Promoting Critical Thinking
On a recent business trip with two leaders in the Fraud space we had a lengthy car ride to a vendor site - one of the topics that stuck with us over lunch was the importance of Critical Thinking and how Critical Thinkers materially impact teams and organizations - but yet how challenging it can be to promote. This article will walk through the traits I find apply to Critical Thinkers vs. Non Critical Thinkers and how to, as an operations leader, nurture Critical Thinkers.
Anticipate Needs: Critical thinkers make it a habit to know what is needed ahead of time and deliver before it is needed. Need a slide to explain the latest trend - they have it, speaking notes for a critical meeting they can (and probably have) developed them. They know the expectations of the role and organization and are proactive in delivering.
Promoting Needs Anticipation: To be effective, employees need to see the bigger picture beyond their role. As a leader have you helped define how they fit into the organization - why their work is critical? Do they have insight into what your workload looks like, where your challenges lie? By sharing what you are working on and even what your own weaknesses might be it allows team members to step in and fill the gap.
Provide Actionable Intelligence: That slide they developed under 'Anticipate Needs' to explain the latest trend is based on data - but it's not data. It's a thoughtful analysis coupled with suggested action. As an Operations Leader there are plenty of problems to solve - the individual who gathered and prepared the data probably has an idea as to how it can be used - your Critical Thinker will clearly provide those ideas.
Promoting Actionable Intelligence: If I am not personally planning on performing the analysis - I rarely accept data as a deliverable from my team. The governing philosophy here is that I can't expect people to deliver value let alone think critically if I reserve all of the 'thinking' to my seat. Will it take longer - maybe, will mistakes be made along the way certainly but as a leader it's my job to create a safe environment for those mistakes to be made and lessons learned. It pays dividends later when we are neck deep in the you know what and I have a trusted team member that will deliver not the data but the plan.
See Around Corners: When a Critical Thinker solves a problem they have a knack of understanding downstream impacts and starting to solve for those problems. They know the organization, their business and how the two work together.
Promoting Actionable Seeing Around Corners: As discussed under anticipation, individuals must know their role - but they also must know the role of others and the core business of the organization. Want to change a finance partner's view of the world - couple them with compliance for the afternoon. Create opportunities for teams that have up and downstream impacts on each other to interact - regularly. When the next problem is solved the depth of thinking and considerations of impacts will be materially deeper.
Punches Above Their Weight Class: Critical thinkers usually get invited to conversations/meetings outside of their peer group and business line. Progressively Sr. Leaders value the Critical Thinkers input.
Promoting Punching Above Their Weight Class: The critical thinker will naturally begin to be invited to the table - simply their input adds value to the organization. As a leader there are opportunities to accelerate this, making sure the individual has access to key leaders, seeks out mentorship and has access to training and development. As they punch further above their weight class their ability to see around corners heightens - increasing the value of their input in a continuous cycle.
Acts Like an Owner: The Critical Thinker will approach problems like an owner. When working on a challenge they will own it from identification to resolution and monitoring, constantly seeking to refine and improve as if they were the sole shareholder.
Promoting Acting Like an Owner: This one is pretty simple - allow for and encourage ownership. Someone puts the deck together - allow them to present the Actionable Intelligence. Too often we break tasks into manageable chunks thinking it makes delivery easier for team members - but it robs individuals of the ability to take true ownership.
Michael has spent ten years in the field of Operations, primarily focused on Financial Services, Anti Money Laundering and Fraud. Through his career Problem Solving and Leadership have been core themes – which he has recently decided to begin publishing thoughts and views on. The intent is to engage Operations Leaders of Today and Tomorrow to solve Big Problems and Get Stuff Done across industries.
