importance of analysis problem solving

What is problem solving and why is it important?

By Wayne Stottler, Kepner-Tregoe

Problem Solving & Decision Making Over time, developing and refining problem solving skills provides the ability to solve increasingly complex problems Learn More

For over 60 years, Kepner-Tregoe has been helping companies across industries and geographies to develop and mature their problem-solving skills through our industry-leading approach to training and the implementation of best-practice processes. Considering that problem solving is a part of almost every person’s daily life (both at home and in the workplace), it is surprising how often we are asked to explain what problem solving is and why it is important.

Problem solving is at the core of human evolution. It is the methods we use to understand what is happening in our environment, identify things we want to change and then figure out the things that need to be done to create the desired outcome. Problem solving is the source of all new inventions, social and cultural evolution, and the basis for market based economies. It is the basis for continuous improvement, communication and learning.

If this problem-solving thing is so important to daily life, what is it?

Problem-solving is the process of observing what is going on in your environment; identifying things that could be changed or improved; diagnosing why the current state is the way it is and the factors and forces that influence it; developing approaches and alternatives to influence change; making decisions about which alternative to select; taking action to implement the changes; and observing impact of those actions in the environment.

Each step in the problem-solving process employs skills and methods that contribute to the overall effectiveness of influencing change and determine the level of problem complexity that can be addressed. Humans learn how to solve simple problems from a very early age (learning to eat, make coordinated movements and communicate) – and as a person goes through life, problem-solving skills are refined, matured and become more sophisticated (enabling them to solve more difficult problems).

Problem-solving is important both to individuals and organizations because it enables us to exert control over our environment.

Fixing things that are broken

Some things wear out and break over time, others are flawed from day one. Personal and business environments are full of things, activities, interactions and processes that are broken or not operating in the way they are desired to work. Problem-solving gives us a mechanism for identifying these things, figuring out why they are broken and determining a course of action to fix them.

Addressing risk

Humans have learned to identify trends and developed an awareness of cause-and-effect relationships in their environment. These skills not only enable us to fix things when they break but also anticipate what may happen in the future (based on past experience and current events). Problem-solving can be applied to anticipated future events and used to enable action in the present to influence the likelihood of the event occurring and/or alter the impact if the event does occur.

Improving performance

Individuals and organizations do not exist in isolation in the environment. There is a complex and ever-changing web of relationships that exist and as a result, the actions of one person will often have either a direct impact on others or an indirect impact by changing the environment dynamics. These interdependencies enable humans to work together to solve more complex problems but they also create a force that requires everyone to continuously improve performance to adapt to improvements by others. Problem-solving helps us understand relationships and implement the changes and improvements needed to compete and survive in a continually changing environment.

Seizing opportunity

Problem solving isn’t just about responding to (and fixing) the environment that exists today. It is also about innovating, creating new things and changing the environment to be more desirable. Problem-solving enables us to identify and exploit opportunities in the environment and exert (some level of) control over the future.

Problem solving skills and the problem-solving process are a critical part of daily life both as individuals and organizations. Developing and refining these skills through training, practice and learning can provide the ability to solve problems more effectively and over time address problems with a greater degree of complexity and difficulty. View KT’s Problem Solving workshop known to be the gold standard for over 60 years.

We are experts in:

For inquiries, details, or a proposal!

Subscribe to the KT Newsletter

Analytical Skills: Why They Matter and How to Develop Them

Analytical skills involve collecting, analyzing, and interpreting information to solve problems. They are crucial in work and daily life, and can be developed through practice. This article explores their importance and ways to improve them.

Have you ever wondered what analytical skills are and why they are important? Analytical skills are the ability to collect, analyze and interpret information to solve problems and make decisions. These skills are highly valued in the workplace and also in our daily lives.

In today's fast-paced world, we are constantly bombarded with information. Whether it's in the form of news, social media, or data, we need to be able to analyze and interpret this information to make informed decisions. Analytical skills are essential for success in many fields, including business, finance, science, and technology.

While some people may possess natural analytical skills, they can also be developed and improved with practice. In this article, we will explore what analytical skills are, why they are important, and how you can improve them. Whether you're looking to advance in your career or simply want to make better decisions in your personal life, enhancing your analytical skills can have a significant impact.

fieldengineer.com | Analytical Skills: Why They Matter and How to Develop Them

What are Analytical skills?

Analytical skills are vital for any successful professional seeking to provide quality solutions to problems. These skills involve the sharpness to detect patterns, formulate theories, and observe data for the detection of discrepancies or similarities. It requires organizing of information systematically gathered from facts and opinions leading to a logical conclusion or solution.

