Looking back to my under grad and post grad years I realize all I ever knew was what I was taught or told and all I ever did was based on how I was taught to do it. Reflecting on those memories, there is an awakening in me that I lacked any moment of awareness of self from teenage years in post grad. To put it simply I developed no use of my higher faculties to understand and evaluate subject matter. I knew “what to think” but didn’t “know how to think.”
When we were in elementary and secondary school, we were taught what to think. We were subjected to a lot of information and now, the trend is to teach to pass a test. We memorize what is needed, take the test, and then forget what we remembered. If we pursued higher education, most of us college graduates continued down the same path of learning what to think again for that anticipated test at the end of each semester.
This is what Napoleon Hill referred to in his all-time classic book Think and Grow Rich as “accumulated experience,…taught in public schools and colleges…that part of man’s experience that has been organized and recorded.” It isn’t until we pursue advanced degrees that we are then required to know how to think.
Consider this conclusion from the National Commission on Excellence in Education in its landmark report, A Nation at Risk, 1983:
“Many 17-year olds do not possess the “higher-order” intellectual skills we should expect of them. Nearly 40 percent cannot draw inferences from written material; only one-fifth can write a persuasive essay; and only one-third can solve a mathematics problem requiring several steps.”
This trend in education has taught us to mind dump everything we know when sharing information. When conducting masterminds, leadership development sessions, personal growth trainings or presenting your principles and ideas to prospects, do you take a moment and evaluate your approach? Are you unconsciously mind dumping everything you know, in your allotted time, or are you taking the time to help others develop their own thoughts and conclusions?
I have found, that except these programs are designed, developed and delivered in a way that engages participants at their level of awareness and matches their style of learning, such programs will fail. In your delivery, organize and intelligently direct your approach to heighten awareness levels in participants so as to make informed conclusions.
Critical thinking is a higher-order level of thinking. It is the ability to think for one’s self, drawing inferences and responsibly make those decisions that affect one’s life. In addition, it also entails critical inquiry: investigating problems, asking questions, and posing new challenging answers.
Consider the benefits of helping develop others’ critical thinking skills. They will be able to better understand your ideas and better accept your methodologies if they are able to understand, evaluate and conclude in a critical way. In addition, by developing your own critical thinking skills, you will be better equipped to share your life changing information with your clients, co-workers, friends and family.
Critical thinking requires advanced listening skills. Lecturing to others is a passive activity that does not inhibit audience participation. To critically evaluate needs, it is necessary to present ideas and then allow the group to develop conclusions – openly discuss and debate these new ideas. Allow the group to think deeply about the ideas apply to them and, value what they think and feel. Share these ideas in an environment that allows them to think their ideas matter. Ask them to make connections and recognize patterns in the new ideas you are presenting. These techniques allow your group to begin to develop trust in themselves and their thoughts, which in turn develops their critical skills.
At the conclusion of your discussion, to further develop critical thought, ask your participants to write out the most significant thing they learned AND what single thing they would like to learn more about. This is immediate feedback about what they are learning and what they still need to understand. When presenting – encourage questions and praise the questioner with these examples: “Good question” or “I am sure others want to know that as well”. When your audience asks questions, this is a great indicator that they are thinking critically.
Last modified: October 18, 2017
