Most companies will have managers on their team. There are different types of managers, but they follow a general job description. In most cases, they oversee a team or a group of people in a certain department.
Managers take care of the overall performance of their assigned department or area. They make sure that it’s provisioned and well-staffed. They make decisions such as hiring and training employees.
Making decisions that will impact their own group, department, or the company in general require skills that involve critical thinking. Critical thinking skills are crucial for managers because it will help them solve problems within the team more efficiently.
What is critical thinking and what are the critical thinking skills for managers? Critical thinking is the process of analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing facts about an issue so that a decision or judgment can be made.
Critical Thinking Skills For Managers
- Managers need to learn to observe and then ask questions.
As manager, you are not supposed to take things at face value. When you receive a report, When a report is passed to managers, evaluate and verify information stated in the report. Ask questions from colleagues and employees.
- Managers should think broadly and evaluate the validity of ideas, arguments, and points raised.
As a manager, you’ll always have to look at the bigger picture. You’ll have to be always curious – always questioning. You should not be immediately satisfied with what is presented to you. Always have a thirst for knowledge, this will help you see the bigger picture.
- Be open to bigger ideas.
A manager will never stay inside their comfort zone. You will always have to think outside the box.
- Managers should learn to reason clearly.
When you ask questions, you get enough information to make intelligent decisions. Once you get the different answers to your questions, maintain a clear mind to think things through – deeply and carefully.
Weigh in your options and think about different possible scenarios.
Think about the worst thing that could happen, but also think about what good may come out of the different options. Consider what impact a particular decision would have – on the people and on the company, in general.
Consider the pros and cons. Make a list of the benefits and detriments of certain actions (options). Analyze your list. If you listed 5 pros and 2 cons, ask yourself if they are of equal weight. Do these cons far outweigh the 5 pros?
Ask questions, analyze, evaluate, and you’ll see the bigger picture.
- Managers should know how to organize their thoughts so they can have good working relationships with both their subordinates, colleagues, and superiors.
There are mangers who fail in doing their job because they fail to communicate well. For some, they are always overcome with emotions causing them to say and do things they’d regret once they have calmed down.
You should learn how to organize your thoughts – even before you say and do anything. Learning to organize your thinking goes a long way in terms of your overall relationships with the people you work with, whether they are your superiors or your subordinates.
Organizing one’s thinking may be different for different people. For some, they are comfortable having a journal where they write their thoughts, ideas, dreams, aspirations, opinions, etc.
For others, they take advantage of technology and create online to-do-lists with their PDAs or personal digital assistants.
Whatever method you want to adapt will be up to you. Choose one wherein you’ll be most comfortable with. It is important to find a way to organize your though process. Doing so will get you one step closer to organizing your life.
- Managers should give time to thinking.
Your brain is like a muscle that you need to exercise to function the way it should be. Immerse yourself in activities that will stimulate your brainpower. Be committed to self-growth and to achieving good health.
For instance, you have tons of magazines and other reading materials just sitting on your desk. If you are always swamped with work and you don’t have time to read them (hence, they just keep on piling up), make it a point to pick two mags with relevant content every start of the week.
Run through the table of contents and choose at least 3 topics (articles) that you can read over lunch, or when riding the bus or subway, or during your coffee break.
You’ll find this practice more efficient in the long run. Aside from getting caught up with relevant things, you also get to exercise your brain. Reading is a good brain stimulant.
Finding the time to read can also apply to taking time to think. This allows you think things carefully and rationally. This will help avoid making hurried decisions and actions.
Need to make an important decision? If time permits, take a walk first and think. You’ll be amazed at how fresh your mind will become after you’ve taken a “thinking break”.
- Managers should learn to look at problems as challenges to overcome.
Most managers also fail at this. Often, you might look as problems as a hindrance to achieving their goals, that they end up ignoring the problems rather than facing them.
A strong manager will have a different perspective – they will look at every aspect, every option, and every possible action to work around their problems.
Learn to “explore” the problems you are presented.
- Managers are not afraid to discover different perspectives.
As a manager, you should look beyond the facts, as you learned earlier. But you’ll also have to be open to other people’s perspectives. Don’t be afraid to ask for other people’s opinions, suggestions, and ideas.
- Managers are fair and reflective.
A good manager will always play fair. It is important that you carefully analyze if you are playing favorites or you are biased that may be clouding your decision-making.
As a manager, you should be able to give equal opportunities to all your employees. Also, you should also have to know when to reprimand (punish) an employee who may have done wrong.
Critical thinkers make decisions not just based on intuition or instinct alone. Everything is based on facts, information gathered, and careful evaluation.
Critical thinking is a life skill that not only managers can learn.
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