Let’s take a look at two basic types of negotiation. We’ll consider the three phases of negotiation and the skills you need to become an effective negotiator.

 

Types of Negotiations

The two basic types of negotiations require different approaches.

 

The Three Phases

The three phases of a negotiation are:

These phases describe the negotiation process itself. Before the process begins, both parties need to prepare for the negotiation. This involves establishing their bargaining position by defining their BATNA, WATNA, and WAP. It also involves gathering information about the issues to be addressed in the negotiation.

It is essential to pay attention to all the phases of negotiation. Without the first phase, the exchange of information, and the establishment of bargaining positions, the second phase cannot happen in any meaningful sense because no one knows where they stand. It sets a scene for demands to be manageable and reasonable. Negotiations are, after all, about the art of the possible. Without the third phase, anything that has been decided during phase two cannot be formalized and will not take hold – leading to the necessity for further negotiation or an absolute breakdown in a relationship.

 

Skills for Successful Negotiating

These are some of the skills needed for successful negotiating.

Without the above factors, negotiations will be difficult if not impossible. The necessity for negotiation arises because neither party will be able to get everything they want. Knowing that there must be concessions, each party in the negotiation is required to adopt an attitude of understanding that they must get the best deal possible in a way which is acceptable to the other party. The importance of effective speaking and listening is clear; it is necessary to establish what you are looking for and what you are prepared to accept, while understanding what the other parties will be happy with.

Good negotiators understand the importance of balance. Yes, you will have to make concessions, but the point of making concessions is to secure what you can get – so you need to pay attention to your bottom line and ensure you are not beaten down to a minimum. Knowing what is realistic, and ensuring that you can get the best deal, relies on being ready to insist upon something that the other side may not be willing to give initially. Emotional intelligence, persistence, patience, and creativity can all play a part here.

 

This post is from September’s topic on Negotiation Skills, which is also a course on our Executive Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.

What is a crisis?  A crisis is any event that threatens a person, group of people, or the company itself. Crisis can occur any time, day or night, weekday or weekend.  A company that anticipates a crisis, and prepares for such an event, is better able to avoid negative situations completely, or, if the situation occurs, better able to manage it.

 

Internal Risks

Internal risks occur inside of the company property, or during company hours and involve an employee and their duties.  The internal risks of crisis are many.  Triggers that take place outside of the workplace, can result in a reaction or escalation within the company.  Vendors, employees, customers, any of these people could pose the risk of committing an act of violence within a company or on its property. Internal risks are not always a violent act, such as an assault, it could also come in the form of threatening emails, unwanted deliveries, etc.

Another source of internal risk for violence, is the company and its management.  Understaffed sites and poorly managed departments are another risk that could trigger an escalation to violence.  High turnover rates, under equipped areas, and poorly organized departments can be a source of stress that should be addressed before an event does occur.

 

External Risks

External risks, are just like they sound, they are the risks that the company or employees have from the outside environment.  Strangers, non-employees, anyone not related to the company.  These risks can include crimes like robbery, larceny, and drive by shootings, etc.

Although external risks are not as easily controlled as internal risks, the risk of an external event occurring can be lessened.  With the proper analysis of the operations of the company, risks can be mitigated: a drop safe for deposits at the cash register, security cameras, etc.

 

Aggression

Aggression is defined as violent or hostile behavior, without provocation.  It can also mean the readiness of the aggressor to confront those perceived to have wronged the them.  Aggression usually results in the physical or mental harm to one’s self, or others.  There can be warning signs of aggressive behavior: a withdrawal from social life and isolation from others, losing one’s temper more easily, and violent outbursts against inanimate objects.

 

Violence

The textbook definition of violence is, “The use of physical force or power to hurt, damage, or otherwise do harm to others or property of others.”  Other definitions describe violence as a criminal offense of physical force or intimidation; an extreme form of aggression.  Workplace violence occurs more often than many of us realize.  Violence can be committed by a stranger, a co-worker, a manager, even the owner.  Most violent acts have warning signs that indicate a person’s emotional state may be escalating, and that they are a danger to others.

