CRITICAL THINKING

Managerial Communication (MCNH22-2)

Name: Anushka Sen

Roll No: H22127
Section: C
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Critical thinking – The best foot forward

According to John Coleman, critical thinking is the cornerstone on which the ability to formulate
effective, deep, and efficient questions rests. Critical thinking is required in all walks and spheres of
life. It does not matter whether you are an accomplished, experienced employee or an intern in the
company. It brings about a new and fresh perspective or outlook, it is often responsible for giving
birth to new and different ideas.

John Coleman gives us the example of Clayton M. Christen, a Harvard Business School graduate to
further strengthen this point. He explains to us how the habit of noting down the questions asked by
his classmates at HBS helped him to think better critically. He would go home and then analyze the
questions to understand the rationale of the students behind coming up with these questions.

Being critically reflective helps a person analyse a process in depth better, and thus his
understanding of the subject also improves. He is more engaged in the entire process as a result the
quality of the work improves. His morale is also boosted due to the praises that he earns because of
his job and on a personal level he also stays satisfied with his job.

The various ways to develop and build on the ability to ask relevant questions as suggested by
Coleman are:

Hypothesis-driven thinking - In this process, you move forward with a hypothesis or an assumption,
but you do not hold it too tightly too your heart. John tells us that McKinsey & Company follows this
approach. It is an effective and efficient way to analyze a problem, especially when you are entirely
new to the sector and are still in way of collecting data to know more about the job at hand. On the
flip side, like every process it also has its downsides if you are too attached to your idea or belief, you
may fall prey to anchoring bias or confirmation bias, thus the process will be counterproductive and
cease to add any value to the entire process. Thus, one needs to balance the urge to align himself to
his idea and continuously be on the quest to validate his idea and even change them in case
anything contrary to the same is witnessed or experienced.

Avoiding herd mentality – John suggests that we should not follow the crowd blindly and should
question, rather than passively accept thoughts or views. Even though it is necessary and help the
group to arrive at a well-informed decision. Following this process might be costly, in terms of time,
effort and reputation. Oftentimes, in professional settings, peoples work with tight deadlines,
violating which might upset the client or bosses, thus one should also take into account the
environment before asking queries. On the other hand, precise queries might also help in reaching
the root cause of the problem. Thus, striking the perfect balance is important so that one is not
yelled at by his superiors, or experiences a feeling of aversion from his colleagues.

Active and deep listening – Active listening helps one to grasp arguments quickly and efficiently, thus
reducing the time required or spent in understanding it. According to research by Yale and Harvard
universities, our brain is wired in such a manner that it gives intuitive answers. Deep listening helps
us to overpower the same. An effective way to go about this is to ask open-ended questions, which
will probe the person to think. Open-ended questions help one to do a root cause analysis and open
up and probe into the problem. It serves as a great exercise for the brain and helps in stimulating it
effectively. The main challenge here is to focus and concentrate for the entire length of the
argument, as the average attention span of a human being is only 12 seconds. Even though open-
ended questions allow for unexpected insights and qualitative data, a lot of times, there is a huge
bulk of noise and irrelevant information, which is hard to analyze due to its unstructured nature.
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Sleep – helps our brain to analyze the problem well and see it more clearly. Rushing to decisions,
often makes us regret the same in the future. Sleep helps us brain to function at its maximum
capacity. According to various scientific research, it also keeps emotions in check, thus helping us in
decision-making. It also helps us to feel rejuvenated and alive. Though sometimes, we might feel
guilty about sleeping instead of completing our job, in the long run, it is beneficial for our mind and
body.

The process of thinking critically and asking questions is a necessary for proving and understanding
the concept and eliminating confusion. It is always an effective tool to demonstrate humility or guide
the conversation in a particular direction. Even though it may irk or irritate people, waste essential
time, be unproductive, and hurt others’ self-esteem. It is still better than complacency.

In the words of Eugene Ionesco, a famous Romanian- French playwriter “It is not the answer that
enlightens but the question.”

Mind Map

Hypothesis
driven
thinking

Avoid
herd
mentality

Develop Ask Active &

Critical effective deep
Thinking question listening

Sleep
well

Ask open
ended
questions