Good morning! My name is Bianca Cardenas, and I'm your host of Next-Gen Leaders. Today, we're talking about a crucial skill: critical thinking. Whether you're leading a team or looking to improve your leadership, critical thinking can sharpen your decision-making and problem-solving abilities.

In this episode, we'll cover:

• Understanding Critical Thinking: Learn what critical thinking is and why it's essential for effective leadership.
• Benefits for Leaders: Discover how critical thinking helps leaders make well-reasoned decisions, solve complex problems, and communicate clearly.
• Traits of Critical Thinkers: Find out how to identify leaders with strong critical thinking skills through business simulations and real-life examples.
• Developing Critical Thinking: Practical tips on asking questions, seeking feedback, and reflecting on decisions to improve your critical thinking skills.

Join me as we delve into these topics and more, providing you with the tools to enhance your leadership capabilities. Tune in every Tuesday and Thursday at 9:30 am CST for insightful discussions and actionable strategies.

Krisp Microphone (Krisp Audio)-2: Morning.

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My name is Bianca Cardnis and I'm

your host of next gen leaders.

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Today, we're talking about

a very important skill.

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Critical thinking.

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Whether you're leading a team

or looking to improve your

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leadership critical thinking can

help sharpen your decision-making

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and problem solving skills.

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Let's break it down.

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What is critical thinking?

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It just means being able to think about

information without letting your feelings

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or opinions affect your analysis.

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You also consider very different sides of

an issue and use logic to make decisions.

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And critical thinking helps

you make better decisions.

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Solve complex problems that help

lead your team even more effectively,

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rather than just relying on your

intuition to make decisions.

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Why is critical, sinking

important for leaders?

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Well, for starters leaders often have

to face new or complex situations

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and having good, critical thinking

skills helps them assess information

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and make well reasoned decisions.

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Second, when challenges arise,

critical thinking helps leaders

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find the root causes and develop

even more effective solutions.

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And finally leaders who think critically

can clearly explain their reasoning

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and help persuade other people to

buy into their recommendations.

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So, what are the traits of leaders who

have strong, critical thinking skills?

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I'll tell you a story.

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We have people come through our

assessment centers and the easiest way

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to determine whether or not they have

good, critical thinking skills is to

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put them into a business simulation.

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When leaders come through our team

meeting, That's a perfect way to assess

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whether or not they accept things

for face value, or they're going to

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delve deeper and ask more questions.

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As soon as they enter the team meeting,

they usually delve into both strategies.

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The reason why it's called a team

meeting is because the team proposes

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their recommendations and the team has

to weigh the pros and cons and all the

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questions in a very logical manner.

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Some of the leaders that have very

good, critical thinking skills.

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They tend not to take

things for face value.

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Instead, they ask questions and

seek to understand more deeply.

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Rather than just looking at the

material and saying, okay, I

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think I have everything I need.

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These leaders also get

their team involved.

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They ask more questions they ask

where they even thought of this idea

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in the first place, what information

they were looking at and how did

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they come to this conclusion?

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They're not just looking at things

surface level, they're delving deeper

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with both of their team members to build

a more complete picture of the issue.

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They also know how to break down complex

issues into smaller chunks that's

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easier for everyone to understand.

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A great way critical thinking leaders

do this is that they'll summarize,

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what's been said, but in a way that's

very easy to understand and follow.

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They don't use the same complex

jargon that the team uses.

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And said they summarize

in a very digestible way.

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A way that's like, okay, you said

it way easier than I said it.

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So they know how to just take the complex

down a notch or two and then make it so

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that every single member understands.

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That's the best way that they

can get support and buy-in

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for their decision-making.

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Is that they're able to break

it down into very small chunks.

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The last thing is that they're really

good at influence because they can

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speak to people and just some very

relational, conversational way.

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So we learned that leaders with critical

thinking skills, ask a lot of questions.

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They get people involved.

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And they make sure to assess

all the information before

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making a final decision.

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Here are three tips to help you work on

developing your critical thinking skills.

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Number one.

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Ask questions.

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This is intuitive, but a

lot of people miss this.

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Some of our leaders that come

through the assessment process.

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Or low on critical thinking they

don't ask a lot of questions.

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And these leaders are on both

sides of the scale, right?

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They're either so intelligent that

they can read anything and just get

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a good grasp of what's going on.

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Since they're so intelligent, they

don't really check their assumptions.

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They think that they know everything

and they just want to run it by you

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instead of just really asking for your

opinion and asking why and how to help

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them understand the situation better.

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On the other scale, we have leaders

who just stick to the materials and

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don't want to know anything else.

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They don't want to get context.

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They don't want to get

other people involved.

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Because it tends to confuse them.

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So they'd rather just keep things

very simple and surface level instead

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of getting deeper into the weeds.

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So number one, ask questions,

ask why, how are we doing this?

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What have we done in the past?

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Using the, what.

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So what, and now what is A

great framework we're asking.

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What happened?

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So, what is, why is this important?

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Now, what is, what are

we going to do about it?

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This makes sure that you clear all bases

before proceeding into the next step.

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Number two.

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Seek feedback.

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Always get people involved, even

if you think that they might not

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know or have a hand in whatever

you're trying to solve for.

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Ask any way.

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We have no idea what background

knowledge they have, what they

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heard from their colleagues, what

they've heard from other leaders.

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Including them in the conversation

does a great way to get different

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perspectives to help you build a

more holistic picture of the issue.

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Number three.

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Always take time to reflect on your

decisions and potential outcomes.

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And what I mean by potential outcomes

is positive and negative implications.

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Ask yourself if I'm going

to make this decision.

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What's the positive implications

that could possibly happen.

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Then you write those down.

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Think about the negative implications.

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And then who could I possibly

impact with decisions that I make?

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And taking the time to reflect on

your decisions and the outcomes is

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a good way to test yourself to see

if you're very accurate in your

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decision-making in your critical thinking.

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If you're not next time you can adjust.

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So you're always asking questions, seeking

other people's feedback, reflecting.

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Last, but not least always stay informed.

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Keep learning, keep developing that growth

mindset that we talked about last week.

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I always stay up to date with

new information and trends that

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are coming out in your industry.

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If you're not and know,

have no idea where to begin.

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Look at the latest industry report

that just came out that way your

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decisions are in alignment with

where the industry is headed.

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It'll help you stay more up to date.

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And it'll make your recommendations

that much more impactful.

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To summarize.

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Thinking like a leader means looking

at information in different ways.

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Solving problems and making good choices.

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Good leaders ask questions.

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They listen to others.

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And think about their

decisions before making them.

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To be a better critical thinker,

make sure to ask lots of questions.

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Listen to what other people are saying.

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Take time to think about your decisions.

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And learn new things.

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Thanks for tuning in.

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Next Thursday.

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I'll be talking about the

importance of vision and leadership.

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So why is vision important and

how can it help you become an

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even more effective leader?

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Microphone (HyperX Quadcast)-6: Thank

you for taking this journey with me.

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I look forward to speaking with you soon.

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Take care.