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Critical thinking

Do you…

• Lack time?
• Lack energy, or are you disinterested in the issue under consideration?
• Feel satisfied with an answer too quickly?
• Squash your curiosity. Are you disinclined to explore other possibilities ‘I wonder why…….?’
• Have assumptions that create an easy confidence - ‘I am right about this one’?
• Lack self-knowledge – we all have our thinking preferences, therefore we don’t challenge our own thinking style?
• Fear failure?
• Feel too immersed in the problem – can’t see the wood for the trees?
• Have a strong desire for safety and predictability, perhaps a conservative bias and an over-reliance on rationality?
• Find successful past experiences block the search for new techniques?

'Satisficing'

Consultants are people under pressure and try to reduce complexity in their lives through ‘satisficing’. Reducing complexity in this way limits your cognitive processing so you can think and decide more easily and quickly.

You realise this is a cop out. But maybe you are unaware of this need to limit capacity and make ‘thinking life’ easier?

You probably have good experiences of one way of thinking critically (your natural style, learned over time) – and this has worked well in the past.

This success may block a search for different techniques: ‘Why bother, I always do OK?’ Ultimately this fixation creates a thinking trap. An overly rational approach may also block new perspectives.

People tend to look for evidence to confirm what they believe, and avoid evidence that does not fit. This means missing opportunities to explore further avenues and fully test original hypotheses.

Are you looking for confirmation to increase your confidence, rather than deliberately seeking negative feedback?

Try something new

Some approaches to try…

• Better up-front planning will leave you more time to spend on the important task of critical thinking.
• A quick walk around the block, preferably outside will improve your circulation if you are feeling jaded. Try a mind map – really push for more ideas
• List a few ‘what ifs…?’ and see if you can find at least one more new angle
• When you really think you are right, stop and check your assumptions
• Try one of the psychometric tests to find out how you habitually think – then try a different approach to check the results of your normal approach
• Check if the client is looking for a more innovative approach – perhaps via a pilot to reduce risk
• Stand back from the problem – take a helicopter view of the situation and sketch out a higher level view of the issues