Analytical skills require the ability to identify the problem and its cause and correlate it with available data to discover an appropriate course of action or an optimal result.

Employers typically wish to see individuals with these increasingly important analytical skills when searching for job candidates. The individuals must demonstrate the capability of having good problem-solving abilities and applying them in creative ways that bring about a successful outcome.

This combination allows companies and organizations alike greater flexibility when faced with various problems and unique situations requiring quick solutions.

How Does Analytical Thinking Work?

Analytical skills are an essential component of many job roles today. They enable you to evaluate different scenarios to solve problems that may not have obvious answers and identify the most beneficial solution for your organization.

An example of such a problem can be seen in our restaurant manager, who has been going over budget on food for the past two weeks. After reviewing the menus, customer orders, and food costs from suppliers, they identified that seafood prices had risen due to supply chain disruption caused by bad weather.

Using their analytical skills, they could connect the dots between these variables. This enabled them to come up with a new strategy for dealing with this issue which involved talking to their seafood supplier and working out a new deal with them to bring costs back down.

This is just one example of how analytical skills can help people extensively in their day-to-day job roles, allowing them to make better decisions and produce more successful outcomes for their organization.

Why are Analytical Skills Important?

Analytical skills are vital in most professional environments and help ensure good decision-making. Analytical skills involve breaking down, analyzing, and debugging intricate puzzles or situations to find the best resolution for any problem. These skills are transferrable to different positions as they indicate a mindset that prioritizes the situation's unique factors.

This means they can be used across multiple sectors as employers look for those who can use their analytical thinking within the organization's specific context, such as marketing research analysts, management executives, budget planners, or financial managers.

Good analytical skills not only give an individual a competitive edge when it comes to career prospects but also aid in navigating interpersonal relationships revolving around one's job. Working with data is important for understanding how a team works together, how negotiations should be conducted, or simply brainstorming potential strategies for training employees or solutions for problems posed by outside contractors.

As a result, having highly developed analytical skills can give someone an advantage over their peers in career growth prospects and allow them to identify new opportunities owing to their experience.

Key Analytical Skills

Here are some key analytical skills that employers look for when assessing job candidates:

Problem-Solving

Problem-solving skills are essential for effectively tackling any situation. These skills involve the ability to navigate complex systems and identify possible solutions. After an issue has been identified, research needs to be conducted to understand the problem better and find potential solutions. The next step is using creative problem-solving skills to design a solution that could potentially work for all parties involved. It's important to consider other people’s input as well, so asking for feedback can also provide valuable insights into how effective a proposed solution is.

For example, if the manager of a recreation center wanted to introduce new exercise classes for members, they would need to determine which classes are popular among members and when the classes should take place. In this case, surveys could be used to collect data from the members and gain insight into everyone’s preferences. With the relevant data collected, problem-solving skills can then be utilized to create a workout schedule that meets the needs of both members and staff. To make sure the schedule works, it's also important to collect feedback from members on how effectively their needs were met with the new class schedule.

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is an essential skill for any business, no matter the size or scope. By utilizing critical thinking techniques, individuals and organizations can think outside the box to come up with innovative solutions to common problems. This is particularly true in terms of process-based systems, such as inventory management.

A great example of this would be a logistics company that has been using the same system for decades but could benefit from an updated approach. With critical thinking, an operations manager might identify areas where the existing system needs to be improved or replaced completely with something more efficient and cost-effective.

These are just some of the ways critical thinking can help businesses evolve beyond traditional practices and explore new approaches that will result in increased efficiencies. Through questioning preconceived notions and exploring new ideas, companies can hone their processes, innovate products and services, and ensure they remain viable in their respective markets.

Also, effective critical thinkers can potentially steer businesses away from costly blunders when making decisions that will affect people or resources. It is easy to see why strengthening an understanding of critical thinking is beneficial to highly successful businesses worldwide.

Analytical skills are key for many professional roles, but sometimes they alone aren’t enough. This is where creativity comes in. Creative thinking involves looking beyond traditional approaches and finding innovative solutions to problems. It gives analytical people the edge when it comes to big-picture thinking and problem-solving.

For instance, in the workplace, creativity could be used to devise a new product feature based on customer feedback or propose a data-driven presentation. Creativity is an important skill for many industries including data science, finance, marketing and more. With creative thinking, analytical minds can work smarter, not harder - combining their expertise with imagination to develop out-of-the-box solutions.

Examples of analytical creativity skills include ideation (generating creative ideas), innovation (turning those ideas into tangible solutions) and collaboration (working with others to bring a concept to life).

By improving analytical skills through creative thinking, professionals can bring unique value and perspective to their work and stand out in a crowded field.