Every company needs a stern and well-planned policy and program educating its employees about workplace violence.  Every employee needs to be made aware that violence will not be tolerated.  A culture of non-violence, is one way to protect everyone, including customers, from an unpleasant event.

 

Interested in mastering this topic? This post is part of August’s focus on Crisis Management, which is also a featured course in our Mini-MBA program online, brought to you from Harvard Square. Elevate your skills—enroll now!

As you develop a greater awareness of the interplay of your thoughts and emotions, you will find that you have a leg up on your peers. Practicing mindfulness actually helps to make you a better leader, and modeling mindfulness for the rest of your co-workers helps to make your corporate culture a more positive and productive one. While the recommended approach to practicing mindfulness has been to engage in a mindfulness meditation for 10 to 20 minutes a day, this serves well as an introduction. To take your mindfulness practice to another level, engaging in two twenty-minute meditation sessions daily is ideal. A mindful approach to leadership will enhance your mental toughness, increase your ability to focus selectively on that which you need to focus on, improve your capacity to feel compassion, and loosen the constraints we naturally place upon ourselves that inhibit our creativity. When studying these aspects of mindful leadership, it is important to remember that each concept overlaps and builds upon all the other concepts.

 

Mental Resilience

The United States Military Academy at West Point has recently developed a mindfulness approach to leadership training that focuses on enhancing mental resilience. The West Point model posits that the world has become increasingly volatile, uncertain, chaotic, and ambiguous (VUCA). Mental resilience is required in order to navigate a world marked by VUCA, but what is mental resilience and how can one develop it? Mental resilience is that quality which allows a leader to weather adversity, adapt to stressful situations, and recover. Mental resilience is mental toughness.

 

Focus

While mindfulness is helpful in focusing your attention in a neutral and accepting fashion, as a leader, you will constantly find yourself having to decide upon what to focus. Understanding the goals and values of your company and your shared mission is a vital step towards prioritizing your focus. Familiarizing yourself with a company mission statement can help in this regard. Another helpful approach is to compose a personal mission statement, which focuses on your personal values, and a professional mission statement, which focuses on your leadership goals and values within the company. Familiarity with what is important to you and to your company can provide key insights as to which way to prioritize your focus.

 

Compassion

Developing a genuine sense of compassion for other people is a great side effect of a continuous practice of mindfulness. Compassion means that you try in good faith to understand where another person is coming from and the peculiar challenges that they have to face. Having compassion for others when you’re in a leadership position is vital for building sustainable support networks. One helpful approach to leading others is to imagine your thought processes as transparent to everyone. When you do this, you become much more aware of negativity and instances where you are not being as fair and understanding as you can be. With a greater capacity for mindfulness, you can intervene when your thoughts veer into the negative, and reassess situations and people from a more neutral and accepting standpoint.

 

Creativity

The flexibility and adaptability that come with a practice of mindfulness are exceptionally helpful in being creative.  Being a creative leader also means that you provide an environment where creativity is rewarded. Too rigid an approach to rules and regulations can stifle creative thinking, which requires the same openness and neutrality that you strive for in practicing mindfulness. In a stifled environment, the status quo tends to dominate, and the phenomenon of groupthink blinds you to your shortcomings. One approach to increasing your own, and your team’s, creativity is to schedule times for play as a group. Keep in mind that this is play with a purpose – to help recharge the creative juices and allow them to flow.

 

Interested in mastering this topic? This post is part of July’s focus on Improving Mindfulness, which is also a featured course in our Executive Mini-MBA program online, brought to you from Harvard Square. Elevate your skills—enroll now!

To garner a clearer understanding of how to implement appreciative inquiry, we must first have a clearer understanding of what it means. There are many techniques and practices that can be used to bring about positive change through appreciative inquiry that anyone can use in their lives. Learning about appreciative inquiry not only benefits the employee, but the entire company. It helps address ways to encourage positive thinking instead of using negativity or even criticism.

 

What is Appreciative Inquiry?

