Thinking about our Thinking; A Critical Thinking Seminar

Transcription

1 Thinking about our Thinking; A Critical Thinking Seminar Mr. David Miller DAU-MW June 2017

2 We work in a VUCA environment How well can you predict the Outcome of your actions? Complexity Multiple key decision factors Ambiguity Lack of clarity about meaning of an event Volatility Rate of change Uncertainty Unclear about the present 8 hours of sleep is a dream for many of us Organizations seem to be in crisis mode all the time Acquisition personnel are increasingly being stressed out How much do you know about the situation?

3 We work in a VUCA environment Paperwork Counterfeit Parts found

4 Success in a VUCA environment requires

5 Sometimes our thinking leads us to believe things that aren t true or do things that don t make any sense

6 Not solving these problems leads to USS Ford a textbook example of how not to build a ship. USN Sec Malbus Oct 2016

7 Seminar Objectives Get us thinking about our thinking Gain awareness of our thinking foibles Introduce a framework that improves our thinking

8 The state of our thinking Thinking KSAs Our ability to understand and solve VUCA issues directly correlated to our thinking KSAs Thinking KSA improvements directly correlate to job performance Time

9 Thinking KSAs Reasons for the gap: Lack of thinking skills Have thinking skills, but not the disposition to use those skills Have thinking skills and disposition, but lack background knowledge of subject Have thinking skills, disposition, and domain knowledge, but don t have the time Where you could be To Be As Is The Do Nothing Solution Time (experience)

10 Critical Thinking Definition Reasonable reflective thinking aimed at deciding what to believe or what to do -Robert Ennis Define Critical Thinking

11 Four influences that compromise the quality of our thinking Emotions

12 Two Modes of Thinking System 1 Thinking System 2 Thinking

13 Intuitive Acts on us Substitutes easy questions for hard questions Believes things that are easy to believe Operates using habits

14 Deliberate We act on it Thinks through the issue but burns a lot of glucose along the way

15 How do I leverage both systems of thinking? Increase Performance Simple & Repeatable Creates healthy habits

16 Put our thinking to the T-E-S-T Translate the problem, opportunity or idea into a short statement or Topic Examine your reasoning through the prism of thinking Elements Evaluate the quality of your reasoning using universal Standards Train to improve your thinking dispositions Disposition

17 Topic of Interest What you want to think about Characteristics of a topic: Normally a noun Clearly bounds a defined topic or issue You have genuine interest in delving deeper Believe a better understanding is achievable Necessary to garner advocacy or consensus in a group EST

18 Eight Elements of Reasoning T ST

19 Evaluating the Quality of our Reasoning Intellectual Standards Standard Clarity Accuracy Precision Relevance Depth Breadth Significance Fairness Logic/ Reasoning Description Requiring elaboration, examples and illustrations Verifying a claim is true or testable Being specific, providing details and being exact in your explanation Related to the issue and helps to address any questions related to the issue Identifying what makes the problem complex and detailing what needs to be done to handle it Including all appropriate perspectives are included and the range of people impacted by the issue Determination of the most important problem to consider or the central idea Acknowledging and removing personal biases from the analysis and being judicious in your work Show your thinking in a way that makes sense to others. TE T

20 Train to be better Critical Thinkers (Seven Dispositions)* Truth-seeking Open-Minded Analytical Systematic Judicious Inquisitiveness Confidence When one is disposed to think critically they are said to have a, consistent internal motivation to use critical thinking skills to decide what to believe and what to do. *California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory TES

21 Our most powerful thinking tool?

22 Proposed Changes to Civilian Retirement Benefits will have major impacts to current feds and retirees - Increase employee contributions by 1 percent - Eliminate COLA

23 Putting our thinking to the T-E-S-T Topic: Civilian Retirement Benefits Elements Purpose: Broader understanding Information: Eliminate COLA for current and future employees, Increase employee contributions by 1 percent Questions: Are DoD civilians impacted? Points of View: Taxpayer, new employee, near retirement employee, etc Conclusions: Reduce DoD costs on back of civilian, equalizing benefits with private sector Assumptions: Civilian retirement system is the gold standard, rational minds prevail, Changes will not impact quality of life, grandfather older civilians Consequences: I need to look for another job, change life style, loss of quality civil servants Standards Clarity: How impact retired civilians? Accuracy: Is it true civil servants have a Cadillac plan? Relevancy: How are tax cuts to the rich relevant? Logic: Does 1 percent cut equate to a greatly reduced retirement benefit? Fairminded: Did I consider other points of view? Depth, Breadth, Precision Significance: Why grandfather? Train (Reflection) Judiciously seek the Truth Open mind & Inquisitive Analytical and Systematic Confidence in Reasoning Reasonable reflective thinking aimed at deciding what to believe or what to do

24 Summary Think about our thinking! System I thinking is our preferred approach System II thinking yields more reasoned results T-E-S-T is a simple tool to improve our thinking What are your Takeaways?

25 One day workshop Deep dive into practical application Obstacles to great thinking Testing for great thinking Team exercises to solidify concepts Optional-organizational specific application(s)