Avoiding five critical-thinking killers

Becki stands in an office lounge with floor to ceiling windows, black armchairs and a gray L-shaped couch. Would you say that your organization is slow paced? If so, you're in rare company. Your fast pace probably means that sometimes you feel too busy to think it's about getting stuff done. Fast paced business can be a critical thinking killer, but it's not one of the top five. Here are the top five and ways to avoid them. In a simple illustration, a white man with reddish brown hair and a beard wears a crown and long purple robes. He stands on a stool with his hands on his hips, staring to the left, where a group of people is vaguely silhouetted in gray. The title of the illustration reads Overreliance on Authority. The first one is overreliance on authority. We see this in hierarchical organizations where the boss is the source of beliefs and knowledge. Critical thinking requires questioning, but it doesn't work if you can't question the boss. Back to the instructor. As an expert, you're a legitimate source of opinion, but critical thinking values evidence over authority. Empower your team to weigh evidence, challenge assumptions, and propose different conclusions, even if they're at odds with your own. On a white slide titled black and white thinking, a narrow, rectangular bar is half black and half white. Number two, black and white thinking. The tendency to place things in absolute either or categories. You're with us or against us. This ignores complexity and nuance. Another bar appears below it labeled critical thinking. The bar is a gray gradient. Not good for critical thinking. We return to the instructor. Recognize the difference between negatives, hot, not hot, and opposites. Hot, cold. With negatives, it's either or. With opposites, the truth of one, hot, doesn't necessarily disprove the other, cold. Both could be true, both could be false. Thinking about negatives versus opposites helped our client, Rachel, move her team away from black and white thinking toward critical thinking. This was instrumental in the decision to proceed with a merger. Rachel's team recognized the difference between merge now not now versus merge now later. New and better options like to stage the merger became clearer. In an illustration, a woman with long red hair holds up a set of scales. One side of the scales has a green checkmark. The other side has a red X. Number three, hasty moral judgments. Quick evaluations of someone or something as good or bad. We return to the instructor. Ever heard something like, just matter? Doesn't look the part. Yep. Hasty moral judgment. Now it's okay to have moral beliefs. It's the hasty part that's the problem. Hastyness is a reaction from cultural conditioning that blocks critical thinking. Relegate moral judgments to after thoughtful deliberation. This reduces their negative influence on critical thinking. On a white slide titled labels, vague illustrations of people in uniform stand in a row. From left to right, they're a doctor, a stewardess, a construction worker, a chef, a maid, and a police officer. Four labels, we can't communicate without them. She's a doctor. He's a politician. But an overreliance on labels can kill critical thinking. We return to the instructor. Labels cause us to lump things together, miss differences, and justify our assessments when we should use more relevant evidence. A woman with shoulder length, wavy dark hair appears over the shoulder of a man with short, dark hair and mustache, who is sitting at a computer terminal. They're in an office. Nathan's label was millennial. His boss, Wendy, ignored Nathan's research, suggesting that working from home reduces attrition. We return to the instructor. Instead of challenging the label and using critical thinking to assess the evidence, Wendy said Nathan would say that working from home is better because he's a millennial. Challenge labels, question their meaning, establish new labels. Resist altering evidence to fit the label. Sure, Nathan was a millennial. He was also an accomplished data scientist. On a white slide titled resistance to change, the vague illustration of a gray haired white man in a sweater vest folds his arms in an obstinate posture. Red exclamation points surround his head. Number five, resistance to change. Reacting immediately and negatively to ideas, beliefs and attitudes that challenge our own. This reflects resistance to change. We return to the instructor. The ability to change your mind is a requirement for critical thinking. A white box briefly appears next to Becki reading, set aside immediate and emotional reactions. Set aside immediate reactions and emotional responses. Show your team that with robust, relevant evidence, you won't resist change. Look out for these critical thinking killers and use these strategies to avoid them. That's the first step toward improving your judgments and decisions.