The definition of appreciative inquiry is the ability to recognize the best in people and utilize those strengths to discover new possibilities and results. Appreciative inquiry focuses on positive thinking and expressing ideas and opinions to reach an end result. What does that mean for you or your business? Appreciative inquiry in the workplace encourages employees to think positively, which in turn helps them to overcome any negative thoughts which may hinder their ability to work harder and reach their own goals of greater productivity.

 

Generating a Better Future

Appreciative inquiry helps build a vision for a better future by using questions to turn a person’s attention to their past, present and future successes. These questions generally focus on what that person enjoys about their surroundings and their current situations. Once these ideas have been identified, the individual can take these positive thoughts to turn toward the future and build a path to success. Since we learn from our past mistakes and choices, we can use questions and insights to decide what we can use to make the right choices later. The key is identifying what works for you, and how you can use this to your advantage to create a better future.

 

Engaging People in Positive Thought

One of the age-old ways of determining how a person views a situation is by asking them if the glass is half full or half empty. Many pessimists will reply that the glass is half empty, while optimists will see the glass as half full. Even one pessimist in the group can hinder everyone else’s positive attitude, so it is important to engage every employee in positive thinking. When everyone avoids criticism and implements the ‘can do attitude’, it not only creates a pleasant work environment for everyone, but employees begin to feel better about themselves and take pride in completing any job, with ease.

 

Change the Person, Change the Organization

When employees take pride in themselves, they also take pride in their company.  But if they have negative feelings about where they work, it can show in their productivity. When you change how a person views, or thinks about the company, and their roles in it, you change how the company is perceived as a whole. This is why it is always important to meet with employees and listen to what they have to say; value their ideas and opinions.

If the employee feels as though they are making a contribution to the company and are a part of the master plan, they will be more inclined to think positively and alter the overall view of the organization. With positive and reflective employees, the organization should then become a positive entity and provide a better environment for everyone.

 

Interested in mastering this topic? This post is part of June’s focus on Appreciative Inquiry, which is also a featured course in our Mini-MBA program online, brought to you from Harvard Square. Elevate your skills—enroll now!

Before you can hire a new employee, you have to know what you are hiring them for. You must first know what the position calls for and what type of person the job will need. During interviews, you will need to be able to define and describe the position to the potential employee so that they are not surprised or left in the dark. Being prepared yourself can help prepare the employee as well.

 

Know the Position

When preparing to hire a new employee, your first step should be to know what position you intend to hire them for. After all, you can’t buy new tires if you don’t know the model of the car, or what size you’ll need! One way is to learn what type of person worked in the position prior to it becoming available and research their performance. They can be the key to determining what kind of person you will need to find next. If the position is newly created, speak with department managers and draw from them the type of person needed. This research will offer a better idea of what the job entails and what skill sets will be needed, which can help you form a more accurate job description to share with potential candidates.

 

Needs Analysis

Hiring a new employee can be a great asset to the company – if they are needed. When you have a new position to fill, it is a good opportunity to review your company’s organizational needs and determine whether there are any gaps or ‘overfilled’ areas. Determine if you will need one person to fill the job, or maybe you will need multiple people to fill the roles. Are other areas affected by the change? If so, how?

When looking at the position, and its surroundings, what kind of needs does this job fulfill for the organization? What key responsibilities need to be included when creating the job description for this position? You want a candidate that will help the organization succeed and thrive. Determine if your current staff is meeting these needs and responsibilities, and if not, how can those gaps be filled? The position may be able to be filled by altering a role already established within the company, if not, you’ll need to proceed with creating a job description to post for outside job seekers.

 

Job Analysis

A job analysis is a process used by managers and recruiters to collect information about the job, including the required duties, skills, and responsibilities. Many of these details are key aspects of a job description. Start with the job title, since this is the ‘headliner’ for the job; it can give the applicant an idea of what it may or may not include. Titles such as “Customer Service Representative” or “Business Accountant” hint as to what the job entails, while still leaving room for additional job titles or duties.

The important thing to remember is that a job analysis focuses on the job itself. The job analysis is intended to help the hiring personnel determine a position’s ‘readiness’ to be filled, and what exactly is needed to accomplish that.