Communication

Communication skills are an important asset to have when it comes to analytical thinking. Without the ability to communicate your ideas effectively, they wouldn't have any impact on a team. Breaking down complex analytical questions and data into more digestible pieces is a vital communication skill for teams to take away actionable insights.

For example, presenting data visualizations clearly and concisely can give team members an understanding of company performance or project progress. Similarly, verbal communication is important for taking the high-level findings from a statistical analysis and making them easily understandable for everyone.

When it comes to communicating analytical information to teams, storytelling is also key. By narrating the story behind data and its interpretation, you can make abstract concepts easier to comprehend as you bring it all together.

Research is often a vital part of finding solutions to problems and ensuring that the best way forward is chosen. It entails connecting with knowledgeable individuals, gathering facts from various internal and external sources, and understanding what data plays in solving the problem at hand.

Additionally, research in certain fields may involve running experiments or testing products or strategies as part of the greater research process. Overall, research skills involve being aware of which information sources are valuable or integral to finding a solution to a specific issue; this could mean vetting potential experts in an area of knowledge for consultation or seeking user insights through surveys and polls outside of an organization.

Along with giving one access to useful resources, strong research skills also involves understanding how all the pieces of data fit together so that a logical conclusion can be formed.

How to Improve Your Analytical Skills

Improving your analytical skills offers a wide range of benefits for your career. As one of the most sought-after qualities in the job market today, demonstrating your ability to think critically and objectively is key for setting yourself apart in an increasingly competitive hiring process. To maximize the impact of these skills, here are a few tips on cultivating your analytical capabilities and reinforcing their importance for future job opportunities.

First, seek out leadership roles that involve making tough decisions requiring a high level of thinking. Examples include positions such as project managers or administrators. In these roles, you’ll be encouraged to ask probing questions, brainstorm solutions, evaluate risks, and develop strategies accordingly.

Even if you don’t manage a team yet, there are plenty of ways to practice analytical thinking at all levels; consider tweaking tasks assigned by your team leader as an opportunity to apply creative approaches or suggest alternative solutions that might improve efficiency. Enrolling in data-driven decision-making classes can also help reinforce these concepts further by focusing on practical tools such as Excel spreadsheets or statistical methods used in business scenarios.

Keeping up-to-date with industry trends would ultimately allow you to stay informed about innovative approaches while consolidating fundamental concepts along the way.

Finally, stay on top of the latest methodologies and practices related to analytical thinking. Reading industry-specific articles or attending seminars can provide a great opportunity to learn about new ideas and trends in the field.

Additionally, consider reaching out to mentors or colleagues who are well-versed in this area for advice or guidance; having an experienced set of eyes review your work and provide feedback is invaluable in helping you make the best decisions and grasp the fundamentals of analytical thinking.

How to Highlight Your Analytical Skills

Analytical skills on your resume.

Analytical skills are an important asset for any job seeker to have on their resume. They can reflect a candidate’s problem-solving and critical thinking abilities, qualities that many employers value in a potential hire.

The most obvious way of adding analytical skills to your resume is to include them in your skills section. However, to show off your analytical expertise, make sure to utilize it in both your summary and professional history sections.

The summary section is a great place to showcase how you can employ analytical skills successfully. Describing an instance or success story showing off your problem-solving abilities can be invaluable when sought after by employers. This allows readers to get a snapshot of the types of challenges you faced previously and how you solved them using quantitative and qualitative data gathered from various sources.

Additionally, within the work experience section, providing details about particular projects you worked on as applicable can allow readers a better understanding of your ability with analytics.

Adding more detail here can further demonstrate your capacity for complex analysis and implementation of solutions based on analytics-driven sources of data.

Analytical Skills in an Interview

Interviewers often gauge applicants' analytical skills by how well they demonstrate them during the job interview. While this is particularly important for positions requiring a high degree of analysis, such as data analysts or software developers, it still applies to almost any job.

Employers want to know that applicants can think critically and make sound decisions.

To demonstrate analytical skills in an interview, utilize the STAR method when answering questions where you can highlight your abilities. The STAR method consists of identifying a Situation or Task, detailing Actions taken by yourself (or your team), and highlighting the Results that stem from those actions.

Explaining this all in detail shows employers how you were able to assess various factors and apply solutions resulting in positive outcomes. Furthermore, simple things like writing down notes during interviews to demonstrate the ability to gather relevant information and analyze it can also prove helpful.

Analytical skills are essential to many professional and personal tasks. They enable people to make sound decisions and think critically, which is important for many jobs and roles. Developing and showcasing these skills is important to increase the chances of success in any field. While it is important to demonstrate these skills on your resume, it is equally important to showcase them during the interview process as well.