Critical thinking skills: what they are and how to develop them.

Despite the name, critical thinking skills aren’t about being negative or, well, critical about any situation or information that crops up. It’s more nuanced than that. Whether it’s for work or as a skill for life, learning how to develop critical thinking techniques can help you sift through the noise with solid reasoning. That means better decision making and an ability to ground yourself in objective fact.

So, don’t second guess yourself – analyse information and make informed decisions with this Adobe Express guide on how to develop critical thinking skills.

What are critical thinking skills?

You can think of critical thinking skills as a toolbox of techniques and principles. They give you the ability to objectively analyse information to form an opinion through unbiased reasoning.

It might sound fancy, but it’s a lot simpler than you think. In academia, critical thinking can help students to digest, understand, and interact with complex subjects, ideas and material. Critical thinking skills could aid a student in sorting good arguments from poor ones – with the correct methodology to back up their considerations.

In a person’s day-to-day life, critical thinking techniques can help individuals:

• Navigate contemporary issues like fake news
• Assess incorrect information
• Avoid making poor choices.

It’s a way to condense information, search for observable facts, and make decisions or assessments based on provable information. It could be as simple as determining credible sources for online social media posts – after all, perhaps pigs can fly, but you’ll need to find credible sources to prove it.

When it comes to work, critical thinking skills can help an employee to make informed and creative decisions about problems. With critical thinking, solutions that are implemented can be trusted to be well-reasoned, logical and researched while considering potential issues.

Example of critical thinking skills in action.

Say ‘John’ is asked by a supervisor to solve a problem about workflows. And, just like that, he’s off – looking for solutions and implementing off-the-cuff changes to rotas – and making fast progress.

John’s approach shows enthusiasm and hard work, and might also display some degree of problem solving ability if he makes the right call. But, in his eagerness to get started, he’s not really employed any critical thinking techniques.

Instead, John could have taken a step back. And, before he made an assessment or suggested changes, he could’ve analysed the data, spoken to the employees affected and considered the risks of change. Are the changes he implemented required for the desired outcome, or is he just shifting a problem around and meeting a quota?

Utilising critical thinking skills when solving a workplace problem is just one part of the puzzle – you can apply the same logic to anything from social media conversations to fake news and data analytics.

Why are critical thinking skills important?

Critical thinking skills are transferable to all aspects of life, from personal decision-making to professional problem solving and everything in-between.

And they come with a host of benefits. They enable you to:

• Contribute more to discussions and ideations. Critical thinking means you’ve taken the time to analyse a subject. This lets you interact with different tasks, problems or talking points, and enables you to highlight something new that people may not have noticed. For example, you may notice an issue with a current methodology or a suggested one based on your demonstrable research.
• Feel confident in shaping and sharing your own opinions. By employing critical thinking skills, a person can be more self-assured in their ideas. It promotes individual thinking with the research to back up the thought process. Additionally, it stops a person from being closed off when presented with new information.
• Boost your creativity. With a knack for critical thinking, you boost your ability to be innovative, meaning thoughtful and creative solutions.
• Increased self-awareness. By challenging your biases, you’re better able to recognise your limitations and trust your own thoughts better.
• Make informed decisions. Critical thinking skills give you the ability to discern the quality of information. That means you can determine biases in information, understand the purpose of a source, and better digest data – leading to better decision-making.

Critical thinking skills are incredibly desirable for employers. They can be an incredible addition to your CV or cover letter – especially if you can demonstrate how and where they were used.

6 critical thinking skills examples.

Breaking down complex issues into manageable pieces is an important part of the critical thinking process. Similarly, learning how to develop critical thinking skills can be easier to digest when you look at them individually first.

Here are some of the key critical thinking skills:

1. Problem solving.

At its heart, critical thinking is all about problem-solving. This includes the ability to identify issues, think up a range of creative solutions, evaluate potential outcomes, and implement your ideas in the best way possible.