 

Task Analysis

After the job analysis is complete, many tasks and duties are defined and can further be analyzed for the perfect employee candidate. A task analysis is similar to a job analysis, but this process breaks down how a task is completed and what materials are necessary to do it. This can include basic task activities, such as processes and materials, and expand all the way to determining task length, difficulty, energy or other unique characteristics of the position. Once the task analysis is gathered, the information can be helpful during the development of personnel criteria and employee training.

Most of the time, the best way to complete a task analysis is to work with the employee in that position and their surrounding peers to observe their actions and what procedures they follow. These people are your best source of information on what is, or isn’t, performed on the job. However, if this person is not available, or the position has been created recently, then research with outside companies or agencies with similar positions will be a better resource.

 

Interested in mastering this topic? This post is part of May’s focus on Hiring Strategy, which is also a featured course in our Executive Mini-MBA program online, brought to you from Harvard Square. Elevate your skills—enroll now!

Every company and every manager wants to increase productivity. Constant access to information and the expectations to do more with less is overwhelming the workforce. People are easily distracted at work. Attention management allows managers and employees to increase their productivity as well as their personal job satisfaction.

 

What Is Attention Management?

Attention management increases the ability to focus attention and can be done at the individual and organizational level. Managers are encouraged to deal with their own attention problems before trying to influence employees in their organization. In order to understand attention management, people must be aware of where they focus most of their attention. Most experts divide attention into four different areas or zones. While the names change, the ideas are all the same.

 

Four Areas of Attention:

Understanding how we manage our time and focus during the workday is essential to improving productivity and achieving our goals. Our work habits can generally be grouped into four distinct modes, each with its own impact on effectiveness and results. These modes—Intentional, Responsive, Interrupted, and Unproductive—highlight how our attention is directed and how purposefully we engage with our tasks. Let’s explore each one:

 

Stop Thinking and Pay Attention!

The advice “stop thinking” may seem counterintuitive to attention management. Many people, however, are over thinking everything and focused on the wrong ideas. When we constantly think we do not pay attention to what is really going on around us. Our feelings control how and what we think. If we think that something is boring, bad, or a waste of time, we tend to give it less attention. For example, people are less likely to pay attention during a meeting if they believe it will not be productive. The ability to pay attention allows people to better connect with the world around them, better process their emotions, and organize the way they process cognitively.

 

Interested in mastering this topic? This post is part of April’s focus on Attention Management, which is also a featured course in our Executive Mini-MBA program online, brought to you from Harvard Square. Elevate your skills—enroll now!

There are many benefits of high performing teams. In creating high performance teams, employees become more satisfied, and their quality of work improves. Taking the time to build high performance teams in an organization creates loyalty, creates visibility, enhances collaboration, and provides optimum productivity.

 

Creates Loyalty

Developing high performing teams instills intrinsic motivation within employees. They find meaning in their work, and this satisfies them more than extrinsic motivators, such as commissions. When employees are intrinsically motivated at work, they are less likely to leave the organization. Satisfied employees are loyal, and loyalty reduces turnover. It ensures that only qualified employees staff the organization. Success is assured when qualified employees have a genuine interest in the success of the business.

 

Optimum Productivity

Creating high performance teams will lead to optimum productivity. This benefit goes beyond numbers on reports. Optimal productivity begins with the behavior of individual team members who learn to trust each other. As trust builds within the team, the individual members will work together more efficiently. As the team learns to work together, their roles become clear to them, and they communicate better. All of these factors help to create an amiable work environment. As the work environment improves, productivity will also improve, and the path to optimum productivity becomes evident.

 

Collaboration

Collaboration is both a product of high-performance teams and an essential aspect of them. Collaboration occurs when the members of the team work together towards a single goal. Successful collaboration requires everyone involved to respect and encourage diversity. This includes the diversity of opinion and people. Respect is the key to collaboration. Conflicting ideas are inevitable, but beneficial solutions are probable when all parties treat each other with respect and learn to see from different points of view.

