Critical thinking is the process of analyzing information with logic and reason to make well evaluated decisions. Critical thinkers recognize problems and find the root cause. The critical thinker keeps an open mind while assessing facts and keeping an open mind. They vet and test information through evaluation and reasoning while identifying inconsistencies and biases. The critical thinker has a focused approach while finding answers through analytic skills, objectivity, effective communication and persistence.
A leader that utilizes critical thinking is essential in every organization. As a critical thinking leader, I can use those skills to impact my team bringing out positive change. These decisions can be used to persuade the company to make bigger changes that have valuable impacts. As a leader I might utilize this skill when testing new products or reviewing hiring policies to avert unfair or biased practices. I can also use critical thinking in financial assessments to set up budgets and long-term strategies for investments.
The artifact I included for Critical Thinking is a paper on Leadership Styles with a Meditation on the Tao. This paper follows the organizational styles recorded by Frederic Laloux in his book Reinventing Organizations. It is a summation of the evolution of organizations through stages of human consciousness. Laloux organizes them by color from Red to Green, with a focus on the new paradigm shift to Evolutionary Teal. In the paper I chose a leader from each of the colored stages and outlined their leadership style and explained how they fit the stage. The leadership behavior reaffirmed the evolutionary standpoint that Laloux explains. The second part of the paper focuses on the wisdom of Tao Te Ching from 400 B.C. Although we learned to look at the different stages of organization development with a focus on critical thinking, the works of Tao and the connection with the new paradigm shift to a Teal Organization required analyzing and evaluating the material more thoroughly. I had to make sure that there were no biases or personal judgments clouding my evaluation.
A leader that utilizes critical thinking is essential in every organization. As a critical thinking leader, I can use those skills to impact my team bringing out positive change. These decisions can be used to persuade the company to make bigger changes that have valuable impacts. As a leader I might utilize this skill when testing new products or reviewing hiring policies to avert unfair or biased practices. I can also use critical thinking in financial assessments to set up budgets and long-term strategies for investments.
The artifact I included for Critical Thinking is a paper on Leadership Styles with a Meditation on the Tao. This paper follows the organizational styles recorded by Frederic Laloux in his book Reinventing Organizations. It is a summation of the evolution of organizations through stages of human consciousness. Laloux organizes them by color from Red to Green, with a focus on the new paradigm shift to Evolutionary Teal. In the paper I chose a leader from each of the colored stages and outlined their leadership style and explained how they fit the stage. The leadership behavior reaffirmed the evolutionary standpoint that Laloux explains. The second part of the paper focuses on the wisdom of Tao Te Ching from 400 B.C. Although we learned to look at the different stages of organization development with a focus on critical thinking, the works of Tao and the connection with the new paradigm shift to a Teal Organization required analyzing and evaluating the material more thoroughly. I had to make sure that there were no biases or personal judgments clouding my evaluation.
The importance of this critical thinking skill is to apply it in my personal and professional life. Learning this skill is integral to my Organizational degree because it has a direct correlation to being in a working environment with colleagues and managers so I can contribute to better decisions and actions within the organization. I use this skill when I am tasked with important issues at work to thoroughly analyze and assess all information before making quick decisions. I recently used this when we had to decide how to proceed with a new process and it worked well because I encouraged my team to look at the new process from a few different angles making the decision more informed.