Invest a part of your time in critical thinking

What’s your first reaction when you are given a problem? Well, you will go through the problem statement and try to be responsive with quick solutions. Well, it’s good to be quick and put up your views. But somewhere this quick recommendation will lag to provide good results, or sometimes creates a new and a bigger problem. So, from where this lag and chances of developing new problems are coming from? This is because you start solving it without stopping to think before doing it. In trying to be responsive you can overcome the symptoms of a problem but not the root cause, and this is where critical thinking comes into the picture.

Critical thinking is a way to analyze and understand any problem statement by going back to its root cause. You have to invest time and think to avoid future problems. Now here, there are two terms involved: CAUSES and CONSEQUENCES.

Causes are the real reasons which make anything problematic. Before putting up your recommendation, it’s important to dive deep into the problem and dig out its actual cause by asking questions from the data itself. Unless and until the root cause is known, you will not be able to find the right solution for your problem. And as mentioned, your recommendation will just erase the symptoms and not the root cause.

Consequences are the outcomes or new problems (can sometimes be bigger than the original problem) which our recommendation can result in, if not focused on the root cause. Once you generate any recommendation, make sure to sit and give some time to it. Ask questions like will this create any new problems when implemented? What changes to be made in the already existing process? Any chances of new symptoms emerging during the plan of action because of these changes? These questions will make us understand better about any possible future problems.

So basically, when you are solving any problem try to push your thinking backward to catch the root cause and then think forward about the consequences.

When dealing with data it is necessary to think critically. Note down the benefits of analyzing before pulling the data. Is it going to be useful? Will this analysis help you get to answers you are looking for? If they do, then continue with the analysis. If not, try to figure out what all data you need to add in your analysis to get to your goal. Once you are complete with your analysis, ask yourself what I’ve learned from this? Whether this is supporting the recommendation you are going to make? You shouldn’t focus to much-refined answer if that refinement is not going to add value. Try to focus on answers that matter. Critical thought is not related to the analysis itself, but it’s about what analysis you should be doing and what not? From each analysis output, try asking why this happened? This iterative technique, often referred to as 5-Why’s will focus more to get to the root cause.

In data analysis, it’s easy to build graphs, charts, and pivot tables using various visualization tools and get answers. But these are of no use if problem-related inferences can’t be figured out from them. You should look for the differences or similarities between your idea and the analytical answers from your analysis. That’ll help you to get close to your problem-solving path. Try to explore connections to other problems that you’ve had before. This can allow you to take your learnings from the past and apply it in a situation that seems to be different but is actually similar. Think critically when you look at your answers coming out of your problem-solving processes. In this phase try asking what can happen if my recommendation is implemented? What effects it can have? Can it cause any new problems? These questions will develop a clear path for you based on your analysis. You can then refine your recommendations accordingly.

That extra time that you will give to think critically will definitely help you to unlock some great insights from the data that you never would have considered before. And finally, this will surely assist you to generate one of the best and effective recommendations.

I consider critical thinking is not something that can be mastered. It just improves as we apply in our daily life. It’s not always for any business problems. We encounter so many problems in our day to day life where this can be helpful. Try practicing this in your problem-solving process and you’ll undoubtedly feel gradual improvement in your solutions.

Thank you and hope this article will encourage you to take out some time for critical thinking before you begin with any problem.