4 The Cognitive Principles of Innovation Skills
Cognitive principles of innovation revolve around how our brains process information and create ideas. There are six primary competencies of thinking that are taught in Innovation Principles.
Critical Thinking:
Is the ability to analyze information objectively and form reasoned judgments respective of right, wrong, imbalance, relationships, and logic. It involves actively questioning assumptions, evaluating evidence, and considering different perspectives to reach well-supported conclusions. Essentially, it’s a disciplined logical approach to thinking that helps make informed decisions and solve problems effectively. Although critical thinking is traditionally linear, it can also involve a cyclical process to continually analyze an idea from different perspectives until a conclusion is defined.
Systems Thinking:
Like links in a chain, systems thinking is a holistic approach to problem-solving that emphasizes understanding how distinct parts of a process interact. It focuses on connections, interactions, relationships and patterns rather than isolated elements or issues. Instead engaging individual issues or symptoms, it looks at the broader context and explores how elements influence one another, leading to more informed decisions and sustainable solutions for complex situations
Lateral Thinking:
Is a problem-solving heuristic approach that uses indirect methods to explore unrelated possibilities to find novel solutions. It involves challenging assumptions, considering multiple perspectives. It requires moving beyond linear thinking to explore correlations from divergent input by correlating attributes and associations from unrelated data to architect novel insight. Innovation is often an association of multiple ideas mashed together into one.
Logic Modeling:
Uses reasoning skills to objectively apply methods and processes to analyze and prove details respective of conclusions to guide judgment and solve problems. It involves chunking information into categories and analyzing data into sequential patterns of context. This allows the ability to draw conclusions deduced from facts and rational thought rather than emotion or intuition. It is a crucial skill for effective critical thinking, decision-making, and creative problem-solving.
Reasoning:
Reasoning is the cognitive process of drawing relevant conclusions from information and evidence (11). It involves transforming information to equate a conclusion, which is essential for decision-making, problem-solving, and critical thinking. Reasoning is the capacity to assess things rationally by applying objective logic on new or existing information to derive valid conclusions. The aim of reasoning is to discover truth to identify and solve problems and recognize opportunities.
Communications:
Communication is the process of conveying information, thought, ideas, or feelings through verbal or nonverbal means to inform. This can include spoken or written words, body language, visual elements, and other forms of expression. Communication is about establishing understanding and connection. It starts with the author developing a thought they want to convey. They then construct the idea into a message that informs, inspires, and guide audiences. Once an idea is written, it becomes a tangible product suitable for prototyping and merchandising the author’s judgment and reasoning to discern the truth of a situation with clarity for action.
