Problem Solving & Critical Thinking
All of us are facing problems every day. Some of them are simple and take only a short period of time to solve (e.g.: deciding what clothes to be worn to the office, which events should be attended, etc), while others are complex and demand more time (e.g.: developing new web applications, fixing bugs in systems)
Since we will live with problems, it is very important to be able to recognize them. Else, they can become more complex and/or create another problem if we don’t take any action. Some of the common reasons for not recognizing the problem are because we avoid actions, do not want to take any responsibility, and do not analyze properly whether any after effects/implications on that conditions.
So, that’s why critical thinking is important. Critical thinking will help us to understand the condition so we can decide how to overcome the situation. Someone with critical thinking skills can be trusted to make decisions independently and will not need constant handholding.
Critical thinking will help you to be able to answer the below questions so we can recognize whether we face problems or not — if they are not problems, then we don’t need to waste our resources to solve that one.
“Is it problem? Or is it just a symptoms?”
“Is it just part of process? Or does it actually need a solution?”
Since critical thinking is important, I want to share with you 3 simple steps to help you practice your critical thinking and they can use when you face any problems:
[1] Questioning — When you are in the middle of conditions, always ask questions to help you to understand the condition and/or assumption! Ask the questions to yourself to check whether you already have all information. If you can’t answer it, meaning you haven’t yet understood the situation. While if you can answer it, later you can validate it to ensure that those are facts, not assumptions/opinions.
Here are some questions that you might use to assess or gather all the basic information:
What happened or will happen?
Who does it or will it affect?
Where did it or will it have an impact?
When did it or will it happen?
How did it or will it occur?
Why did it or will it occur?
Understanding the condition is important because when you understand the background, objective, and impact (cost/benefit), it will help you to list all possibilities (pro and cons) and in the end, decide whether the problem is worth solving or not!
[2] Zoom in & zoom out — This method can help you to understand the whole condition. Imagine you zoom in, so you can see the detail regarding the spot, while when you do zoom out you can see the whole picture on that page and are even able to connect the dots with other things around that spot. This will help you to check whether the problem itself is complex or even it will impact other things that have not yet been discussed. By zooming in or zooming out, you can be on right track and losing any details.
[3] Questioning — constantly ask yourself if you should be doing, whether you focus on the right things if you should change the approach! Keep your curiosity by genuinely interested in what’s going on — by the way, can you realize, that I put questioning twice? Yes, since questioning is the key!
After recognizing the problem, then you can do prioritization, whether those problems are urgently important, urgent, not important, important not urgent, or not important, not urgent. Prioritization is a must because, with limited resources, it will be very difficult to do and solve everything.
Critical thinking should not make you become an overthinking person — Overthinking is a condition when you worry and spend too much time thinking about something repeatedly, while critical thinking will help you to focus on solutions and actions. It is okay to take some time to gather information, and list all pros and cons, so you can have all the information needed and understand the condition properly, but still, you need to put a timeline and target when you should do actions to solve the problem. Else, your problem won’t be solved while you have wasted your time.
So, are you good enough with this skill? If not yet, don’t worry, it is a learning journey! Let’s sharpen your saw! If I have to categorize it to the above diagram, I will say having critical thinking skills is important and urgent! It will be your solution to solve your problem and boost your performance (including working performance)! So, let’s practice (and learn) it now!
