Why isn’t the development of a clear, rational thinking process a key part of every company’s employee development investment? In over fifty years of offering this type of capability development, we’ve seen three barriers to companies making this investment in their people.
First, there is a lack of understanding of the need for learning how to think. Daniel Kahneman, in his terrific book titled Thinking, Fast and Slow, describes our two modes of thinking; what he calls System 1 which is automatic, instant, intuitive and involuntary, relying on our perceptions of our knowledge and experience; and System 2 which is more structured, controlled analytical and effortful. Because System 1 is automatic and requires little or no effort, we have a natural bias towards its use. Yet Kahneman is able to demonstrate through the results of experiment after experiment, that System 1 thinking often leads us to erroneous conclusions of which we can see ample evidence every day in the business news. We are often unaware of the powerful influence of System 1 thinking and its potential for leading an individual or an organization astray.
Most C-Suite executives have developed strong decision-making and problem solving skills based on years of experience. They often believe others within the organization can do the same or “we can get more talented people to replace them”. They don’t recognize System 1 thinking and its limitations in themselves or their executive team and they see poor decisions by others as a lack of inherent judgment, not as a lack of teachable skills. I believe Thinking, Fast and Slow should be required reading for any executive leader.
Second, even when executives understand and accept the need for System 2 thinking skill development, they often think training alone is THE ANSWER. They don’t understand that training does not develop skills in individuals. Repeatedly, we hear, “We need to make better decisions in this organization. Give us a three-day training program”. No matter how effective a training course is, with training alone, after six months most participants retain less than 20% of any skill development training and very few will actually use what they learn in the workplace.
This should not be a surprise. We have all learned to drive a car. Many of us started with classroom instruction. But of course, after the class, no one would have let us get behind the wheel of a car and drive off alone. We went through several months with a parent or instructor in the car with us, demonstrating good driving skills and giving us continuous feedback and coaching while we drove. Only after our coach saw we had mastered the skills of driving were we given the keys and allowed to drive off on our own. The mastery of any but the simplest skills requires the same level of support.
Third, executive teams are not up for the effort. For those who know training alone is ineffective, they see the path to embedding rational thinking process skills throughout their organization as long and hard. They might see automation or software investments as easier paths to improving their performance. But in our experience, without rational thinking to guide the decision making and problem resolution, complex automation or software implementation projects never deliver the promised benefits.
These barriers have kept many executives from embarking on the journey of creating a critical thinking culture throughout their organization. But a few have made this journey and with spectacular results.
Case Study: Transforming Organizational Decision-Making in the Aerospace Sector
Introduction
An aerospace company faced significant challenges in decision-making processes that affected project timelines, resource allocation, and innovation capabilities. Leadership observed over-reliance on intuitive (System 1) thinking, leading to errors in judgment, delays, and inefficiencies. The company partnered with Lean-IQ to develop a sustainable framework for fostering rational, structured thinking across its organization.
Training Framework: Lean-IQ’s Offerings
Lean-IQ designed a customized "Critical Thinking for Excellence" program with the following components:
Mastermind Module: Employees were introduced to foundational concepts of structured problem-solving and decision-making through Lean-IQ’s interactive tool cards. These emphasized the balance between System 1 (intuitive) and System 2 (analytical) thinking, drawing on insights from Thinking, Fast and Slow.
Analyst Sessions:Practical workshops integrated real-world scenarios from aerospace operations, bridging engineering principles with data-driven decision-making. Tools such as root cause analysis, Pareto prioritization, and process flow mapping were central to the curriculum.
Navigator Workshops:Teams participated in guided workshops to apply learned skills to current organizational challenges. Customized sessions addressed specific aerospace challenges, such as optimizing manufacturing workflows and improving supply chain resilience.
Stackable Credentials:Participants earned credentials after completing modules, motivating continued learning and engagement. These were aligned with their career progression pathways within the organization.