2. Communication.

Communication skills enable critical thinkers to put words to ideas – after all, you trust you’ve made the right decisions based on your research – but does your audience? For example, if an agency is introducing changes to their company policy, ensuring they communicate the reasoning in a way that is understandable and evidenced can lead to less misunderstanding.

3. Reflective thinking.

Reflective thinking is the ability to think about and analyse your own actions, outcomes, and thought processes. By stopping to reflect on yourself, your performance, and the task at hand, you can determine what needs to be done better next time, or where certain outcomes in your current task could be improved. This can lead to a better understanding of the problem you’re facing and may uncover new insights.

4. Decision-making.

Decision-making is all about weighing your options, contemplating consequences and coming to the correct conclusions to take the best course of action. It’s the result of combining all your thinking – judgement, analysis, reflection, and so on – into a secure decision. By utilising critical thinking skills, you can be certain that your decision has been logically thought out and backed up by evidence and research.

5. Reasoned judgement.

Reasoned judgement uses logic and analytical thinking to draw conclusions and make considered decisions. Through this line of thinking, you can also consider alternative outcomes based on the information you have – even if your gut points you in another direction.

By making reasoned judgement, you can be assured that you’re making an objective decision based on the information at hand, its credibility, and its relevance. It also means considering other perspectives, to ensure that your decisions are logical, thoughtful, and backed by strong reasoning.

6. Analytical thinking.

Analytical thinking allows you to come to conclusions by evaluating data, while rejecting cognitive bias. With proper training in this skill, you can recognise important patterns and trends – and interrogate those trends by considering cause-and-effect relationships. Analytical thinking also focuses on evaluating the strengths or weaknesses of evidence.

How to develop your critical thinking skills.

Learning how to develop critical thinking skills is a talent in and of itself, but there are methods you can implement to give yourself a leg up. Whether you’re a student, graduate or a valued expert in your field – you can always do more to boost your critical thinking skills.

Here are some best practices to better understand critical thinking techniques and give you the information you need:

Ask lots of questions in meetings, briefings and workshops.

Asking questions is a good practice for several reasons – not only does it interrogate the task at hand, allowing you to see biases or shaky logic – it helps you to develop a better understanding of a task. With that, you may be able to contribute more to a task or a meeting based on the goals of your group. It’s also a great way to expand your knowledge of a subject.

Make sure you’re actively listening.

Just asking questions isn’t enough – in your eagerness to ask a question, you may be missing what people are saying. Actively listening allows you to get the information you need, bolstering your understanding. If you don’t listen, you don’t learn – and you can’t make sound judgements without knowledge.

Learn more about mastering active listening in our helpful guide.

Identify the problem.

Before you start using your critical thinking know-how, you need to stop and identify the actual problem you are solving (or the question you’re answering). Consider multiple perspectives, while addressing your own biases in relation to the problem and then work from there.

Gather relevant information.

Through actively listening and asking considered questions, you can start to gather the relevant information. With knowledge of your problem in-hand, you’re ready to start researching. This could include creating questionnaires, analysing data, and ensuring you’re acknowledging your personal biases or gut feeling. Think about everyone, or everything, involved and work from there.

The more data you have, the more informed your decision can be.

Analyse the data.

A variety of data is good, but it needs to both be relevant and of high quality. You may have a lot of superfluous data and not all of it will be reliable. Likewise, data sets don’t always tell the whole story. Perhaps you’re down on sales this year at an event, but were there any other significant factors at that time that could’ve affected your numbers?

You need to consider what data is relevant, what could be affecting it, and be critical with your sources. Don’t make assumptions about data without evidence.

Think about your biases.

To ensure your data is unbiased, you need to consider other viewpoints. We’re human, and humans naturally make assumptions. But try to step back and consider other people’s viewpoints by asking them questions or getting their opinions on trends in your data.

Remember, biases are not always bad, but they do exist. You should criticise your own and try to incorporate other viewpoints before drawing conclusions.

Use logic to draw conclusions.