 

Creates Visibility

High performance teams create visibility. The actions taken by each member of the team need to be apparent to everyone involved, particularly the manager of the team.  When there is visibility, teams work better together. Additionally, people are praised and rewarded when their actions are visible.

 

Interested in mastering this topic? This post is part of March’s focus on High Performance Teams Inside the Company, which is also a featured course in our Mini-MBA program online, brought to you from Harvard Square. Elevate your skills—enroll now!

360-degree feedback is useful for evaluating performance. It provides evaluations from different sources to paint a clear picture of how well an individual performs. Identifying strengths and weaknesses will allow employees to continually improve how they perform.

 

What is 360-degree Feedback?

360-degree feedback is an alternative method of reviewing employees. Rather than a traditional review, employees are given anonymous feedback from supervisors and peers. Managers’ feedback also includes direct reports and reviews from employees. Individuals also evaluate themselves in 360-degree feedback. Together, these evaluations will help improve performance by:

 

Vs. Traditional Performance Reviews

360-degree feedback provides a better picture of performance than traditional reviews. Supervisors perform traditional performance reviews, and theses reviews may have a negative impact on performance if employees feel it is not fair, damaging the trust between managers and employees. People in positions of authority also benefit from 360-degree feedback, as traditional performance reviews do not always give an accurate description of employer/employee relationships.

 

The Components

360-degree feedback evaluation forms are typically done on a scale of 1 to 10. There is a place for comments on the evaluation form. The scores from supervisors, peers, employees, and direct reports are averaged and compared with average company scores. HR typically handles the reporting to make sure that the feedback remains confidential.

 

Interested in mastering this topic? This post is part of February’s focus on Performance Management, which is also a featured course in our Mini-MBA program online, brought to you from Harvard Square. Elevate your skills—enroll now!

If you’re finding it difficult to achieve your goals, perhaps you are not creating the right ones. Whenever you create goals, follow the rules for SMART goals: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. When you combine the elements of SMART goals, you have a greater chance of success.

 

Specific

Goals need to be specific. Goals that are broad and general may be too difficult to achieve. For example, “Improve my life” is too broad. Specific goals explain what is necessary to complete a goal and guides you as you try to reach that goal. Specific goals may also identify location, requirements, and the reasoning behind the goal.

 

Measurable

Goals need to be measurable in order to be effective. A measurable goal specifies when a goal is accomplished by answering, “how much?” or “how many?” It provides measurable results. Without measurable goals, it is difficult to realize when the goal has been reached.

 

Attainable

Goals must always be attainable. It is important that you create goals that are challenging, but they still need to be within reach. When goals are unattainable, you may give up on them without even trying. The measure of a goal should always be attainable.

 

Realistic

It is important that you set realistic goals. Realistic goals are directly related to your abilities. For example, a goal to reprogram the computer is not realistic if you do not have the education or experience to accomplish the task. Additionally, you need to make sure that you have access to the tools necessary to meet your goals. If a goal seems unrealistic, break it down into smaller chunks to know for certain.

 

Timely

Always create goals that have specific time frames. General goals do not establish any time frames, which means that you may continue to pursue goals that you should relinquish. Timely goals encourage you to move forward in order to meet the deadline you have established. Once a time frame has been reached, you should take the time to re-evaluate the goal.

 

Interested in mastering this topic? This post is part of January’s focus on Goal Setting and Getting Things Done, which is also a featured course in our Executive Mini-MBA program online, brought to you from Harvard Square. Elevate your skills—enroll now!

It’s one thing to recognize emotions, but to be able to understand and gain control over these emotions, will define an individual’s emotional intelligence abilities. To better develop emotional intelligence, it is important to begin by enhancing the key aspects of emotional intelligence. According to psychologist Daniel Goleman, there are five key components of emotional intelligence that help individuals navigate through complex emotional situations, resulting in conflict management and resolution. These components relate to the day-to-day lives of everyone. By recognizing these elements and what they entail, one can gain a clearer understanding, form proper decisions, as well as promote and contribute to an emotionally intelligent workplace.

