How often have you seen the following in
job ads? “Someone keen to take responsibility and with the confidence to
challenge established practices and come up with new ways of working…” “An
enquiring mind and the ability to understand and solve complex challenges are
necessary…” “We are looking for innovative minds and creative spirits ...”
What do these have in common? They all ask
essentially the same two things: The ability to use your own initiative, to
think for yourself, to be creative and pro-active, and the ability to resolve
problems, to think logically and/or laterally, to use ingenuity to overcome
difficulties and to research and implement solutions.
In other words, analytical and problem
solving skills. Now one would assume that these skills are vital to surviving
in the modern world, yet study after study has shown that these skills are
lacking in a significant percentage of the population. The American 2012
Critical Skills Survey, which polled 768 managers and executives, found that
employers rated most of their employees as either average or below average in
communication skills (62%), creativity (61%), collaboration (52%), and critical
thinking (49%).
And yet, these skills are essential for
every business. Any business will have challenges or obstacles which need to be
overcome. If they employ people who are
adept at solving problems at all levels, it reduces the need for complex chains
of command or lessens demand on managers' time. In short, it will help save
time and therefore money. Analytical skills are becoming quite important - we
are all bombarded with huge amounts of information every day! Being able to
quickly yet comprehensively identify and evaluate the most important or
relevant information for the business and your job will be an increasingly
essential skill.
Even here at Trustco, it is how Dr Quinton
van Rooyen evaluates employees: “We’ve identified 5 basic types of employees.
The Blind Employee - These employees can’t see a problem even if it is staring
them right in the face. They work like robots, following a set procedure, and
never notice if there’s something wrong, or something that is impeding
efficiency. You don’t need these employees – they can be replaced by
automation.
The Averse Employee - These can see a
problem, but they try to avoid it as they are afraid doing something about it
might make them responsible for it. These employees are actively trying to
avoid adding value to your business. Replace them.
The Identifying Employee - These employees
can see a problem, but they can’t take the initiative to solve it, and simply
report it up their reporting line. These are the minimum acceptable employees,
your basic employees. They should form the backbone of your company.
The Transformative Employee - These
employees can identify a problem, and once handed a problem that’s been
identified, solve it. These employees should be your supervisors and line
managers. They’re the employees who are making your business great.
The Revolutionary Employee - These problem-solving
employees are not only great thinkers and innovators, but they also have the
ability to get employee buy-in. They can thus solve social/people problems, and
involve others in the problem solving process. These employees can change the
world, and should be your senior and top management. “
So if these skills are truly so
indispensable, why do so many people lack them? The answer can be found in our
model of education. For too long, education has been at the whim of the
memorization model of education, where students are taught simply to receive,
memorize and repeat information. Teachers simply drop the information on
students, with little in the way of discussion and they are expected to sit
down, shut up, and remember. This might have been appropriate for an age in
which student were to be merely compliant, obedient factory workers – but those
jobs are increasingly being replaced by machines, and the mind is the one area
where machines have yet to supplant us.
Then there’s the problem-solving model of
education – where students and teachers work together in communicating and
learning information. Teachers ask questions, and engage students to think
critically and evaluate the material – they create critical questions and
answers that not only better help students understand the material, but also
enable them to remember it better.
Teachers, naturally, are a bit resistant to
these methods. After all, this is not how things are done! Students shouldn’t
talk back to teachers! Well, yes – if what you want is obedient drones, instead
of productive members of society. That model is quite authoritarian, and has no
place in a democratic society. The other concern, of course, is that teachers
worry that students will come up with ideas that the teachers won’t understand.
Well, if a child can outthink you, you’ve either got a very clever child, or…
The fact of the matter is that they should
be able to explain their methods, and thus teachers should be able to follow
their reasoning. And even if they did not know, there’s no shame in stating
that, and assuring them you’ll find out. After all, teachers are expected to
stay up to date on their field – and by finding out the answers to their
students’ questions, they too will learn something new.
With the importance of analytical and
problem solving skills only increasing year-on-year, it becomes essential that
we all possess these skills. After all, if you had to choose an employee or a
co-worker, would you rather have one that was analytical, insightful and problem-solving,
or would you prefer one that could rattle off a bunch of fact, but was
dumb-founded when asked something they didn’t memorize?
Definitely helpful to develop problem-solving minds anywhere. Indonesia included
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