Project managers aren’t the only ones who could benefit from this skill. Most of us are not thinking, but reacting and following a series of responses that we’ve either been told or learned. It’s not such a bad thing. You can sometimes be on autopilot, but you better know how to switch it off. Critical thinking is simply being as objective as you can in analyzing and evaluating an issue or situation, so that you can form an unbiased judgement. It pulls you out of acting on emotions or from received knowledge, and isn’t that what a project manager must do? You’re faced with problems every day you’re working on a project, and you want your decisions to be impartial. The only thing guiding your decision should be what’s best for the project.
