Apr 8th 2020
Analytical skills and their importance for business
There are certain buzzwords that employers look for in the hiring process, such as strong communication skills or attention to detail. But the one that really pricks the ears of hiring managers is analytical skills.
What are analytical skills?
Simply put, they are ‘thinking’ skills. And they involve the ability to form a logical, rational approach to problem-solving and discovering creative outcomes.
According to Carly Firoina, former CEO of HP, “The goal is to turn data into information, and information into insight”.
Analytical skills can be a wide range of things from effective research and critical thinking to creativity. For the purpose of this blog, we are going to take a look at the skills of a Business Development Manager. This role is responsible for finding business opportunities for market growth and increasing sales.
The right person for this job will not only be someone that is personable and good at negotiation, but also someone with strong analytical skills.
Let’s dive a little deeper into this role and the analytical skills they require.
Analytical skills in action
*Required analytical skill: Effective research
The Business Development Manager will effectively research and gather data on the market at hand – and the position of any company they are interested in targeting. They will be able to pull out the right information to determine the right outcome. The real trick for those with strong analytical skills is doing this high-quality research at top speed.
*Required analytical skill: Critical thinking
Data means nothing without the correct understanding of what to do with it. So the Business Development Manager will need to know how to analyse the data. Now, this sounds pretty technical. But it’s actually more practical than you think. In a nutshell, they will be able to look at the collected data and shine a spotlight on logical patterns to turn it into something useful.
*Required analytical skill: Creative thinking
Up next is where the fun happens – combining the research and critical thinking to come up with a creative solution.
Philip K. Dick, author and philosopher, once said, “I am basically analytical, not creative; my writing is simply a creative way of handling analysis”.
The Business Development Manager will nurture their inner wellspring of creativity to tackle the challenges ahead. The use of this soft skill will strengthen their analytical ability and make them the cream of the crop. And someone that will bring in the big bucks for your business.
It doesn’t stop there…
It’s not just for this role that analytical skills are important. They are a key skill in every position at every level in business. They allow teams to make decisions in the most effective way.
The chain of events to reach the perfect solution requires not just one of these sub-soft skills, but the right concoction of them. Our research shows that two-thirds of fast-growing companies place emphasis on having all-rounders in their business – with 40% of them highlighting the importance of creativity. Just like any soft skill, these various analytical skills can be learnt. And there’s no better way than through side hustles.
By hiring someone with one or more side hustles, you will have a candidate with breadth and experience on your hands. This will undoubtedly mean they own the ingredients for the perfect analytical recipe to smash roles just like the above Business Development Manager one – giving your business the edge it needs.
Meet the Masters of More…
Side hustles. The gig economy. Job hopping. Careers are changing, and the way people think about work is too.
We spend 90,000 hours of life at work. They say it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill. You do the math. If you harness your time you can learn, hone and master nine skills throughout your career. Who do you want to be?
Throughout nine weeks we dive into nine soft skills in high demand by employers. We introduce candidates who are nailing this new world of work. Meet the Masters of More.