Let’s say you are faced with a complex problem and your boss calls a meeting to figure out what to do. It could be a planning meeting to determine the make/model of a new company vehicle, the decision to open up a new branch office, or trying to decide what pizza to order for the office party that night. You are faced with a situation where at least one solution is needed. Maybe you will need a few alternate choices as well.
Everyone is going to have their own opinion on the best option. For example, I like pepperoni and don’t want any vegetables on my pizza. So what are the challenges that this august group is going to face that will hinder their decision making?
Arthur starts advocating his pizza choice, and assumes everyone is considering cheese and tomato sauce on their pizza and the discussion is about the toppings to go on it. Carla actually wants a pizza that has no tomato sauce, but has a white sauce instead since it goes great with tuna and corn. Right from the start there could be unstated assumptions going on.
Bubba is a big guy and wants a whole pie for himself with pepperoni and sausage. Differing personalities are going to make it harder finding a consensus.
Donna tells everyone that they should pick the restaurant first and compare their specials. Arthur has the restaurants listed by base price for a large pizza and the cost for each topping added. Eddie says he will pick up the pizza so the order should be from the closest place to make sure the pizza is fresh. Various members could have different analytical approaches or criteria used to try reaching the decision.
Arthur is the manager and starts asserting himself more into the debate. Some of the lower level staff begin deferring to his judgement on the decisions, even though everyone is pitching in their own money and the party is an optional event outside of work. Donna is a very persuasive speaker and it is starting show why she was captain of her high school debate team. Bubba is just bigger than everyone else and is immovable on what he wants, his growling stomach starts to become intimidating and his demeanor matches as his hunger grows.
As emotions rise, this pizza ordering meeting passes more than 20 minutes of debate and discussion. Frequently the discussion devolves into chaos quite easily and gets side-tracked on trivial issues. The discussion haphazardly goes from one aspect or another as the participants make points supporting their views and attack the others. Who knew ordering pizza could be so complicated and frustrating?
Does this example situation sound familiar? Understanding the various obstacles that get in the way of critical thinking, can help circumvent their hindrance. By approaching the situation with some objectivity, creativity, and humility, the decision can be reached easier and sometimes faster. For more complex situations, structured analytical thinking can efficiently streamline that process and help decide on the best course of action to take. Structured analysis means a logical framework to help focus discussion on key points to ensure the essential factors/elements of the problem are looked at separately, systematically, and sufficiently.
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