{"id":26383,"date":"2024-01-11T03:19:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T03:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/critical-thinking-key-driver-of-employee-engagement\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T19:48:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T19:48:33","slug":"critical-thinking-key-driver-of-employee-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/nl\/blogs\/critical-thinking-key-driver-of-employee-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"Critical Thinking: a key driver of employee engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the employment landscape constantly evolving, job seekers are navigating a competitive market where standing out is more challenging than ever. As organizations strive to thrive in a dynamic business environment, they too face the need for a competitive edge to increase revenue and stay ahead.<\/p>\n<h2>Skills in Demand<\/h2>\n<p>Skills such as <b>critical thinking, complex problem solving and decision making<\/b> continue to be in high demand, as evidenced by the World Economic Forum\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weforum.org\/publications\/the-future-of-jobs-report-2023\/\" target=\"_blank\">Future of Jobs Report 2023<\/a>. However, it is not only job seekers who benefit from honing these skills; they are equally crucial for success once employed.<\/p>\n<h2>Employee Empowerment<\/h2>\n<p>Companies are recognizing the value of incorporating these skills into their employees\u2019 development programs. Enhancing issue resolution and critical thinking capabilities empowers employees to address complex challenges and make impactful decisions. This, in turn, heightens employee engagement, a factor with proven positive effects on a company\u2019s bottom line. The evidence is compelling.<\/p>\n<h2>Engagement & Financial Performance<\/h2>\n<p>Recent studies establish a direct link between employee engagement and financial performance. According to a recent study by Microsoft, high employee engagement correlates with stronger financial performance.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Companies with highly engaged employees focus on two things: they create clarity via intentional employee communications and goal setting, and they use data to build a powerful \u201cfeedback flywheel\u201d to continuously improve over time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><b>Microsoft: Work Trend Index Special Report,<\/b> <i>\u2018The New Performance Equation in the Age of AI\u2019<\/i><\/p>\n<h2>Motivation<\/h2>\n<p>The bottom line is this: effectively developing your employees\u2019 critical thinking skills will have a significant impact on a key driver of engagement: intrinsic motivation. When employees feel ownership in how work is accomplished and believe that their thinking is making a difference, they are much more likely to engage beyond the call of duty.<\/p>\n<p>So, the benefit of investing in your employees\u2019 ability to think critically not only benefits them, but is a smart investment in your company\u2019s future.<\/p>\n<p>This article is based on an older blog, dating from 2013, which can be found here:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/blogs\/forbes-critical-thinking-skills-propel-organizations-forward\/\">Forbes \u2013 critical thinking skills propel organizations forward<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the employment landscape constantly evolving, job seekers are navigating a competitive market where standing out is more challenging than ever. As organizations strive to thrive in a dynamic business environment, they too face the need for a competitive edge to increase revenue and stay ahead. Skills in Demand Skills such as critical thinking, complex [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1248,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,27],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[163],"class_list":["post-26383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-critical-thinking","category-learning-and-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Critical Thinking: a key driver of employee engagement - Kepner-Tregoe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With the unemployment rate remaining stubbornly high and job growth remaining dismally low, job seekers face a highly competitive market.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/nl\/blogs\/critical-thinking-key-driver-of-employee-engagement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"nl_NL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Critical Thinking: a key driver of employee engagement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With the unemployment rate remaining stubbornly high and job growth remaining dismally low, job seekers face a highly competitive market.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/nl\/blogs\/critical-thinking-key-driver-of-employee-engagement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kepner-Tregoe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-11T03:19:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-13T19:48:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/kepner-tregoe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Motivation.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"653\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anna Sza\u0142kiewicz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/blogs\\\/critical-thinking-key-driver-of-employee-engagement\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/blogs\\\/critical-thinking-key-driver-of-employee-engagement\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Critical Thinking: a key driver of employee engagement\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-11T03:19:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-13T19:48:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/blogs\\\/critical-thinking-key-driver-of-employee-engagement\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":347,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/nl\\\/blogs\\\/critical-thinking-key-driver-of-employee-engagement\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kepner-tregoe.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/Motivation.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Critical Thinking\",\"Learning &amp; 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