Stop and THINK
Stop and THINK™ before you write that next prompt
Companies are teaching people how to use AI.
How to write better prompts. How to use copilots. How to create images, analyze data, summarize documents, and build agents. That's important.
But we think something even more important is needed to maximize AI’s true potential: critical thinking skills.
Why it matters: Using AI effectively isn't just about knowing which buttons to push or how to construct the perfect prompt. It requires brainpower before you use AI and while you're using it.
What problem are you actually trying to solve? How does the work happen today? What assumptions are you making? And when AI gives you an answer, should you believe it?
Without a foundation in critical thinking skills, people risk using an incredibly powerful tool to solve the wrong problem, automate a bad process, or produce an answer that simply isn't true.
Training people on critical thinking skills can be like teaching happiness: It is nebulous and more of a concept than a set of instructions.
Clients have told us there’s a need to have some type of structured training approach to what is possibly the backbone of good AI use.
With that in mind we are introducing THINK™ and we would love to get your thoughts, ideas, and feedback.
THINK stands for:
T - Target the real problem: What is the root cause of what we are trying to do?
H - How does it work today: Map the current and future processes
I - Identify your assumptions: List and challenge biases, premises, and the status quo
N - Navigate the possibilities: Work with Ai on solutions you may not even know existed
K - Know before you trust: Whatever AI recommends or produces, verify it.
Here's THINK in action.
Imagine someone says, “I want to build a data dashboard.”
T: Target the real problem: Is the problem really that you need a dashboard? No. The problem is that people need to make decisions using data.
H - How does it work today: How are people making those decisions today? What information do they use? What's difficult or time-consuming?
I - Identify your assumptions: Why assume a dashboard is the answer? Maybe people need alerts, a weekly summary, or a way to simply ask questions of their data.
N - Navigate the possibilities: Ask AI what other solutions might address the problem. A dashboard may be one. There may be better ones.
K - Know before you trust: Whatever AI recommends or produces, verify it. Are the data, calculations and conclusions accurate?
THINK isn't something you follow and then turn your brain over to AI.
The THINK curriculum teaches the essential critical thinking skills people need before and throughout the experience.
Our belief is that approaches like THINK aren't a nice-to-do; they are essential.
Whether it is using THINK or a different methodology, employees MUST possess these skills if companies want to realize AI's full potential.
This isn't about technology; it's about thinking.
Think first. Prompt second. Verify always.
So...what do you think?
