Evaluative thinking is a critical skill for leaders and others who are tasked with making decisions, solving problems, and evaluating their own performance. Evaluative thinking involves using data to make judgments about the effectiveness of your team or organization's activities and processes. Evaluative thinking is not just about criticism; it's about finding ways to improve performance. This blog post will explain what evaluative thinking is, why it's important for leaders, how you can develop those skills in yourself and others on your team, and more!

What is evaluative thinking?

Evaluative thinking is a way of thinking about the results you want to achieve, how you can achieve them, and what evidence is needed to inform future actions and judgments. It's about making decisions and taking action based on evidence, rather than opinion or emotion. Evaluative thinking is a way of doing business. The aim is to get better results by evaluating what you're currently doing, how it's working out for you, and then considering alternatives that may lead to better outcomes.

Evaluative thinking involves asking:

What results are expected?
How can these results be achieved? How will I know when they've been achieved?
What actions do I need to take now so the desired outcome happens in the future? And how can I measure whether those actions were effective?

Why is evaluative thinking important?

Evaluative thinking is important for several reasons. It helps you make better decisions, it helps you to make more effective improvements, and it can help you to improve your work.

Let's look at an example of how evaluative thinking works:

You have been asked to write a report on the impact of social media on business. You could just start writing, but it will be much better if you evaluate the situation first. This means asking yourself questions like: Is this topic relevant? How much time do I have available? What do people expect from me? What resources are available (people/time)? What information do I already have about this subject area?

Evaluative thinking supports effective and continual problem-solving, decision-making, and improvement.

Evaluative thinking is an important skill that can help you make better decisions and solve problems. It's also useful for improving yourself and your environment. Evaluative thinking involves identifying the strengths and weaknesses of something, which allows you to decide whether it's worth doing more research before making a decision or taking action on something new. Evaluative thinking helps us make better decisions by looking at both sides of an issue before jumping into anything rashly without considering all possibilities first!

What Is Evaluative Thinking, and Why Does It Matter?