For the Love of Fundamentals

It is probably a safe bet to say that the majority of professionals in the working economy have a drive and ambition to go after new skills and promotions, to make themselves into beaming icons of success - whatever their definition of the word may be. We all envision ourselves taking on the day’s challenges and defeating them with laserline accuracy, like a personal game of Space Invaders, only with more tangible rewards. For most adults, the make-or-break moment doesn’t come after the project has been completed, when all that is left is to assess how well things were done. Instead, it happens in moments of high mental stress, spread out over the course of the entire project. This is an important distinction to make, because the decisions and mistakes that someone makes over the course of a project are often what lead to things going well, or going poorly. With that, it seems only logical to then take a look at how people react when faced with moments of high mental stress, since they often dictate how well someone will perform in important situations. Also, when looking at how well someone performs under stress and in unfamiliar circumstances, it is possible to infer how well they might pick up new skills that can make them more useful in the workplace.

Recently, studies of differences in the abilities between younger and older workers have shown that the only difference is whether or not they had been recently trained, age was nowhere near as detrimental as a lack of proper training. However, age has been shown an asset with regards to an employee’s ability to recall their past experiences and use them as factors for predicting future events. This is why some of the best leaders in any industry tend to be those with a decade or more experience in their field. Nevertheless, it seems that as far as individual optimism is concerned, it has become increasingly more difficult for applicants of all ages to find their place in their desired field, which has hurt the confidence of those looking to a brighter future. Thus, if practice is what makes someone competitive in their field, because they know how to use up-to-date knowledge, as well as their own honed reasoning and problem-solving abilities to think quickly and effectively. Thus, building up the foundation upon which those skills are built will make someone resourceful and increase their sense of self-efficacy.

Instead of giving you an IQ score, the Wechsler test measures multiple factors that fall into four main categories: verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing speed. By measuring performance across those categories, all of which are essential to efficient and steady development in any field, we can establish which areas need more work, and offer practice materials to benefit those areas most. The key to being able to successfully approach a task, as well as envision a positive outcome, comes down to the amount of practice and work done to understand the best ways to apply your skills to that specific situation. That way, nothing can really come as too much of a surprise, since the instinct to evaluate the issue will already be there, making it easier to adapt to changing circumstances.

Regardless of your occupation, the future will likely bring advancements that will change the way in which business is done, and services are provided. In doing so, there will be the opportunity to develop new skills to meet the demands of the future, and having a strengthened mechanism for evaluating which skills need practice, and which can be confidently utilized, will make all the difference to those looking to better their personal or professional lives.

 

For all official Wechsler materials, visits Pearson Clinical.