We spend huge amounts of money and time training our employees and leaders on technical and soft skills that they need to do their jobs. What happens, however, when our employees are faced with a new problem, one that was never covered in their training program? Markets, customers, competition, technology—they all change, and so do the challenges that employees have to face. Consequently, employees need to apply their skills and experiences in different ways to create new solutions as new problems arise. 

While there is no formula for problem solving, there are different ways to look at problems, which requires something more than training transfer. Imagine if we could improve our employees’ thinking so that they use their skills in a more effective way, regardless of the situation. They would then make more thoughtful decisions, improve their communications, be stronger leaders, and have more innovative ideas. But how do you accomplish this—how do you teach people to think? 

In comes critical thinking, a methodology that enables people to move beyond their everyday, automatic thinking to a more thoughtful, purposeful mode of thinking. Critical thinking is a process that boosts everyone’s thinking; it allows people to apply whatever skills and knowledge they have in a more productive way. Just think about what could happen if your organization became a critical thinking organization. 

Teaching critical thinking is difficult. You can’t do it using theory or abstraction; an experiential component is essential. The instructor of a critical thinking workshop isn’t just an instructor, but a thinking coach. 

Interested in learning more? Mike Kallet, CEO of HeadScratchers and critical thinking trainer, coach, and speaker, will conduct a session, Critical Thinking for Problem Solving and Decision Making, at the ATD 2016 International Conference & Exposition in Denver. In the session, he will introduce a critical thinking framework and a variety of successful techniques used by critical thinkers. Mike’s been conducting critical thinking workshops for more than 10 years, and recently wrote Think Smarter: Critical Thinking to Improve Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills. You will learn what critical thinking is and why it’s important, and discover core tools for applying critical thinking on the job. You’ll never look at problems quite the same again.