High Level Cognitive Skills

Must Have Cognitive skills

These skills matter because they help you recognize patterns, analyze and solve problems, understand and comprehend information, brainstorm effectively, and have focused attention. Moreover, strengthening your cognitive skills and building your logic and reasoning skills can help you develop creative solutions to challenges.

Listening: This is a cognitive skill that is always overlooked as people generally believe they listen well but in other to achieve that we to listen, we need to make a conscious effort not to just hear what people are saying but to take it in, digest it and understand. Not to listen with a reply in mind but to acknowledge what we are been told Not only does listening enhance your ability to understand better and make you a better communicator, but it also makes the experience of speaking to you more enjoyable to other people. As an executive assistant listening well especially when working in a fast-paced environment with multiple tasks to be accomplished can be the what can make or break your work. Taking in the little details can help meet a deadline, not being absent minded in meetings and listening to what every party has to say and contributing in the right way.

Also, in the work environment Listening attentively Reduces Misunderstandings and in turn decreases conflicts arising between colleagues and misunderstanding with executives as well. It builds Empathy you get to not only understand what you are been told but you get to put yourself in the position of whoever is relaying whatever message ,empathy is essential to effective listening , once a message resonates with a person and they can see themselves in whatever situation is been depicted , we become less judgmental and it better Improves our Business Relationships. For example a virtual assistant working with external clients and offering various services to them, we tend to go the extra mile when we have taken time to listen to our clients and hear their stories, understand their struggles, we want to be a part of their success story and be an instrumental part of how their business continues to grow and expand, but at first being intentional about listening to them brings about this passion. Listening Increases Productivity as you are delivering on what was communicated and expected and been open to Feedback, listening attentively and making necessary adjustments to what is needed. This Cognitive skill helps build a better relationship with clients and also executives, it creates a positive environment to thrive in the business world and also in our personal lives.

“Listening is an active process; it requires attending and paying attention to things that are of interest to us, while dismissing things of less interest. Paying attention has everything to do with listening and cognition. Indeed, psychologist David Strayer, PhD, recently noted that “Attention is the Holy Grail,”