Leadership Development: Train-the-Trainer Program
To ensure long-term adoption, Lean-IQ implemented a "train-the-trainer" strategy with the company’s leadership:
Executive Coaching:Leaders received tailored coaching sessions to recognize and counteract System 1 biases in their own decision-making. This involved personal case studies and feedback loops.
Trainer Certification:Selected team leaders were certified as internal trainers. They practiced delivering key components of the critical thinking curriculum to peers, ensuring scalability.
Leadership Accountability:Leaders committed to embedding critical thinking principles in regular team operations, including structured decision reviews and "question-first" brainstorming sessions.
Support Infrastructure: Continuous Improvement
Lean-IQ supported the company in embedding a culture of continuous improvement through Kaizen principles:
Feedback Loops:Regular feedback sessions captured employee experiences with the critical thinking tools, fostering iterative enhancements to training materials.
Technology Integration:Advanced analytics dashboards tracked the outcomes of structured decision-making, such as improved on-time delivery and resource optimization.
Recognition and Rewards:A reward system recognized teams demonstrating exceptional application of structured problem-solving methods, reinforcing a culture of excellence.
Kaizen Events:Monthly improvement events allowed cross-functional teams to address systemic issues collaboratively, leveraging the rational thinking framework.
Outcomes
Quantifiable Improvements: The organization achieved a 20% reduction in decision-making errors, a 15% increase in project efficiency, and substantial cost savings through optimized resource allocation.
Cultural Shift: Employees reported greater confidence in tackling complex challenges, and leadership observed higher engagement in collaborative problem-solving.
Sustainability: The train-the-trainer model and Kaizen support infrastructure ensured the approach became an integral part of organizational culture.
Where to Begin: A Strategic Approach to Organization-Wide change
First, know this. There is no quick fix. It takes a long-term perspective and a strong senior leadership commitment to make a meaningful difference in how an organization performs.
The core skill requirements of an organization should flow out of strategy. As part of the strategic planning process, the executive leadership team should be asking: What core skills does the organization require to realize its strategy? Constant flawless new product launches (project management skills), superior consultative selling capability (selling skills), lowest cost manufacturing (lean/six sigma skills), exceptional product quality (SPC skills), superior customer issue resolution (troubleshooting skills), superior order fill rates (ERP skills). We have to choose the capabilities that matter most to create differentiation and competitive advantage. And then, we must invest to create and sustain those capabilities. What do our people have to be great at to achieve the competitive advantage we’ve targeted? No enterprise can be great at everything. We have seen so many executive teams frustrated because they have communicated their strategy to their people and then were disappointed in the execution. But without consciously and deliberately giving people the knowledge, tools, skills and support to be able to execute the strategy, they have set everyone up for failure.
Strategic, core skills demand not just C-Suite support, but direct involvement in developing and modeling those core skills. Support is never enough to drive change. People hear what leaders say, but they pay close attention to what leaders do. If the leaders say we will use a structured decision-making process for all significant decisions and they always use that process, everyone else will quickly get on board. If, on the other hand, the leaders continue to make decisions by intuition and personal preference but expect everyone else to use the structured process, people will hunker down and wait until this fad is replaced by the next one.
The C-Suite must invest in the infrastructure necessary to get from training to mastery. This means moving from classroom instruction to using the strategic skills with a high level of proficiency every day in every applicable situation.
Leadership: The Key to Creating a Thinking Organization
Imagine an organization where everyone from the C-Suite to the shop floor has mastered a clear, rational thinking process for setting priorities, solving problems, making decisions and protecting and executing plans; where everyone is using the same thinking processes, using the same approach and the same common thinking language.
How much more effective would each individual be in contributing to the goals of the organization?
How much more effective would work and project teams be in improving the performance of the organization?
How much more effective would the executive leadership team be in making major strategic decisions for the organization and ensuring the execution of key strategic initiatives?
By embedding rational thinking throughout the organization, a business can create sustainable competitive advantage, routinely find better solutions, always work on the most vital issues, get to root cause and fix problems permanently, make the best-balanced decisions, and execute those decisions and the plans to support them on time, on budget and error free.
