Why your organization isn’t promoting effective thinking

problem-solving-1080x720pxBy Kevin Eikenberry

In today’s increasingly knowledge-based work environment, effective thinking skills are among the most valuable skills for individuals and organizations alike.

However, many companies inadvertently hinder their employees’ ability to think effectively. If you want to improve organizational results, consider how many of the following practices are limiting your team members’ capacity for optimal thinking.

Implementing effective thinking practices will lead to better results. Here’s where to start.

Do you teach thinking skills?

Thinking is a skill—one we can all get better at. If you want great thinking, ensure your team members know how to do it. Are you giving employees tools and training to become more adept at effective thinking?

Do you give people time to think?

This is an overarching question that will be reinforced by many of the questions below. Effective thinking requires time and mental space, which aren’t always valued or allowed in some organizational cultures.

This includes longer stretches, like vacations where people aren’t on their email, as well as time within the day or week where people can pause and reflect rather than moving from one task to another.

Do you impose unneeded urgency?

While there are times when quick decisions are necessary and a sense of urgency can be useful, sometimes the best way to think about a decision is to “sleep on it.” Is this reflective approach allowed or even considered in your organization?

Do you allow too many interruptions?

When we are constantly interrupted, whether by text messages, IMs, emails or people asking if we “have a minute,” we can never enter a productive thinking space. Thinking requires time, which many lack or squander at work.

Provide your team with effective thinking techniques and give them time to use them.

Do you have back-to-back meetings?

When you go from meeting to meeting to meeting (maybe with limited time to even grab water or go to the bathroom), are you at your best? Are you as prepared for the third (or fifth) meeting as you were for the first?

If your answers are the same as mine and you have back-to-back meeting syndrome in your organization, you are unintentionally hindering effective thinking.

Do you have well-planned meetings?

While we are on the topic, are your meetings well-planned, with clear agendas? Do people know what is expected and what will be discussed and decided before they arrive? If not, how can you expect their best thinking in those meetings?

Do you allow space and time for opposing ideas?

If people know they must conform to prevailing opinions on a topic, what incentive do they have to think critically? When people think independently but feel unable to share, they may feel stifled and undervalued, and perhaps become cynical.

That could make them less likely to stay. Do you want their best ideas and thinking skills to benefit your competitors?

Do you promote helpful dissent?

Some cultures, with the goal of people getting along, view any dissent or conflict as negative. But that doesn’t have to be true. Allowing (and expecting) civil discourse and the exchange of ideas not only supports effective thinking but allows it to thrive and be rewarded.

While this list is not exhaustive, it should prompt you to consider what factors might be stifling effective thinking in your organization.


Kevin is the chief potential officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a leadership and learning consulting company helping organizations, teams and individuals reach their potential since 1993, and the cofounder of The Remote Leadership Institute, formed in 2014. Kevin’s specialties include leadership, remote/hybrid work, teams and teamwork, organizational culture, facilitating change, organizational learning and more. He is the bestselling author of several books and hosts The Remarkable Leadership Podcast.