How the Quest App Builds Necessary Professional Skills

Part of raising teenagers into young adults is preparing them for the challenges of the professional world. While focusing on high achievements in academics are important for career preparation, it’s becoming increasingly rare for high school students to learn the “soft” skills that are most necessary for the professional world through the traditional educational model. Using the Quest app is a great way to build these crucial skills that young adults need to be prepared for professional success, as put forth by the McKinsey Report and the McKinsey Institute.

1. Cognitive

The McKinsey Report breaks down necessary cognitive skills into four categories; Critical Thinking, Planning & Ways of Working, Communication, and Mental Flexibility. Using the Quest app as part of your family management with kids and teens can build strong skills in each of these categories. With the increased independence that is given to kids via the Quest app, they are responsible for managing their own time, solving their own problems, and finding good solutions. These kinds of opportunities to build cognitive skills may start small with younger children, as they are asked to take a small list of chores and assignments and manage their own time to get it completed in an afternoon. However, with older children, they can start to take on larger, more complicated projects with skills they may not be familiar with. Finding creative ways to achieve their Quests within the app builds strong skills in logical reasoning, agile thinking, time management, and adaptability.

Parents can further deepen their child’s Cognitive learning on the Quest app by assigning a Quest that challenges their flexibility in thinking, like asking them to accomplish a task that requires learning a new skill.

2. Interpersonal

Interpersonal skills as they are necessary for the professional world are categorized into three subcategories; Mobilizing Systems, Developing Relationships, and Teamwork Effectiveness. The Quest app gives kids and teens that opportunity to develop these skills through a variety of collaborative means through which they can accomplish their goals. Learning to collaborate meaningfully on a project can be a difficult task for many young adults who aren’t used to working in teams. Through independently organized Quests that require collaboration, teens can learn to resolve conflicts, motivate different personalities, and develop organizational awareness.

Parents can extend a child’s Interpersonal learning on the Quest app by assigning tasks that require multiple children within the family to work together towards a common goal.

3. Self-leadership

Self-Leadership can be defined into three important professional skills for young adults to learn; Self Awareness & Self-Management, Entrepreneurship, and Goals Achievement. With the Quest app, they start to understand their own work ethic, time management, and personal strengths. They also learn how to manage their own time, set their own goals, and take accountability for their own responsibilities. As many young adults are unfamiliar with taking ownership or developing passion for their responsibilities, the Quest app gives them the opportunity to build self-confidence, integrity, and persistence with their independence.

A child’s Self-leadership skills can be further stretched via the Quest app by parents assigning a project to their child that requires them to build Entrepreneurship skills, such as starting a small business or even fundraising for a charity.

4. Digital

Digital skills as they are necessary in the modern workplace are defined by the McKinsey Global Institute as three key skills; Digital Fluency & Citizenship, Software Use & Development, and Understanding Digital Systems. By using the Quest app, children and teens have a chance to learn to use technology productively and meaningfully. Often, even though teens in the 21st century spend most of their time on screens, they actually do very little to develop a deeper understanding of how to use technology in a professional or productive way. Since public school access to current technology is rare, their learning environments are rarely technologically enriched, leaving them with little to no understanding or digital literacy. Using the Quest app to document, report, and communicate with their family is a great way to build that understanding, even in younger children.

Parents can deepen their child’s Digital skills further by assigning educational Quests that allow them to learn more about important digital issues, like data literacy, cybersecurity, or coding skills.