Consider cause and effect to draw your conclusions and look back at your data to reinforce your decisions. You’re looking for objectivity – don’t try to make a conclusion fit that doesn’t reflect your findings.

There may not be one definitive solution. Problems are rarely that straightforward – and consider the intent of your brief. What’s best for your company, for example, may not always be what you think of as the best path. Try not to lose sight of what your goals are, but do not be afraid to look at other avenues if you come across them – you’ve got the reasoning and the logic.

Learn to communicate and reflect.

Communication allows you to effectively share your research method and findings. If you can’t share why something is the best objective result, then you’re asking for blind faith. If there are multiple solutions, you should share them and explain the pros or cons of each. If you think there is a better path than the one briefed, explain yourself and your reasoning. Communication also promotes collaboration and means people can more easily follow the logic that led to this decision.

It’s also a moment to reflect – on the result, the method, and even people’s reactions. Perhaps, in communicating your findings, someone shares something that you think you can use in the future. Or maybe, there is a key piece to the puzzle you missed. You could document these lessons learned to help future efforts.

Critical thinking template ideas to help you find solutions.

How Adobe Express can help you improve your critical thinking.

Adobe Express can also be a useful tool for anyone looking to improve their critical thinking skills. With plenty of free templates to help aid your learning, you can use its features for a range of critical thinking activities:

1. Build your own critical thinking infographics.

Infographics are a great way to visualise key information, so it’s easier for you to remember and refer back to. So, why not make your own infographics to help you remember the key critical thinking frameworks?

From the PEAS framework (Problem, Evidence, Analysis, Solution) to a classic SWOT analysis, make a separate card for each and add your own actionable steps or tips to take this into your day-to-day work.

2. Keep track of your critical thinking in a reflective journal.

Use customisable journal templates from Adobe Express to keep a log of your critical thinking goals, and any examples where you’ve tried to think more critically – at work or in your personal life.

1. Write down the problem that you encountered.
2. Add any extra details about the scenario, such as the date, context, etc.
3. List any assumptions or immediate responses you had.
4. Analyse the problem in your journal.
5. Generate some ideas for a solution.

If this is one of your professional development goals, you can then refer back to the journal at the end of the year to evidence your learning, and inform your annual review.

3. Use a mind map to work through key challenges.

If you have a specific scenario in mind where you need to think more critically, you could use a mind map to work through the issue in a more analytical way. Put the problem or scenario in the centre, then add prompts to help you brainstorm a solution or review the situation in a visual way.

4. Test out your critical thinking with a worksheet.

Worksheets are an easy way to practice your critical thinking without having to wait for a real-life scenario to arise. Make up a few scenarios or challenges that will get your brain working, such as:

• Spotting an error within some code.
• Analysing a statement from a colleague.
• Reviewing a set of case study data.
• Ranking the reliability of potential sources.

If you’re a manager, you could even share these worksheets with your team to help them practice their own critical thinking skills.

5. Host your own training session.

Once you’re feeling confident in your own critical thinking abilities, you can test them by starting to train up other people. Build your own presentation or webinar to help showcase what critical thinking is, and how you can use it in your line of work. Make it interactive with role-play scenarios, decision-making trees and a case study or two that could be relevant to your audience.

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Good to know.

What are the barriers to critical thinking?

Two of the biggest barriers to critical thinking are assumptions and biases. These can muddy data and sway the course of analysis. Being objective is an important part of developing critical thinking skills. Considering other perspectives, challenging assumptions and biases, and utilising evidence are all essential.

What are three characteristics of a good critical thinker?

Three important characteristics of critical thinking include:

• Curiosity, and the ability to ask questions, learn new things, and consider how things work.
• Objectivity, which means not making assumptions, and basing outcomes on findings and facts rather than your inherent biases.
• Analytical reasoning, which is the ability to look at information to discern patterns and conclusions, and break down complex data points into smaller parts.

Is Adobe Express free?

Yes, our free plan offers many core features including thousands of templates, photo editing and effects, animation, and 5 GB of storage. See our  pricing page for details and to compare plans.