 

Self-Management

Self-management is all about controlling impulsive behaviors, adapting to changes, following through on personal commitments, and overall managing emotions in a healthy way. An emotionally intelligent person who is competent in self-management will think before they speak, and consider any consequences that are associated with their actions. For example, rather than becoming defensive or aggressive when receiving criticism, an individual who possesses strong self-management skills will accept the criticism, maintain composure, and process their emotions with a clear headspace. In order to improve self-management abilities, it is critical to recognize that there are many things in life that will be out of our control.

 

Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is the key to self-confidence and creating a meaningful life. Simply put, self-awareness is to recognize traits of the self. This includes emotions, strengths, weaknesses, and patterns of one’s own behaviors. Beyond this, self-awareness involves being aware of the effects of your emotions, patterns, and actions. With the awareness of these traits, we can learn to better manage interactions with others and set boundaries.

Self-awareness is a critical step in the process of full acceptance or change. Without understanding the reasons behind why a person thinks the way they do, or acts in a certain way, one may never fully appreciate or understand the importance of making changes toward improvement. Emotional clarity will result in emotional responses that are healthy and appropriate.

 

Inference

Social skills and awareness are aimed to help manage emotional connections with others. The best way to strengthen social skills and create healthy connections is through emotional intelligence. Social skills focus on communication, influence, leadership, and conflict management. Being socially aware simply means having the ability to understand alternative perspectives, and empathize with others from diverse backgrounds, resulting in effective interactions and the building of networks. People with strong social skills pay close attention to their surroundings.

The development of social skills can be a continuous process of learning from life’s experience. This involves being open to change and new situations, and reaching out to others to understand emotional needs. A great leader will always be aware of their social surroundings, which benefits the whole team.

 

Internal Motivation

To excel in life, we need to be self-motivated. Self-motivation is the desire to learn and grow, based off of personal goals. It is also one of the personal competencies that are associated with emotional intelligence. A higher emotional intelligence is related to a higher motivation, optimism and resiliency. Internal motivation involves striving for personal development, in which harnessing our emotions will help to take appropriate action and implement hard work to achieve success.

It’s important that we understand the importance of motivating ourselves, rather than depending on others to do it for us. For example, emotional intelligence teaches us that if we do good on a test, we can be proud of our successes, rather than questioning our worth based off of feedback from others.

 

Empathy

Empathy is essential for forming interpersonal connections, as well as understanding emotional responses. Those who are empathetic will be both perceptive and proactive. Empathetic awareness is a big aspect of emotional intelligence; it helps to create awareness and sensitivity to the needs of those around us. Emotionally intelligent people will listen to gain an understanding of the feelings of another person, so that they can grasp how to properly respond to the situation.

In order for empathy to work, a person must first achieve self-awareness, and be able to recognize, classify, and understand their own feelings. This will help to relate to others, while enhancing mutual understanding and respect. Empathy will help to drive connection.

 

Interested in mastering this topic? This post is part of December’s focus on Developing Emotional Intelligence, which is also a featured course in our Mini-MBA program online, brought to you from Harvard Square. Elevate your skills—enroll now!

To be a happy person, you have to think constructively. You have to look at things in a positive way and determine how it will benefit you. Always think things through, and determine the best course of action. Your brain is a powerful tool, so use it to your advantage.

 

Positive Thinking

Look on the bright side of things, and stay in that mindset. Having a positive thinking attitude will benefit you in so many ways. It helps with your mental health as well as your physical health. It is amazing the power that the mind has.  Positive people attract positivity to their lives. What you exude comes back to you.

Benefits of positive thinking:

Ways to think more positively:

 

Self-Talk

Self-talk is something that we all need to be aware of. For a healthy mind, we want to focus on developing better self-talk and practicing it. Self-talk is our little inner voice. It may not always be loud, so we need to listen for it. It is important to pay attention to this because it can either be positive or negative. Positive talk is what makes you feel good about yourself. Negative self-talk makes you feel bad about yourself. It is pessimistic. Get rid of the negative voice, and focus on the positive one.

