Post by Ayia Gospodinova on Feb 12, 2016 1:13:52 GMT
The concept that thinking dispositions can be taught and learned and managers as agents of change from the Critical Thinking for Managers: A Manifesto article, lead me to think about how I could develop these skills more with my team. A lot of times as a manager, I focus on teaching staff more content oriented knowledge and specific thinking that relates to day to day tasks rather than broader thinking and being frustrated with people who don’t already exercise critical thinking. It was interesting reading and thinking about this after I read Steps for Effective Critical Thinking, which provided the key questions one should ask themselves, as it transformed my perception of them into a guide for teaching staff how to develop this skill and questions as an outline for a thought process. The biggest obstacle of not thinking critically is not asking yourself the right questions or enough questions before doing something and responding at face value with a reaction.
Personal Example: When I first became a manager, I started managing but I was still doing more limited amounts of day to day work my line staff was doing. As my team almost doubled in size and we took on new contracts in the past year, I have had to hand off more of the day to day to my team and as well as delegate. With the passage of time I have also become more removed from the experiences of the day to day work. This being said recently, I was coming up with a new process for the team and I took all these aspects for granted and created something without getting my team’s feedback because I was so used doing the day to day work in the past and failed to realize how removed I had become and how my perceptions were outdated. I typically, like asking other colleagues for their opinions on something I’m working as way get an outsider’s perspective but I usually ask others at the same level rather than a mix of levels. This experience taught me that it’s important to ask yourself questions but also periodically evaluate if you are asking yourself the right questions or need to re-adjust your set of questions, especially in relation to work where being in the same environment and content area can misleadingly give the impression of little change.
Personal Example: When I first became a manager, I started managing but I was still doing more limited amounts of day to day work my line staff was doing. As my team almost doubled in size and we took on new contracts in the past year, I have had to hand off more of the day to day to my team and as well as delegate. With the passage of time I have also become more removed from the experiences of the day to day work. This being said recently, I was coming up with a new process for the team and I took all these aspects for granted and created something without getting my team’s feedback because I was so used doing the day to day work in the past and failed to realize how removed I had become and how my perceptions were outdated. I typically, like asking other colleagues for their opinions on something I’m working as way get an outsider’s perspective but I usually ask others at the same level rather than a mix of levels. This experience taught me that it’s important to ask yourself questions but also periodically evaluate if you are asking yourself the right questions or need to re-adjust your set of questions, especially in relation to work where being in the same environment and content area can misleadingly give the impression of little change.