CRITICAL THINKING

Critical thinking is the process of analysing a topic or a problem deeply based on relevant
information.
Here are some common steps to follow when thinking critically to solve a problem: Identify an
issue or a problem.
◦ Understand the reason behind a problem and its solution.
◦ Research and collect data or information on the issue.
◦ Sort and organise findings and data.
◦ Develop and implement solutions.
◦ Analyse the success and failure of different solutions.
◦ Identify ways to refine solutions.
Critical thinking is clear, rational and disciplined
The thinker is open to reorganizing and raising the efficiency of his/her thought process by
reflecting on them
Recognizes the errors and biases that may be present
Critical thinkers use a group of interconnected skills to analyze,unify and evaluate what is heard,
seen or read
 SITUATIONS

On social media, a friend shares a photo of a political candidate standing over a dead elephant. Your
friend is outraged at the idea that this politician killed an elephant. It's tempting to take the picture at
face value and share in your friend's emotional reaction.

You open your email and discover a desperate letter from a friend you haven't talked to lately. In the
letter, your friend says she was on vacation in Africa and ran into legal trouble. The authorities there
are holding her prisoner, and if she can't find the money to pay the bail, she risks lifelong
imprisonment. She begs you to help by sending money to a certain address.

You're a project manager at a pharmaceutical company, and you are managing the launch of a new
product. The new equipment for producing the medication needs to be ready for production in a week,
but the regulatory group doesn't want to sign off on the documentation until you do more testing.
You're getting pressure from the directors to make sure everything is ready for the launch. You apply
critical thinking practices:
SITUATION 1
Is this an opportunity to avoid groupthink, the tendency for a group of people to lose objectivity
and think as one mind?
Is this photograph manipulated? You know it is easy to change a photograph these days.
Is there a reason someone would want you to think something negative about this politician?
Does your friend usually check the validity of things before posting them?
A quick web search reveals that the photo was manipulated by the opponent of the political
candidate. Your critical thinking saved you from spreading misinformation.
SITUATION2
Is your friend even in Africa? You can easily call her or her family to find out.
Does this email look like your friend's writing style? When you analyze it, you see there are many
grammar errors and other mistakes.
Who owns the address where you would send the money?
SITUATION 3
What is the root problem? The regulatory group wants more testing, but the team doesn't have
time to get everyone to sign the documents again.
Will communication help? You talk to the regulatory group and figure out exactly what kind of
testing they need.
How can you save time? You could call a meeting to have everyone sign the documents at once
after the testing has been done.
You conduct the testing the regulatory group needs, call a meeting for everyone to sign, and
meet your goal of launching the product on time. Your critical thinking skills helped you
overcome this challenge.
What is Creative Thinking?
 The ability to imagine or invent something new
 The ability to generate new ideas by combining, changing, or reapplying
existing ideas
 The attitude to accept change and new ideas, a willingness to play with
ideas and possibilities, a flexibility of outlook (Harris, 1998)
Think ………………………………………
You can be a critical thinker without being a creative thinker!

You cannot be a creative thinker without being a critical thinker!

Creative thinking requires four main processes: openness, curiosity, invention, and imagination.

Openness: being able to accept new ideas

Curiosity: helps when considering new ideas
Invention: thinking in an unconventional manner
Imagination: in this case, means looking past current standards
Edward De Bono’s 6
thinking hats
Six hats thinking is a technique that helps individuals and teams look at problems and situations from a
variety of perspectives.

In essence, the six hats direct you on ‘how to think’ rather than ‘what to think’, which means it can be
applied universally.
Blue hat
The blue hat is metaphorically worn by the individual chairing a
meeting, controlling a team, or managing a situation. They will often
provide the ground rules in the form of an agenda, goals and scope.

What is the problem we are dealing with?

What are we trying to achieve in dealing with the problem?
What will be the benefits of solving this problem?
What is the best and most effective way to approach the problem?
White hat
The White hat is used at the beginning and end of a session. Used at the beginning to
concentrate on the facts or data available. Used at the end of a session to question ideas derived
from using the other hats.
GREEN HAT
The green hat is used to encourage new and innovative ideas. Thinking outside the box where
anything should be considered. No negative thinking or comment is allowed at this stage in the
process.
YELLOW HAT
The yellow hat is the optimistic hat, used to consider the possible merits of ideas which may
have been generated by the green hat process.
RED HAT
Red Hat -This is the intuitive hat where feelings and emotions can be expressed, such as fears
and dislikes. These feelings do not need to be justified they just identify gut feelings.
BLACK HAT
Black Hat – The black hat is the negative but logical hat as it looks at possible solutions or ideas
to determine if they may or may not work. Negativity without reason must be avoided as this is
a red hat function.
ORDER
CAN USE IN ANY ORDER BUT RECOMMNEDED
Blue
White
Green
Yellow
Red
BLACK
PROBLEM
“A coffee house (let’s call them ‘coffee stop’) is getting a growing number of complaints from
customers as they are having to wait too long for their coffee – how can they solve this
problem?”

Joe, the current store manager has a team of eight people who work in a variety of roles. As the
shop is closed on a Sunday Joe has asked the team to come together for a problem-solving
exercise.
Blue Hat
When wearing the blue hat groups would be asking themselves things like:

The problem is that there are complaints and continued customer dissatisfaction is not good for
repeat business and reputation
We are trying to improve customer satisfaction and reduce complaints by improving the speed
at which we are able to make coffee
The benefits of solving the problem are improved reputation and more business
The most effective way to solve the problem could be to get a new, improved and faster coffee
machine, address the process for making coffee as it is currently inefficient etc.
White Hat
When wearing the white hat groups would be asking themselves things like:

How many complaints are we getting that relate to the problem of waiting times and the speed
at which we can serve coffee?
How long does it currently take to make a coffee?
Can it be done quicker?
Do solutions exist and if they do, what impact could they have on speed?
Green Hat
When wearing the green hat groups would be getting super positive and innovative. They will be
looking for fresh ideas that may be outside the box. They might try to answer questions like:

What are we missing? Can we fundamentally change the way we make coffee?
Is there a coffee machine that can make coffee quicker than our current machine?
Could we 5S (“sort”, “set in order”, “shine”, “standardize”, and “sustain”) the workplace to make
us leaner and more efficient?
What are other coffee shops doing and how can we do it better/different?
Yellow Hat
When wearing the yellow hat groups would be optimistic, thinking of all the good things that will
arise from the solutions they uncovered in the previous green hat round. For each idea, they
might try to answer questions like:

What are the ways in which this idea can improve our speed in making coffee?
What are all the positive outcomes that can come from this idea, in addition to reducing
complaints and speeding up coffee production?
What are the reasons why we should implement this idea?
RED HAT
When wearing the red hat groups will be throwing out all their negative gut feelings. For each
green hat idea, they might try to answer questions like:

What things could go wrong?

What does my gut tell me about why this won’t work?
Is this idea too expensive, too much work, already dismissed?
Why don’t I like this idea?
When wearing the red hat groups will be using their logical brain (frontal lobe) to consider
negative aspects of ideas, but from a logical standpoint. For each green hat idea and red hat
negative, they might try to answer questions like:

Will this go wrong in practice?

Are there ways to mitigate the things that could go wrong?
Is there any evidence to say that something will go wrong?
Is the reason I have for not liking this idea a valid one?