CONSTRUCTIVE CHALLENGING AND CRITICAL THINKING

You may be familiar with the term Constructive Challenging or Constructive Criticism, you may even be encouraging it or leading it within your organization or team. But are you sure you have the requisite skillset to effectively employ it?

Constructive challenging is standard operating procedure in many business settings today. According to a recent McKinsey & Company survey 76% of boards and management teams said they constructively challenge one another. Constructive challenging describes a particular kind of group dynamic and interaction between board members, directors and management. It is, at its essence, the act of asking penetrating questions in an effort to clarify positions or reveal gaps in one’s understanding of an issue. The primary benefit of encouraging constructive challenging is better business performance.

However, as characterized you could be forgiven for assuming that constructive challenging is simply about being critical of someone or something. The same false assumption is often made about critical thinking. Notwithstanding this confusion it is important to recognize an important relationship between constructive challenging and critical thinking: constructive challenging is a fundamental component of critical thinking. When done well constructive challenging forces clarity and deep thinking onto an issue. Constructive challenging is a critical thinking tool through which one gains this clarity. While there is more to critical thinking than the act of constructive challenging, the point is that constructive challenging is simply what trained critical thinkers do. In order to be an effective constructive challenger you must be a proficient critical Thinker.

Consider that constructive challenging is about the pursuit of clarity. The goal in constructive challenging is not to undermine what is being advanced but rather to help all stakeholders evaluate proposals to a level that will uncover inconsistencies and their associated pitfalls. Successful constructive challenging involves testing the understanding of everyone involved. Asking penetrating questions that challenge assumptions ensure that ideas, proposals or arguments are clear and the implications and consequences of these are well fleshed out.

Critical thinking refers to a diverse range of intellectual skills and activities concerned with evaluating information as well as one's own thought in a disciplined way. At its core lies the ability to form and evaluate arguments. When you develop your critical thinking skills you improve your ability to assess and develop arguments, evaluate the credibility of your evidence, overcome biases, self-deception and misinformation and make better decisions. Critical thinking is therefore the framework that the constructive challenger works within. It is the application of critical thinking skills that helps identify the important questions, acceptable evidence sources, criteria, etc., needed to effectively constructively challenge.

So, if you or your company is looking to develop a culture of constructive challenging whether it be in your boardroom, your leadership meetings or even within smaller teams, invest in critical thinking training. Once you develop this critical thinking framework, the task of constructive challenging will be second nature and your business will be better off.