What is the clearest path for L&D to strengthen organisational thinking and performance? This blog uncovers the four core capabilities L&D needs to focus on to ensure brilliant individual efforts translate into confident, high-value decision-making and measurable business success across the organisation.
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What helps a team make good decisions when everything around them keeps changing? It's usually not a new tool, sophisticated tech, or one brilliant person. Success comes down to the skills people bring to the table and how well they use them. We interviewed several industry experts and they told us exactly what to look for: four core capabilities that act as the fundamental backbone for confident, high-stakes decision making. In this blog, we skip the theory and get straight to what each skill contributes to the company's success. We'll show you precisely how L&D can help teams strengthen these skills to handle real work, real pressure and ultimately, real decisions that move the business forward.
Building analytical thinking
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report lists analytical thinking as the top skill organisations need. Decisions now happen quickly and often with incomplete information, so teams rely less on fixed processes and more on the ability to pause, interpret what they see, and choose a sensible next step. So, what does analytical thinking look like in daily work and how can L&D help teams strengthen it? Across all our expert conversations, one theme stood out: analytical thinking helps people understand context, test assumptions and communicate their reasoning clearly.
But, what role does AI play? Far from reducing the need for this skill, the rise of AI has had the opposite effect. AI rapidly generates vast amounts of information and recommendations, but it is the human professional who must judge what is useful, ethical and appropriate. This shift means people must critically question the information received instead of just accepting it. Catherine Gater, Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, British Council English and Exams, described this shift clearly, explaining that analytical thinking and creativity will add the value technology cannot replicate. Her point echoed a wider trend: as roles become more complex, people need stronger thinking skills to make sense of what they are seeing.
What L&D can do
- Use realistic scenarios where learners compare options and explain their reasoning
- Build reflection points into programmes so people articulate how they reached a conclusion
- Encourage peer discussion to expose learners to different interpretations
- Teach simple questioning techniques that help people explore causes, consequences and alternatives
Developing mental agility
Imagine a team working on a new project. The brief changes halfway through, a key stakeholder updates the priorities and a tool they planned to use is no longer available. Some teams wait for certainty or push ahead with the original plan even though it no longer fits. Others adjust quickly, make small decisions to keep things moving and find an alternative route that still meets the goal. The difference between these two reactions is mental agility. Mental agility is the ability to read a situation, choose an approach that fits the context and shift direction when needed. It is the opposite of rigid thinking, where people rely on one preferred method even when the conditions have changed.
Zu Hui Yap, Director, Strategy and Growth, Montfort Care, described mental agility as being able to recognise ‘there are many ways to get things done’ and choosing the most appropriate one for the moment. He explained that in fast-moving environments, people can't always follow a step-by-step script. They need to understand the goal, assess what's in front of them, and work with the resources they have.
Marcel Britsch, Digital Consultant and Product Advisor, gave a complementary perspective. He highlighted that uncertainty is now part of everyday work and agility helps people respond to it sensibly rather than reactively.
What L&D can do:
- Teach situational awareness: Show teams how to fully read the situation before choosing an approach, rather than jumping to fixed solutions.
- Model flexibility: Adapt your own learning designs when necessary, demonstrating that the best approach often changes based on context and feedback.
- Encourage safe testing: Use short pilots and experiments to show learners how new ideas can be safely tested and refined, normalising iteration over perfection.
- Build an exploratory mindset: Encourage learners to remain open to alternatives and understand the consequences of different choices.
Strengthening cultural intelligence
‘Cultural intelligence supports trust, understanding and innovation’. This reflection from Lucy Butters, Founder of Elembee Ltd and Master Facilitator in Cultural Intelligence, captures why CQ matters so much in day-to-day collaboration. Teams often work across different communication styles, expectations and ways of approaching decisions. Without awareness of these differences, even simple interactions can lead to hesitation or mixed messages.
Lucy noted that these moments are often subtle; a direct question might feel natural to one person but abrupt to another, while a pause before responding might be read as uncertainty by some and as thoughtful consideration by others. CQ helps people spot these little differences, allowing them to understand what's really going on and respond confidently, making teamwork much smoother.
So, how can L&D integrate and strengthen this crucial skill?
- Map cultural diversity: Encourage teams to identify and discuss the subtle differences in communication, decision-making, and feedback styles present in their teams (e.g., direct versus indirect feedback).
- Contextualise scenarios: Instead of using abstract examples, use realistic scenarios that require learners to apply CQ principles to regional, functional, or industry-specific challenges.
- Develop self-awareness: Focus on training that helps individuals understand their own cultural defaults and assumptions before working to adapt their behaviour.
- Integrate CQ into leadership: Integrate CQ frameworks into management training, showing leaders how to flex their leadership and communication styles to foster trust and inclusion across diverse teams.
Communication brings it together
What is the single most powerful factor that ensures brilliant individual efforts translate into team success? Even the strongest individual skills, like critical thinking, mental agility and cultural intelligence, lose influence if people cannot communicate clearly. Communication works like engine oil: it keeps everything moving by helping teams express ideas, listen carefully and build shared understanding.
Antoni Lacinai, Communication and Workplace Engagement Expert, reminds us that clarity and empathy shape how people show up at work. When leaders communicate well, teams feel more confident, more motivated and more willing to engage with complex problems. That sense of safety is what allows good decisions to take root and turn into meaningful progress.
This defines the essential focus for L&D: your mission is to equip the organisation with these interconnected skills. Supporting strong communication is the most direct way to improve day-to-day decision making and support better outcomes across the organisation.
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