Think back to your school days for a minute. Remember all the activities your teachers would lead you through, having you memorize important facts and dates and names? Remember how hard they focused on getting the class to obey, to behave properly, to be quiet, and to follow instructions to the letter?
For most of us here in Latin America, that’s how we learned throughout our childhoods.
But do you notice what’s missing?
Unless you were really lucky, you didn’t get lessons on how to analyze a situation to discover the underlying reasons why it was happening. No one explained the principles of problem-solving, so that you could apply them to any situation that might arise in your future work or personal life. There were no classes on how to reason through various options and use the available information to arrive at the best possible decision.
What we’re talking about here is critical thinking: a set of techniques for taking control of your mental processes to better understand and respond to the reality around you.
The sad truth is, most people never learn how to think critically. The sadder fact is that most of them don’t even know what they’re missing.
But there’s good news too: if you’re one of the few who’s willing to put in the effort, you can learn the techniques of critical thinking. And once you do, the impact on your professional career and your life will be immense.
Six essential elements of critical thinking
“Thinking clearly” isn’t a very practical definition on its own. But once we unpack the various characteristics of critical thinking, it will be obvious why this is a game-changer.
In general, there are fifteen aspects of critical thinking: analysis, interpretation, inference, evaluation, explanation, self-regulation, problem-solving, decision-making, reasoning, reflection, synthesis, judgment, argumentation, information literacy, and creativity.
But since this is a blog post, not a book, we’re going to strategically limit our scope.
Keep in mind that Kressca is all about soft-skills training and career development for Latin Americans who want to reach their full potential, work smarter, and even go independent or work for companies in the U.S. or Europe. So we’re going to focus on the aspects of critical thinking that are most relevant to that mission.
1. Evaluation
To evaluate critically means to examine the information that’s relevant to a situation. It involves critiquing the validity of the sources of information, differentiating between facts and opinions, and assessing whether the arguments are logically consistent.
Examples of evaluation
- Choosing the most reputable data sources for a report
- Listening to both sides of an argument to see whose perspective is more closely aligned with the facts
- Comparing the recommendations of an expert to see if they contradict themselves
2. Analysis
Analytical thinking involves breaking information down into its parts and considering them from various angles. The goal is to understand the relationships and underlying principles that are bearing on the situation.
Examples of analysis
- Troubleshooting a technical problem to diagnose the exact cause
- Assessing how effective a marketing campaign has been using key performance indicators (KPIs)
- Reviewing proposals from vendors to figure out which best fits the company’s needs
3. Problem-solving
We all solve problems every day, right? But here we’re talking about a systematic way to define a problem and think through the possibilities. It uses the skills of evaluation and analysis to identify the best path forward.
Examples of problem-solving
- Resolving complaints from customers by identifying and fixing the root causes
- Eliminating a bottleneck that’s causing delays in your work
- Scheduling regular team meetings to reduce miscommunications between coworkers
4. Decision-making
In this sense, decision-making isn’t just making any old decision that seems good. It means to use the other skills we’ve mentioned to choose the best possible decision for the situation, based on objective evidence. It also involves understanding how confident you should be about the decision and how much risk is involved.
Examples of decision-making
- Picking software that has the right mix of features for how you work
- Deciding how big a share of the next year’s budget each project should receive
- Choosing the best candidate for the role you’re trying to fill
5. Reflection
Reflection is part of metacognition, which is thinking about your thinking. When you reflect, you’re looking back on how you evaluated and analyzed, how you solved a problem, and whether your final decision was the best one. This gives you a chance to learn from the experience and look for ways to improve.
Examples of reflection
- Debriefing at the end of a project to see what went well and what didn’t
- Double-checking before you make a decision to make sure you considered all the relevant factors
- Analyzing the results of a product launch to see how to make the next one more effective
6. Self-regulation
To self-regulate means to keep an eye on your own thought processes so you don’t go off the rails. We humans are really good at making up things that sound good but aren’t actually true at all. As you use your critical-thinking skills, it’s really important to keep monitoring your thoughts to make sure you aren’t unconsciously fooling yourself.
Examples of self-regulation
- Looking for evidence that goes against your expectations, to make sure you aren’t falling victim to confirmation bias
- Noticing when you have strong emotions and how they’re swaying your opinions
- Staying focused long enough to make sure you’ve gathered all the data you need to make a decision
As you can see, these six skills overlap and support each other. So improving in one area will help you work on the others as well.
Can you see why critical thinking is uncommon in Latin America? The education and training we received as kids really did not give us many chances to practice these skills and make them a natural part of how we operate in the world.
And yet, this is how the business world runs. If you want to qualify for a good job, go independent, or open your own business, you will need to master every single one of these skills.
What’s the opposite of critical thinking?
Everyone thinks they’re thinking. More than that, most people are convinced that they think quite well. (In fact, this phenomenon has a name: the Dunning-Kruger effect, named for the researchers who wrote the definitive paper demonstrating that people everywhere tend to overestimate their abilities.)
But like we mentioned earlier, most people don’t know how to think systematically and critically.
So what’s actually governing their thoughts? There are quite a few possibilities:
- Emotions, good or bad, which they may not even be conscious of
- Impulses that make them want to act without care for the consequences
- Cognitive biases, assumptions, and preconceived ideas
- Stereotypes
- Peer pressure
- Social and cultural norms
- Deference to authority
- Habit and routine
- Gut feelings and intuitions
- The desire for immediate gratification
- Past experiences and assuming that the current situation is identical
These are all powerful forces—and we all use them to guide us sometimes. That’s nothing we should feel bad about. The goal with critical thinking is to rely more on objective logic than on these subjective things. That’s not to say that your emotions should never play into a decision. Of course they should! But we want to avoid running into problems where the things in this list are preventing us from thinking clearly.
By practicing critical-thinking skills, you’ll create some new habits. Beyond that, you’ll actually start to change your brain. What might feel difficult in the beginning will eventually become second nature as new neural pathways are created. You just need to put in the effort.
“Is it too late to learn?”
Well, are you dead? If not, it’s not too late.
Our brains are built for lifelong learning. When we come across new information and try new things, it creates a literal, physical change in our brains. Not just in the brain chemicals that affect so many of our cognitive processes, but in the structure of the brain itself!
The more you practice something, the stronger those connections in your brain become. And this is true for everyone—no matter how young or old you are, no matter how smart you are, no matter what you do with your life.
Depending on your circumstances, some of these skills might feel easier or harder to you. It’s up to you to decide if you want to embrace the challenge. Just remember that consistent, long-term effort matters much, much more than innate abilities.
Take your time. Don’t beat yourself up. Keep trying and expand your skills slowly.
If you truly want to learn how to think critically, you can do it.
Conclusion
Developing your critical-thinking skills is one of the most powerful ways you can take control of your own life. Analysis, problem-solving, and decision-making are vital abilities that employers and clients value incredibly highly. Not just across Latin America, but in the United States, Europe, and all around the world.
Like all soft skills, learning to think critically is like learning another language. Even if it feels a bit clumsy at first, over time it will become a natural way of life. And the opportunities you’ll unlock by knowing how to think objectively and systematically will amaze you.
We’re going to keep hashing through this topic in the blog, and also in our book that comes out this fall. We’ll be taking a closer look at different aspects of critical thinking and offering guidance and expert recommendations on how you can work on these skills.
See you next time!
