Critical thinking is a “higher order” cognitive skill that goes well beyond that of recalling information. For businesses to evolve, employees must move from being “rote learners” and people who execute tasks to active and critical thinkers who solve practical, real-world problems that matter to the business.
When was the last time an employee came to you and challenged a process or way of working, questioned the validity of a report or board pack, or even just decided to do their job differently? The answer is all too often, never or rarely.
Why? When an employee starts at a company, they are typically told how to do their job and ‘shown the ropes’. In most cases they will sit there and do it until told to do something different. It’s a bit like the business version of Newton’s first law where an ‘object remains in the same state of motion unless a resultant force acts on it’. In other words, I do this until someone tells me differently.
The rub is that users know where the frustrations are, and if they felt empowered and trusted, and had the knowledge to, they would probably fix it.
AI is no different it is another tool, but giving users AI and expecting a radical change is flawed thinking. Recent research by SectionAI claims that, typically, only 3% of a workforce us using AI ‘effectively. And I support that.
The core reasons behind this are simple, users have been conditioned to just get on with their jobs. The active application of critical thinking has been quashed. Managers frequently lack the time or energy to rethink processes. It requires input from other people and that might lead to extra work, it might increase the risk if it goes wrong, and crucially, they typically do not trust their employees to do it right unless it is the way that is well established.
We all use critical thinking every day in our lives. How to get the kids to school, how to get to the shops, how to meet the outgoings, how to watch and do all the fun things you want to do. But when we get into work, we stop. Maybe in our personal lives, we are accountable and responsible for our actions. Just maybe at work, we don’t feel that way.
Critical thinking is there in all of us, but we need to retrain both leadership and employees to look for new ways of doing things and that it is ok for someone to question why something is done the way it is. Those who rise to the senior leadership ranks will always have this questioning in their minds, it is part of their personality, but most people don’t speak up in case they make a fool of themselves or get shot down. The business of the future needs to get away from this old school thinking or face a struggle as emerging technology truly embeds itself in the world.
Ask yourself this, ‘how do you know if your employees use their critical thinking skills as they go about performing their roles? Do you know?
In nearly all conversations, this set of questioning leads to either silence, vague or nonsensical justifications. Critical thinking is the analysis, evaluation, inference, and interpretation of data, information and process. Are you honestly able to differentiate between users who do not challenge or question their roles and tasks, and those who do and who are wanting to, or who are actively using AI in their role? Regardless of whether you have approved its use, or not?
Critical thinking is one of the three critical skills that needs to be re-established in businesses over the coming years. New and existing employees will need to think differently if businesses are to grow with the technological advances and avoid falling behind their competition. According to Boston Consulting Group, a whopping 70% of the benefits of AI comes from user behavioural change, and I stand with them on that. The ability to evaluate the credibility, accuracy, and relevance of the information, or process will be a major differentiation and one that will create a real, visible competitive advantage.
Before you go rolling out lots of great tech, stop and reflect for a moment. The potential is great, but only if your users are sharper than the tools they are using. This really applies to any high-quality equipment or tooling. Would you want a crane driver who didn’t have great depth perception, a formula one driver who was unable to determine what changes were needed to the car beyond what the computers were saying, or someone flying a plane who had seen it done in the movies? No, of course not, so why have employees who are not able to think critically about their jobs.
It is a challenge that nearly all businesses are going to face in the coming years. People and HR departments will have to start having some strong conversations with leadership about the skills in the organisation and how to filter and develop them. Financial leaders are going to have to become more tightly integrated to the development of the business to find those solid ROIs from the investment in AI, and CEOs are going to have to look for those managers in their business who are invested in progressing the business not just their careers, even if that involves restructures. Laying AI over the top of what you do currently is a mistake. This is one of those shifts that requires businesses to rethink how they function, what they want to look like, and who they want in their team in two years’ time.
