The Most Important Logical Thinking Skills (With Examples)

While there is a time and place for emotions, you cannot afford to base your work-related decisions on emotions. Your gut instinct will also come in handy during certain times. But subjective reasoning and decision-making can cause issues for everyone. That’s because it’s based on assumptions and influenced by your own biases.

Most employers want people that take into account the facts and data they receive before deciding on a course of action. That is because this kind of decision-making provides a more accurate and appropriate solution to a problem. It is more objective.

Such solutions will ensure the organization’s processes can continue to operate more efficiently. The likelihood of dealing with costly mistakes is much lower. Thus, it will save the organization money in the long term.

Therefore, logical thinking skills are important. You need to develop these skills if you want to be an asset to your employer.

Key Takeaways:

• Logical thinking is problem solving based on reasoning that follows a strictly structured progression of analysis.

• Critical thinking, research, creativity, mathematics, reading, active listening, and organization are all important logical thinking skills in the workplace.

• Logical thinking provides objectivity for decision making that multiple people can accept.

• Deduction follows valid premises to reach a logical conclusion.

• It can be very helpful to demonstrate logical thinking skills at a job interview.

What Is Logical Thinking?

Logical thinking is the ability to reason out an issue after observing and analyzing it from all angles. You can then form a conclusion that makes the most sense. It also includes the ability to take note of reactions and feedback to aid in the formation of the conclusion.

Logical thinking skills enable you to present your justification for the actions you take, the strategies you use, and the decisions you make. You can easily stand in front of your clients, peers, and supervisors and defend your product, service, and course of action if the necessity arises.

Logical thinking is an excellent way of solving complex problems. You can break the problem into smaller parts; solve them individually in a sequence, then present the complete solution. However, it is not infallible.

So, when a problem in the workplace feels overwhelming, you may want to think about it logically first.

What Is Deductive Reasoning?

Deductive reasoning is an aspect of logical reasoning. It is a top-down reasoning approach that enables you to form a specific logical conclusion based on generalities. Therefore, you can use one or more statements, usually referred to as premises, to conclude something.

For example:

Based on the above examples, all mothers are classified as women, and since Daisy is a mother, then it’s logical to deduce that she is a woman too.

It’s worth noting though, that deductive reasoning does not always produce an accurate conclusion based on reality.

For example:

From the above example, we have deduced that Tom, the dog, is a nurse simply because the first statement stated that all caregivers are nurses. And yet, in reality, we know that dogs cannot be nurses. They do not have the mental capacity to become engaged in the profession.

For this reason, you must bear in mind that an argument can be validly based on the conditions but it can also be unsound if some statements are based on a fallacy.

Logical Thinking Skills That You Need to Have

Logical thinking skills are a skill set that enables you to reason logically when solving problems. They enable you to provide well-reasoned answers to any issues that arise. They also empower you to make decisions that most people will consider rational.

1. Critical-thinking skills. If you are a critical thinker, then you can analyze and evaluate a problem before making judgments. You need to improve your critical thinking process to become a logical thinker.

   Your critical thinking skills will improve your ability to solve problems. You will be the go-to employee concerning crises. People can rely on you to be reasonable whenever an issue arises instead of letting biases rule you.

2. Research skills. If you are a good researcher, then you can search and locate data that can be useful when presenting information on your preferred subject.

   The more relevant information you have about a particular subject, the more accurate your conclusions are likely to be. The sources you use must be reputable and relevant.

   For this reason, your ability to ferret out information will affect how well you can reason logically.

3. Creative thinking skills. If you are a creative thinker, then you can find innovative solutions to problems.

   You are the kind of person that can think outside the box when brainstorming ideas and potential solutions. Your thinking is not rigid. Instead, you tend to look at issues in ways other people have not thought of before.

   While logical thinking is based on data and facts, that doesn’t mean it is rigid. You can creatively find ways of sourcing that data or experimenting so that you can form logical conclusions. Your strategic thinking skills will also help enable you to analyze reactions or collect feedback.

4. Mathematical skills. If you are skilled in mathematics, then you can work well with numbers and represent mathematical ideas using visual symbols. Your brain must be able to compute information.

   Business is a numbers game. That means you must have some knowledge of mathematics. You must be able to perform basic mathematical tasks involving addition, subtractions, divisions, multiplications, etc.

   So, to become a logical thinker, you must be comfortable working with numbers. You will encounter them in many business-related complex problems. And your ability to understand them will determine whether you can reach an accurate logical conclusion that helps your organization.

5. Reading skills. If you are a good reader, then you can make sense of the letters and symbols that you see. Your ability to read will determine your competency concerning your logical thinking and reasoning skills.

   And that skill set will come in handy when you are presented with different sets of work-related statements from which you are meant to conclude. Such statements may be part of your company policy, technical manual, etc.

6. Active listening skills. If you are an active listener, then you can hear, understand what is being said, remember it, and respond to it if necessary.

   Not all instructions are written. You may need to listen to someone to get the information you need to solve problems before you write it down. In that case, your active listening skills will determine how well you can remember the information so that you can use it to reason things out logically.

7. Information ordering skills. If you have information ordering skills, then you can arrange things based on a specified order following the set rules or conditions. These things may include mathematical operations, words, pictures, etc.

   Different organizations have different business processes. The workflow in one organization will be not similar to that of another organization even if both belong to the same industry.

   Your ability to order information will depend on an organization’s culture. And it will have a major impact on how you can think and reason concerning solutions to your company problems.

   If you follow the wrong order, then no matter how good your problem-solving techniques are your conclusions may be wrong for your organization.

Examples of Logical Thinking in the Workplace

To improve your logic skills, it would be wise to practice how to solve problems based on facts and data. Below are examples of logical thinking in the workplace that will help you understand this kind of reasoning so that you can improve your thinking:

This example shows a logical conclusion that is reached by your organization’s human resource department. In this case, your HR department has utilized logical thinking to determine the best internal candidate for the senior manager position.

It could be summarized as follows:

This example shows a logical conclusion reached by a robotics company after receiving the results of marketing research on working women. In this case, logical thinking has enabled the company to come up with a new marketing strategy for their cleaning product.

It could be summarized as follows:

The above example shows how logical thinking has helped CalcX. Sell more software and improve its bottom line.

It could be summarized as follows:

In this case, the political candidate has made logical conclusions on what topics he should use to campaign for his seat with minimal controversies so that he doesn’t lose many votes.

This situation could be summarized as follows:

Demonstrating Logical Thinking At A Job Interview

Since logical thinking is so important in the workplace, most job interviewers will want to see you demonstrate this skill at the job interview. It is very important to keep in mind your logical thinking skills when you talk about yourself at the interview.

There are many ways in which an interviewer may ask you to demonstrate your logical thinking skills. For example:

• You may have to solve an example problem. If the interviewer provides you a problem similar to one you might find at your job, make sure to critically analyze the problem to deduce a solution.

• You may be asked about a previous problem or conflict you had to solve. This classic question provides you the opportunity to show your skills in action, so make sure to highlight the objectivity and logic of your problem solving.

• Show your logic when talking about yourself. When given the opportunity to talk about yourself, highlight how logic comes into play in your decision making. This could be in how you picked the job position, why you choose your career or education, or what it is about yourself that makes you a great candidate.

Final Thoughts

Logical thinking skills are valuable skills to have. You need to develop them so that you can become an asset to any organization that hires you. Be sure to include them in your resume and cover letter.

And if you make it to the interview, also ensure that you highlight these skills. You can do all this by highlighting the career accomplishments that required you to use logical thinking in the workplace.

Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.