The Manager - 123 - Critical Thinking
THE MANAGER - BY ROB LAMBERT
Hi,
I hope you are doing safe and well. One of the joys of teaching / home schooling / remote learning, is I get to help my sons explore their topics and create their own work. There’s not a lot of difference between home schooling and my own personal learning; except maybe my kids are learning at a more advanced level..
It reminds me a lot of coaching managers and executives, except my kids seem more curious to understand "why?".
My sons are curious to explore more than the text states, in fact, they’re actively encouraged to do so. To put the work up for trial, to explore counter arguments, to critically think about the facts, to not always trust every opinion or source of information.
It’s a shame so much of this is taught at school, yet so little makes its way into the workplace.
Its why so many off-the-shelf agile frameworks exist. It's why employee engagement surveys are rolled out. Its why industry management reports are bought by the bucketload. It's why management is dull. It’s mainstream, middling, mediocre in most companies. It’s standard.
It’s standard because so many leaders and execs have lost the art of critical thinking. To study. To challenge. To listen to those who shout the loudest but put their views and opinions up for trial.
The core theme running through everything I do here at Cultivated Management is studying and critical thinking. It’s how to become a great manager and leader.
Not criticising, but critically thinking about our work and the nonsense that flies at us.
Why does that process fail?
Is this standard approach really solving our problems?
If our customers are exceptional, why do we treat them all the same?
If we value initiative and creativity, why do we not make time for it?
Is this off-the-shelf framework really solving the problems we have?
Management is about listening to everyone, especially the quiet ones. Management is about taking on views, opinions, data, thoughts and insights – and then breaking them down, like we would for a history assignment, or a geography test. Extracting the truth, challenging assumptions, breaking down complicated statements and finding the information that helps us move forward.
If more of this was done in business, we wouldn’t have so many execs and managers copying what others are doing in the hope of achieving the same results. When the reality is, their company is unique. Their problems are their own. Their people are unique and exceptional.
How to think critically in a nutshell.
These three questions are my starting point for critical thinking:
Is what has been said ALWAYS true and right? (As in, does it always work?)
Was there ever a time when it wasn’t true or right? (As in, are there examples when it didn’t work and why did it not?)
If this is TRUE and RIGHT, then the opposite of it must be false and wrong? Is that a fair statement?
You can apply this to agile as a methodology, management by objectives, employee engagement initiatives, agile frameworks, design thinking and more.
There are usually examples of where they work, examples of where they don’t and people doing something different and achieving great results. Much of what we encounter and hear about the world of work is rarely black and white. It's rarely the ONE way. It's rarely a best practice. The answer for most of us is in the middle, a mashup of many.
Everyone in business can apply this critical thinking. But it’s especially important for those making strategic and budgetary decisions. Listen, appraise, put it up for trial, move ahead.
Today, try applying those three questions to something at work; an opinion; a framework; a “standard” business report and more.
And if you’re already applying this sort of thinking, try the Phoenix checklist for boss level critical thinking – wonderful questions to ask to really get to the heart of the problem.
Until next time
Rob..
Latest Video
Video 2 in the 5 part meditations on management video series. Chilled beats, lessons on management.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKdBH-NBsoE
FOOD FOR YOUR BRAIN
1 - Seth Godin on tolerance.
You could just take his advice and put it to work in your role in your company. Don’t tolerate poor behaviours – instead put the community of your team first. I’d say this slightly differently – “don’t let someone bring down the team”. And of course, you don’t get behaviours you expect, you get what you tolerate.
"Tolerance doesn’t mean permitting behaviour that undermines the community. In fact, it requires that we put the community first. Instead, it’s a willingness to focus on contribution instead of compliance." 2 - Do you suffer from anxiety? Some ideas for dealing with it. 3 - Helping audiences overcome the Ostrich effect (burying head in sand) 4 - Why it feels like you don’t have enough time - (if you run out of free articles, try a private/incognito tab) 5 - How to be happier in work without changing your jobs - (if you run out of free articles, try a private/incognito tab) 6 - Oh my. The smart home sounds good, but when it gets hacked…. 7 - I’ve been reading a fabulous little book about going “offline” to create your best work. (affiliate link). Offline Matters by Jess Henderson is very good. 8 - Google is now experimenting with removing some news from people’s search results…. So, we can’t trust Facebook for a balance of news... now we can’t trust Google search? I sometimes wonder why I work in tech..
Learn with me
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Thanks
Rob..