The Path of the Critical Thinker

AVOID THE CLIFF!

In the workplace there is also a tendency to go along with the popular cultural trend, even if it feels uncomfortable. Some of the current trends strike closely at long held values about human life, relationships, and freedoms. The world can be a scary place. It is hard to find another job. It is stressful to think about leaving a work setting that is also stressful!  Sometimes there is the impulse to rebel against a trend in the organization that feels wrong, or misguided, and dangerous. But that impulse to challenge your current path needs restraint. Planning and preparation are required, otherwise you will be clinging to the cliff.

Here is where it becomes important to do some critical thinking. Critical thinking means to evaluate and consider something against a set of standards (values). Critical thinking implies that assumptions are challenged, that perspectives and, even worldviews, are assessed. What is pushing the organization leaders to implement values, behavioral expectations and goals that seem to undermine expectations of excellence, empowerment, and freedom? 

ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR OWN WORLDVIEW

As part of your critical thinking process you need to begin with yourself. Your own world view includes your understanding of what the purpose of life is, what is healthy and what is not, where truth comes from, what is moral and immoral, and where that sense of morality comes from. Changes in our environments and in the information we consume influence how we think and feel, and provide impetus to consider changing things about ourselves. Some of the big issues that influence our world view include: 



• The need to be appreciated
• Accommodating hurts (or suffering) in our lives.
• Understanding our purpose and how that provides meaning
• Knowing who and when to trust
• Knowing what grounds us; provides a sense of security about the path we are on
• Acknowledging the nature of the human condition

OWN YOUR VALUES

So, if your company begins to change, and your comfort level and anxiety levels alert you that you are approaching a cliff, begin to ask new questions and sort out how you will make the stretch and prepare yourself for the leap to a new path. Keep a clear view of what is important for you and your career. Here are some of the warning signs that where the company is headed might not be the best for you:

• Decisions and expectations impact the way that you do your job.
• Managers and Directors appear and disappear without warning
• Managers or company directors change how they relate and interact with people in the workplace.
• Your sense of empowerment and autonomy is eclipsed by policies or technology
• Your sense of control over the day to day tasks diminishes
• You feel a pull away from the values and principles that are important to you
• Instead of feeling appreciated on the job, you seem to be walking on eggshells

The bottom line is that using your innate powers of critical thinking and desire for learning can help you to be adaptable and move from a “drop off” to a brand new path of hope and adventure!