BUILDING YOUR THINKING SKILLS

Overview

Many Army personnel are unprepared for operational assignments that require complex problem solving and strategic thinking. Soldiers need more opportunities to practice the advanced thinking skills needed for complex problem solving.

Practical Exercises

To address the need for experiential learning opportunities to practice and build advanced thinking skills, the Army Research Institute has developed a set of practical exercises. The exercises in the MCP Resource are designed to help develop and strengthen the skills needed to be successful at complex problem solving.

The exercises provide opportunities to practice many of the advanced thinking skills needs for managing complex problems. They include:

• Reflecting on Experience | Practice reflective thinking and learning from experience
• Asking Powerful Questions | Practice questioning and information seeking
• Telling a Story | Practice thinking holistically, seeing connections, and synthesizing information
• Envisioning Potential Futures | Practice thinking in time, strategic foresight

In addition to these core skills, the exercises promote self-awareness and thinking-about-thinking (i.e., “metacognition”). They also provide opportunities for Soldiers to practice communication skills, discourse, sensemaking, synthesis, critical thinking, and visualization. By using these exercises, Soldiers will be better prepared to manage complex problems.

Strategic Thinking and Complex Problems: Not Just For The Strategic Level

The ability to think strategically and to think about the strategic level of war are often treated as one and the same, and discussed as though they are equivalent. However, there are important distinctions between them. The strategic level of war is concerned with the art and science of employing national power. In contrast, strategic thinking can happen at any level, by individuals at any rank, and can be practiced throughout a Soldier’s career. Just as general officers can think strategically about how campaigns can be orchestrated to achieve national strategic goals, platoon leaders can think strategically about how their units’ actions can have ripple effects on the broader mission. At the same time, although strategic thinking can happen at any level, the types of tasks that require strategic thinking skills are likely to expand as individuals advance in rank and responsibility.