decisions can be criticized to bring a better one.
In conclusion, we can see from the 3Cs discussed above those emotions and sentiments are not part of the tools in making a rich decision using the process of deep thinking. So as managers, we can make rich and objective decisions using some of these deep-thinking processes, but they must be devoid of emotions and sentiments.
I remain my humble self, M.A.