If you wanted to create the thinking organization described above, what would it take? Obviously, it would take real leadership. That can seem quite daunting when leadership seems to be in such short supply. Where are we going to find the leaders to drive such significant change? The answer is that we can find them amongst ourselves. Leadership is work. All work is process. All processes can be described. Anything that can be described can be learned and mastered, including leadership. All it takes is the commitment and the will to take the risk and do the work.
Leadership Process Model
What does the leadership process look like? There are eight steps and each should be followed. Leave out any one step of the process, and successful change becomes unlikely. Every step benefits from the use of rational thinking.
Understand the current state of the organization by answering these questions: What about the current state of our organization is keeping us from realizing our full potential? Given our strategic focus, what do we have to be great at to differentiate ourselves and deliver a unique value proposition? What are the gaps between where we need to be and where we are today?
Develop a vision of what the organization would look like if we were already great at these key differentiators. By vision, I don’t mean the usual two- or three-sentence vision statement which may inspire but does not inform. A meaningful vision is a detailed description of what capabilities people will have mastered, what they will be doing, what tools they will be using, and what systems will be in place. For Interbake, the audit forms were a documented, detailed description of what behaviors in our desired future state looked like for every key position in the business. These audit forms communicated a clear destination for everyone. Audits clearly answered the question for each individual, “What do you expect of me?” Only then could leadership start to build plans to get from here to there; and only then could they clearly communicate to everyone what “there” looks like.
Check alignment of the vision with the current culture. How aligned is the current culture with where you want to take the organization? This assessment will give you some idea of how difficult making changes will be. For example, if you have an informal culture and you are trying to introduce defined formal processes you need everyone to adhere to, you are going to have a much steeper mountain to climb than if you already have a formal, process-centered culture. Understanding how the culture will affect the changes you want to make should inform your planning.
Communicate in the most effective ways about where we are going and why it matters. Often we hear, “Everyone knows the change strategy but for some reason they are just not getting on board. We have published the key elements of our changes in our company newsletter, on posters and in at least a couple of speeches from the CEO”. We know that people rarely buy into change from these types of communications. The communications plan must be built into everything the organization does, including the next four leadership process steps.
Put the resources behind the changes that have to happen. Because in Step 2 we developed a very clear definition of what people would have to be doing differently, we are able to develop concrete plans on the knowledge, skills, tools, and systems people will need and we can prioritize, plan and provide the resources for the journey from here to there. Without adequate planning and resources, change will not happen. It is also a clear message to the organization that this change is important and we are committed to it.
Demonstrate how leadership is going to model the change. This is perhaps the most important form of communication. Unless leadership shows direct involvement and visibly demonstrates what the changes look like, people will not be motivated to change. It will seem easier to wait it out until, like all past initiatives, this too passes away. At Interbake, leadership attended the core trainings and not only mastered the capabilities, but also taught them. In addition, the audit process gave leadership an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment and the importance of specific changes to the organization. We found opportunities to ask questions and to use the language of the core capabilities everyday to reinforce and model how we do it in this organization. This can’t be by accident or left to individual choice. It must be planned and executed by the entire leadership team.
Establish clear metrics to measure progress. For many people within an organization, the journey towards significant change may seem too far and too hard. Leaders must establish not only measures for the final destination, but also milestones to break the journey up into digestible bites and give people a sense of progress. As has been said many times, what gets measured gets worked on. All of the audits at Interbake were scored and gaps were identified to be worked on before the next audit
Recognize and reward. And finally, as progress is made, we must recognize and reward early adopters to encourage people to come on board. In the Interbake audit process, we celebrated progress on audit scores, recognized individual contributors, and awarded financial incentives based on meeting specific change goals.
Of course, throughout this leadership journey, decisions have to be made, priorities set, problems resolved and plans made and successfully executed. Adoption of clear, rational thinking by the executive leadership team is the solid foundation upon which the thinking organization will be built. A company can find success within the first 4-6 months with high performers achieving real business results. These results will build on one another and spread throughout the organization. When it is successful it just becomes “the way you do business”.
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