What really kills critical thinking
By: Anton Nikolov
Tags: Design Thinking, UX, Critical Thinking, Self Improvement, Problem Solving

Haste

Many of us have been in fast-changing work situations that rarely allow us to think things through. Formulating proper questions, outlining assumptions and gathering information would be a good way to deal with such situations. However, hasty changes are one of the best killers of critical thinking. Having no time to evaluate the different angles and collect the necessary evidence, and data, destroys all chances of cultivating proper critical thinking.

Critical thinking requires from us to dedicate time for reflection and consideration from different angles. Time is an essential ingredient in the condensation of knowledge. It is needed if we are to forecast what will be the effect of each option we can choose from. If we have the time, thinking critically allows us to separate the facts from the fiction and then reach actionable decisions. Haste is the quick ninja that slices the critical thinking samurai when he/she is not prepared.

Authority

From a historical point military chain of command is a good example to illustrate this killer. The person that has the highest authority in the organization is the only source of “true” knowledge. “A soldier does not need to think, just act.” Any challenger gets discarded or even punished in some way for insubordination. It is astonishing how often this killer is present in modern organizations and businesses even startups.

Critical thinking can only thrive in environment that supports questioning. When the authority does not allow or encourage the followers to challenge things with questions, critical thinking starts to bleed. And when authority does not admit the evidence and facts, critical thinking has little to no chance of happening. The Authority type of Ninja is a hard one to deal with, but not impossible.

Absolutism

The source of absolutism frequently is strong personality in the group that has a black and white perspective in regards to the challenge/problem. Other times absolutism is built on top of group assumptions and making quick inferences based on the limited evidence and data we have.

Allowing for a phrase like “This is impossible!”, “This is true every time”, “Users don’t scroll” or similar can quickly kill any critical thinking.

Neglecting the complexity of life and all the connections between the dots is one of the strongest assassins of critical think. We live in a paradoxical world where things can be true and false at the same time depending on context and viewpoint. It is important to remember that absolutism feeds on narrow minds.

Conservatism

The resistance to innovation and change is another dangerous killer of critical thinking. People are creatures of habit so we have the tendency of feeling uncomfortable when things need to change, especially when we already are used to the current circumstances.

Phrases like “We’ve always done things like that!” or “Why should we fix what is not broken?” can be strong signs for conservative thinking. When critical thinking is met with resistance and negativity from people that have conservative nature it becomes a very challenging task to keep it alive.

Labels

Labelling things and/or people without proper thoughtful deliberation is another killer of critical thinking. Being reactive and slapping a label immediately puts a limiting frame. If that is done too quickly it will stop any critical thinking seed from sprouting.

Labels have tremendous power that can be used to foster critical thinking or to kill it. Labels help us group knowledge together, but they also can bias us without us even realizing it. That is true especially in bigger work groups where participants might not even realize how the majority can impact the individual perception. This social phenomenon is called Conformity bias. When we get biased, we start to fit the evidence into the label, and we become blind to the holistic picture.

Tips to help you deal with these killers

Take the time to reflect on your own physical, psychological and emotional state. To cultivate your best critical thinking, it is preferable to be well-rested and in a relatively balanced emotional state. Feeling too energetic is not good since it can lead to hasty decisions, therefore, inviting some of the critical thinking killers.

Questions are your primary weapons

Questions are essentials to be able to cut through illusions and assumptions. Question everything you think might be more than it seems. Asking well-targeted questions will help foster critical thinking. Proper questions are powerful, they have the potential to shift reality and uncover new dimensions.

“Why” questions are very good at that job even when they sound stupid. Just think of how kids tend to question all the labels we are so used to using in our daily life. You probably have heard about the “5 Why” method, I would suggest using as many whys as you think are necessary to reach the facts. Sometimes even one powerful WHY can open the way for the HOW.

“What if…” and “How might we…” questions are very effective at challenging any hasty labelling or polar statements. They can stretch the existing labels and create openings to exploit.

Using proper questions will allow you to manipulate things around and see them from different perspectives. It will help you re-label existing labels when you uncover the truth behind them.

Prepare in advance for hasty situations

The best thing we can do for hasty situations is to prepare in advance by emulating situations in order to construct new mental models. This way we can build an arsenal that can be triggered when a hasty situation rises. The more possible future scenarios you can foresee the better you can prepare. Look at them from multiple angles and see if you can predict how things will change based on potential actions.

Professionals that are required to think quickly in complex situations, train themselves in that way. Training your brain to store mental model for potential complex and hasty situations is the next best thing to proper critical thinking process. It is one of the best ways to defend against the critical thinking killer Haste.

Leaders should create safe space for challengers

Authority holders should establish safe space and time, where everything can be challenged, especially assumptions that have no factual support. Establishing psychologically safe environment for the team should be a priority.

Final decisions should be made after challenging the assumptions. This will create good environment to cultivating critical thinking even in very strict hierarchical organizations. Great leaders are the leaders that truly listen to the people they lead before making decisions. I would suggest checking the The 5 Levels of Leadership by John Maxwell as inspirational material for improving your leadership skills.

Listen well and with intention. Sometimes we value too much the loudest voices when we need to be able to tune our ears to listen to the quiet ones. Wisdom has the habit of hiding in the quietest places.

Make a case for critical thinking benefits

When facing authority or/and absolutism making a solid case of how critical thinking can be beneficial will most likely be the best course of action. Make a fact-based case with measurable results that will prove the value of resolving a challenge with critical thinking. Then use that case to hypnotize the critical thinking killers.

Sometimes it will require you to do it more than once or twice. Do not give up! Be like persistent water that sooner or later finds the cracks and widens them to shape a new landscape. The same principle is valid for opening the mind of the authority beholder.

Make open-mindedness to be a default mindset

Aim to keep an open mindset all the time. Know that there are only few constants in life and to my knowledge they all support diversity. Diversity means complexity and interconnectedness. When you feel a polar or absolute thought coming to your mind, attack it with questions. Questions will help you figure out what are the other possibilities in the “im-possible”.

Dedicate enough time for evaluation of all relevant evidence and exploration of the options to happen. Evaluate the potential risks and then make an educated decision. Measure the impact of the decisions and see if that will help you tackle the Conservatism that tries to kill critical thinking.