Description: Critical thinking is the ability to think reflectively and independently in order to make thoughtful decisions.
By focusing on root-cause issues critical thinking helps you avoid future problems that can result from your actions.
In this course, leadership trainer and expert Mike Figliuolo outlines a series of techniques to help you develop your critical thinking skills.
He reveals how to define the problem you're trying to solve and then provides a number of critical thinking tools such as blowing up the business, asking the 5 whys and the 7 so whats, exploring the 80/20 rule, and more.
He also provides guidance on how to develop this skill across your whole team.
Think back about the causes and forward with the consequences
5 why to get to the core of the issue
5 whats to get at the bottom of the results
Make sure you’re solving the problem and not a symptom
break down large and complex problems into smaller more atomic problems and focus on fixing them
Thinking the Problem Through
Problem statement: define what successfully solving that problem means
problem charter
Outline goals
Map boundaries
Define Success
Acknowledge constraints
Articulate assumptions
Identify stakeholders
Establish timelines
Ask the questions behind the question
Seek to understand why a solution is needed in the first place
What’s driving the question?
Why do they really care?
Examine past efforts
Don’t reinvent the wheel
What have we tried before
What was effective and ineffective
How is the situation different
Who addressed the issue before
Get insights, context and potentially support from them
What were our limitations last time
Use new lenses to think critically
Changing PoV
People at different levels in the organization will have different perspective on the same problem
Changing context
Can you imagine the same pb in new ways
We often take a more functional PoV
A finance guy will look at the pb as a finance pb
Changing reality
What if we could removed some of the constraints
What if we had access to different resources
find someone with a completely different perspective from you to add dimensions to your perception and understanding of the problems, and find more innovative solutions
How to find root cause
When solving a problem make sure to analyze causality, and add your thoughts to the problem statement
Get to the root of the problem, and make sure you understand the impact/consequences of any decision.
Make sure you understand the chronology: what causes what, which causes what.
If I do this, then this might happen, will help you predict the outcomes you face.
makes sure you solve the right problem with the consequences intended
Using Critical Thinking tools
Business Model Blowup
Rethink about your market
If we were to start over today what would we do differently
Revenue Blowup
How do you expand your revenue
Who is creating more value than we can and how are they doing it
Cost Blowup
How do you eliminate drag to become more efficient
How would you operate your business with 2 third fewer people
How would you eliminate your job?
What’s the most wasteful thing we do
Using the 5 Whys
Good insight usually resides at the 4th or 5th Why
Using the 7 So-whats
Reveal consequences of an action
Business
Market
Associates
Avoid future problems that are the consequences of the recommendation you made
80/20 rule for critical thinking
20% of input drives 80% of output
Focus in these not the 80 than brings 20
In problem solving
What are the major drivers of impact
Spend your time solving these first
Conduct analysis
High road
What am I proving
Will it be beneficial
Will it have an impact
apply the 80/20
If they don’t stop the analysis and stay in the high road
Low road
only run the numbers you need
Get in and out of the data
Don’t spend days
Don’t polish dirt
If it’s a rough analysis let it rough
Don’t spend time refining an answer when a rough estimate will do
Consider the answer
Look for similar situations and past experiences and their outcomes
Consider the relative size
Will it have a big enough impact for us to care
If not, even if it’s a great idea, we may want to push it on the side and focus on more impactful things
Explore connections to other problems
Apply insights from problems of similar characteristics from different situations
Teach others critical thinking
Teach them
Give them opportunity to practice
Coach
Hold them accountable when they’re not applying the methods
Common pitfalls
Jump to conclusion too quickly before fully understand what the problem is
Being unwilling to expand the problem
Accepting results (numbers) at face value
Take the high road
Look for similarities
Not thinking through consequences
How to get started
Identify a problem you can use critical thinking on