To become a high-performing team capable of critical and creative thinking, you must consider questions you can ask to identify the gaps in skill and knowledge within your team, both collectively and individually. This will help you devise a plan to address gaps and increase skills and knowledge.
The best way to achieve this is to develop questions to help determine the level of knowledge and identify potential gaps. You must identify the gaps to help gain the best from your team and avoid putting them in situations where they may feel intimidated or incapable. You should consider asking the following questions when learning to identify knowledge gaps.
Developing questions for individuals and teams
When developing these questions, be sure to use appropriate language and communication techniques. You do not want to appear as though you are interrogating the team but instead finding out where their skills and knowledge are at.
The following are some examples of questions you may wish to ask individuals and teams to identify knowledge gaps.
Questions for individuals
When addressing the gaps for individuals, consider the following questions.
- Can the staff member follow complaint procedures according to organisational processes and timelines?
- Can the staff member identify issues or inefficiencies in their work processes?
- Can the staff member suggest how to improve their work?
- Can the staff member communicate important information clearly and succinctly?
- Can the staff member provide a summary of important insights and implications for future work on the spot without preparation?
- Can the staff member work autonomously and work out how to answer questions?
Questions for teams
Consider the following questions when addressing the gaps for a team.
- Can the team work together to implement processes or procedures impacting multiple individuals?
- Can the team identify issues in their work processes and come together to identify and discuss suggestions for improving them?
- Can the team identify when to solve issues within the team and when to escalate them to management for support?
- Can the team work together to collect and present important information clearly and succinctly?
- Can the team consider multiple options to address an issue and fairly and logically determine the best way forward?
- Can the team share information to better understand the overall process and its impact on it?
Questions using Bloom’s Taxonomy
Bloom’s Taxonomy provides a vast range of skills individuals need to become critical thinkers. The following table outlines each of the six stages of Bloom’s Taxonomy. It also highlights the questions you should ask to determine whether individuals and the team possess the skill or if there is a gap.
| Level of Bloom’s Taxonomy | Questions to ask The following are common questions to ask to identify gaps |
Example The following are examples of using the questions in context. *Note: these basic examples and context will look different depending on what you are asking the individual to do. |
Gap(s) Identified The following are examples of the common gaps you may find according to each level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knowledge |
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| Comprehension |
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| Application |
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| Analysis |
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| Synthesis |
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| Evaluation |
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Facilitate relevant learning opportunities for others
Learning opportunities allow leaders to grow. Good leaders will take the time to address knowledge gaps by providing feedback and learning opportunities. Such opportunities require the careful planning of a program. These programs will vary from workplace to workplace; however, the aim is to ensure there are opportunities for the team to learn and grow.
As a leader, you must consider how you plan to facilitate these opportunities, especially if you lead sessions. The following are some key aspects you may wish to factor in when you are developing a training session or program for learning opportunities.
- An overview outlining what it is you will be facilitating, for example, the use of Bloom’s Taxonomy for critical thinking
- An introduction that covers:
- the purpose- why are you facilitating this program or training session
- how the learning will take place, for example, in groups, one on one sessions, online, face-to-face workshops
- how it aims to incorporate, support, and encourage critical and creative thinking.
- Details including:
- Dates, when the session will be held or a program launched
- The tasks that need to be completed
- Who is completing specific tasks
- When they are completing them.
- Opportunities for monitoring and capturing feedback
- Repercussions of feedback and actioning said repercussions for future improvement.
- Finally, any additional resources that are required. For example, you may wish to use the company’s policy and procedure for critical thinking, or you have found an external source to refer to.
When presenting, you must consider the following:
- Language
- Use formal and appropriate language
- Avoid too much jargon
- Be mindful of humour and sarcasm
- Body language
- Dynamic of the team
- Who are you presenting to
- What are their existing skill levels
- What will they get out of the training
- Experience
- Your own experience is essential when facilitating; if there is an area you are not entirely confident in, you may wish to outsource rather than attempt to present it when you are not entirely confident.
- The experience of the team
- How long have they been with the company
- How long have they been in the industry
- Educational background
- Resources to facilitate learning
- If conducting a formal training session, what teaching aids will you use? For example, PowerPoint, handouts, and infographics.
- Will you need a sign interpreter or translator?
- Where will you be presenting, online, in a board room, and so on
The following table illustrates the various types of formal and informal learning opportunities that can be implemented to address knowledge gaps.
| Formal learning opportunities | Program description | Informal learning opportunities | Program description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workshops/ Training session | Organise a training session within the workplace. This can be a face-to-face or online workshop facilitated by an appointed staff member. The staff member facilitating the training should have a repertoire of skills and knowledge to train the staff successfully. |
In the moment feedback | Provide immediate feedback on a task that is being worked on. Identify what has been accomplished and provide guidance on improvements. |
| Professional development | Organise for external personnel to facilitate a professional development session based on the skills that need improving on, for example, critical and creative thinking techniques and how to implement them Sessions can be within the workplace, at a venue, or online via a webinar. At the end of the session, the team will receive a certificate of participation. |
Mentoring |
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| Role rotations | Change the team dynamics and pair up individuals with strengths in one area with those who may need more development. Many people learn from each other, and changing teams is a great way to foster this and nurture professional rapport. |
Monitor the success of program
Once you have implemented a training session or program, you will need to monitor its success. This can be achieved by circulating a survey or feedback form after the session or program. Monitoring success is an ongoing process that should be carried out about a month after the session, then again in six months and again at twelve. Frequency is crucial when determining the success of any programs that are being facilitated because it provides accuracy on whether or not it worked to address the gap.
Articulate the key features with your team
It is important to regularly remind your team of critical and creative thinking concepts. To ensure they are maximising their skills and reaching their full potential.
This can be articulated to a team of leaders, managers, and employees to ensure the skills are not missed, critical thinking is still taking place and the concepts are being addressed.
Let us look at some processes you can implement to address the three creative and critical thinking concepts.
Analysis
- Articulate the task before they begin to check for understanding.
- Encourage them to break a task into sub-tasks and review each sub-task as they go.
- Show them examples of quality work and how their work may differ.
- Ask them to consider what could be done better and what can be done next.
Synthesis
- Provide opportunities to do low-risk work in this space.
- Ask questions like ‘if you could only share one insight, what would it be?
- When they share updates, ask them to share in a concise way first.
- Have a team member wrap up an internal, low-stake team meeting with the key points.
Evaluation
- Before answering their questions, ask them what they think.
- When making recommendations, ask them to propose two to three in the order they would recommend.
- Ask them to convey the logic behind their recommendations visually (for example, in a flowchart).
Knowledge Check
Answer the following three (3) questions. Click the arrows to navigate between the tasks.
