I decided to source out an article about critical thinking that was written more specifically within the context of leadership. Although a bit dated, what stands out is the importance that is placed on critical thinking skills in achieving better outcomes in the leadership process within an organization. I can relate to the contents in this article because I work in the healthcare industry that is constantly changing. There were many interesting points made throughout this article but in focusing on the critical thinking aspect, I highlighted three key concepts:

(1) Importance of critical thinking and leadership
In a society that is facing rapid environmental change and globalization, organizations need to have leaders that incorporate critical thinking into leadership processes in order to be effective in making valid inferences, problem solving, and decision-making.

(2) Critical thinking as a tool for problem solving
Critical thinking is a primary tool for dealing with dilemmas and “ill structured” (Novelli and Taylor,1990, p.190) problems that requires one to gain an understanding and evaluate ideas from various perspectives to foster non-obvious solutions.

(3) Shifting leadership concept from person to processes
Changing the concept of leadership from an ideology, that leadership lies within a person, to examining leadership as a “constellation of processes, functions and roles” (Novelli & Taylor, 1990,p.191) within an organization.

Novelli and Taylor (1990) focus on leadership as a process, with functions and roles that are important to an organization’s success. This is a change from the previous ideology that viewed leadership as a person. When we look at it this way, the responsibility for leadership is widespread throughout an organization and therefore critical thinking skills and ‘learning from everyone’ becomes vital when dealing with problems or facing complex situations. This is an important concept in healthcare because Directors of Care and managers are not frontline workers and don’t experience the problems or complexity in the same way as the frontline staff. It is imperative to include all levels of nursing in the leadership process to ensure that everyone’s voice can be heard, and more importantly, make everyone feel valued. The article describes it best as thinking of leadership as a process that requires critical thinking and the ability to generate and operate from multiple perspectives in order to respond to change and complexity (Novelli & Taylor, 1990).

Although the article was written in 1990, I chose to use it because it directly shows how changing the focus of leadership is a slower process. Over twenty years ago, the idea was being proposed, however even today it is not common throughout organizations. In most healthcare organizations I have seen, there is still a very “top down” approach. On the positive side, however, there has been more of an effort in the past few years to incorporate training programs and learning networks that foster critical thinking and problem solving skills. The article highlights that these types of programs will result in effective change and the responsibility to change will be shared. Without critical thinking skills embedded into leadership processes, organizations will fail to respond to those rapid changes and challenges effectively.

Question to group: Keeping in mind the leadership as a process theme, would you be satisfied with a group where 70% of the staff bought in to that leadership style? or would you strive to ensure all staff members believed in the process?

References
Novelli,L., & Taylor, S. (1990). CRITICAL THINKING: AN ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT FOR EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP. Discovering Creativity. P 187-196.