Positive self-talk can help with:

 

Aware of Personal Beliefs and Assumptions

It is our responsibility to be aware of our own personal beliefs and assumptions. Generally, we all have our own beliefs,but they can be partially influenced by others. Our belief system is based on real life experiences; they create part of our identity. We do not tend to think about our beliefs unless we are in a situation where we need to.

 

Opportunity Thinking

Think about it, and make it happen! Opportunities present themselves to people who want them and pursue them.  Opportunities present themselves as chances to make a change; for something better to happen. It is important to take opportunities, even if you are afraid. They may make all the difference in your life. Look for the positive in opportunities, and go for it!

Habits to make opportunities happen:

 

This post is from November’s topic on Self-Leadership, which is also a course on our Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.

Critical thinking skills are valuable for everyone– they help guide us through a world of information. While we are consistently thinking throughout the day, our critical thinking skills may provide us with the greatest value. Critical thinking is all about ensuring people make the best choices based on the best information. It involves the consideration of reasoning, logic and reflective thinking to form sound arguments and decisions. Whether in your personal life, or in your professional career, it is important to be able to form rational arguments that support your beliefs.

 

Defining Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is more than just thinking. It involves a deeper level of thinking that goes beyond our everyday basic thoughts. To think critically means to question ideas and conclusions, by analyzing, assessing and reconstructing concepts. Critical thinking helps you to determine which actions are necessary to create the best solution to your problems. A critical thinker does not accept facts at face value; instead, they analyze these facts to gain a thorough understanding of the topic at hand. As a result, critical thinking can encourage individuals to be open-minded, and gain better control over their own learning.

 

Importance of a Critical Approach

Everyday decisions have a significant impact on our quality of life. In order to make good decisions, it is essential to have good critical thinking skills. Critical thinking can help to ensure that you will live your best, most successful life. It enables you to better express your beliefs and ideas, while also improving your communication skills with others. As a result of improved communication, there will be fewer misunderstandings and frustrations.

No matter your path or profession, critical thinking skills will always be relevant and favorable to your success. Our economy depends on information and innovation, in which strong thinking skills are required to build these strategies. Although we often fail to notice the importance of these skills in our everyday life, they are one of the most desirable skills for the workplace. Employers will often look for candidates who evaluate problems using logical thoughts, since they are more likely to offer the best solutions to these problems. A critical thinker is trusted to make independent decisions, as well as work with others to solve problems quickly and efficiently.

 

When to Think Critically

Although critical thinking is necessary in today’s world, it is not necessary to think critically all of the time. Opportunities arise in our daily lives in which we need to face problems and decisions using powerful critical thinking abilities. When the outcome of the situation or problem will make a significant difference to you, a critical approach should be applied to the situation. Think about whether it may be life altering or if it will matter to you in the future. If critical thinking is not applied to important situations, it can result in a loss of financial resources, opportunities, relationships, or various other aspects in life.

 

The Role of Logic

Logical skills are significant for rationalizing important decisions. There is a strong relationship between logic and critical thinking; Logic is applied to a critical thinking situation, in which logic helps to separate truth from falsehood. Logic is the branch of philosophy that gives the rules for deriving valid conclusions. A conclusion is valid if it results from statements that are accepted as facts. For example, a logical statement might be 1+1 = 2. If a statement does not follow the rules, it is said to be illogical.

Logic can be applied to critical thinking to distinguish between good or bad reasoning. Logical thinking is a process which involves steps. In general, logical thinking involves checking the components of the argument and making connections between them, which is what we call reasoning.

 

Applying Reason

An individual’s ability to reason well is considered a critical thinking skill. Many of the definitions of critical thinking tend to focus on a person’s ability to reason. Reasoning occurs when we use our knowledge of one thing, process, or statement, to determine if another thing, process, or statement is true. Reasoning will help to strengthen your ability to draw logical, sensible conclusions. When we apply reasoning, we use logic to determine “what follows what.” Human reasoning does not always follow logic and can often be based on emotional bias.

 

This post is from October’s topic on Critical Thinking, which is also a course on our Executive Mini-MBA program online from Harvard Square.