Critical thinking for better teamwork

CRITICAL THINKING FOR BETTER TEAMWORK

(FOR ORGANIZATIONAL GROUPS ONLY)

Critical thinking is a mental process for reviewing the veracity of your thoughts. In so doing you can identify what you may have to unlearn to align with external realties. This requires identifying tendencies to select the information that confirm your biases and beliefs.

We need critical thinking to access the skills that will enable us to deal with change and conflict to reinvent ourselves and retain relevance.

A major hurdle to critical thinking among some is a deep distrust of scientists and science itself. For example, it took a long time to accept the scientists claim that the earth was not flat.  I am sure you can think of many current examples where science and scientists are not trusted.

I reflected on Galileo when he was condemned for heresy by his church in 1633. His claim was that the earth was not the centre of the universe, and the sun did not orbit around the earth. This fell foul of religious common wisdom. It took until 1992 for the Pope to exonerate Galileo because the church now accepted, he was right. In this instance science helped with critical thinking.

I have culled two quotes from Yuval Harari in 21 Lessons for the 21st Century (2018) he writes,

“To keep up with the world of 2050, you will need not merely to invent new ideas and products – you will above all need to reinvent yourself again and again."  (Harari, 2018)

“It is the responsibility of all of us to uncover our biases, mindsets, and verify our sources of information. We cannot investigate everything ourselves. Because of that, we need to investigate our favourite sources of information – be they a newspaper, a website, a TV network, or a person. If you want reliable information pay good money for it. If you get your news for free, you might well be the product.

Motivational Speaker  |  Facilitation  |  Team Building