Problem-solving is one of those skills that helps us in literally every area of our lives. While some people may be naturally “good” at it, that doesn’t mean it’s a skill that can’t be taught. With a some one-on-one coaching, anyone can work on their problem-solving abilities to better address the challenges they face at work, or anywhere.
A good place to start is L&D programs for soft skills training, with a focus on problem-solving. These programs typically incorporate communication skills as well, which is an integral component of resolving issues. There are also some useful models and mindsets that one can adopt when confronting a challenge, as we elaborate on below.
What Are Problem-Solving Skills?
Before we define problem-solving skills, let’s first define “problem-solving”. At its essence, problem-solving helps you get from challenge to solution. In the context of business, a problem is a barrier to productivity, profit, or stability. Problem-solving skills allow an organization to mitigate, or even avoid, the effects of a problem.
There are organizations that believe it’s easier to hire problem-solving experts than to train them. However, these companies need to realize that problem-solving skills training can be seen as a collection of other soft skills that can be developed, to some extent, in everyone.
The 5 Steps of Problem Solving
There are endless approaches to problem-solving – from Googling an answer to forming a permanent team to address recurring issues. A very popular problem-solving process is the IDEAL framework:
- Identify the problem
- Describe the outcome
- Explore possible strategies
- Anticipate outcomes and then act
- Look and learn
IDEAL is not necessarily a linear process. The “look and learn” step actually means trying out the best of the “possible strategies” created in phase number three, usually by applying it to only part of an organization. If this idea is not effective, or if the company still wants to explore alternatives, other problem-solving strategies can be implemented.
What Workplace Skills Are Related to Effective Problem-Solving?
Problem-solving skills cover several categories. Chances are that most employees are great at one, or more, of them. Working as a team translates into the ability to collectively address challenges. Of course, for businesses that encourage career growth/career development, employees should always be given opportunities to improve problem-solving skills.
To give you a better idea, let’s break down the list of problem-solving skills according to the IDEAL model we mentioned above:
Identify
Leadership. Not every problem is caused by external factors. Sometimes, something within the company is leading to difficulties, and that can result in office politics and the blame game. Speaking up, despite any pushback that you may receive, is the act of a leader. To build such confidence, employees need to receive leadership development opportunities.
Describe
Analysis. Cause and effect are essential to define in any problem-solution scenario. If you don’t really understand the issue, then your solution might be irrelevant. Those assigned to this task should have a strong background in research and data analysis. Organizational and industry experts might also contribute opinions, depending on the nature of the problem.
Explore
Creative thinking. There may be one best solution to every problem, but the difficulty of coming up with that solution is what the challenge is all about. This happens, in part, because most people tackle issues from a certain starting point, depending on their personality and work experience. Training in the development of creative solutions encourages people to look at challenges from a variety of perspectives.
Teamwork. Actually, the best way to generate a bunch of problem-solving ideas is to work in a group. Building teamwork skills allows the group to formulate and evaluate solutions by getting everyone’s input. One of the classic ways of coordinating team problem-solving skills is with the Six Thinking Hats method.
Anticipate and Act
Critical thinking. Once all of those potential solutions are on the table, it’s time to narrow them down to something workable. In a way, critical thinking skills have the opposite goal of creative thinking; instead of coming up with all kinds of ideas, you need instead to choose the most viable. Working in a group is an ideal medium for this because every person will examine the solutions from their perspective. For example, a software solution might be proposed, but your finance person will explain why it’s too expensive compared to another option.
Decision making. It’s often up to one person to choose the top suggestion to implement. Of course, this is a leadership task, but it’s also an important element of improving problem-solving skills. The leader requires logic, the ability to prioritize, and good communication methods to explain to others – and even to themselves – why a certain path was chosen. These are leadership skills that every employee could use.
Communication. Major hurdles often demand detailed fixes and lots of people to handle them. Explaining such solutions requires effective communication skills from the top of the organization on down. In addition, the employees responsible for actual implementation must be able to explain complications that they foresee and any issues that occur along the way. Quality communication skills training can equip your staff for all of these responsibilities, and in all the modes that might be necessary, from emails to group discussions.
Look and Learn
Talent management. All the communication in the world won’t help if your staff doesn’t have the implementation skills that they need. It’s often up to top performers to take care of vital projects, and if your problem-solution situation is critical, you’ll want talent ready to go. So it’s a wise move to prepare for crises in advance by developing your best and brightest through a talent management program. This is especially important when a threat might do serious damage to your organization. It’s during times like these that top employees start looking to jump ship. But employees who receive valuable development opportunities are much more likely to stay.
Measurement. The question here is, did we get it right the first time? Only a person familiar with measurement techniques can provide a meaningful answer. Deciding on the viability of your first-choice solution will probably depend on both numerical data and a qualitative explanation of what did/didn’t work. Perhaps the best measurement techniques will leverage people from different departments and a variety of standpoints. In this case, another management skill – running team meetings – can come in handy.
Why Are Problem-Solving Skills Important?
Don’t take our word for it. Problem-solving skills are near the top of the list for many organizations that are worried about the future. The World Economic Forum, in their most recent report, uses the term “problem solving” to describe a whole range of essential “cognitive skills” that include analytical thinking and curiosity.
Problem solving is a fundamental aspect of everyday life, from home to work and everywhere in between. Employees with good problem-solving abilities can independently plan their tasks in an effective way and come up with practical solutions.
On a wider level, problem-solving skills allow companies to survive. Take HR/L&D as an example. With the incredible rate of skill obsolescence in the modern workplace, it’s a huge challenge to close skill gaps with programs that take minimum time, impart maximum benefit, and still don’t disrupt important work. Now, if only there was some kind of technology that could help there…
What Is a Problem-Solving Mindset?
There is a certain attitude towards crises that is a real asset when difficulties arise.
Some people embrace “challenges” instead of “problems”. This is an important difference. Those who are best at problem-solving enjoy the intellectual aspect of it. They put their emotions aside. Taking the fear out of dealing with serious issues allows us to be more open-minded, creative, and patient.
L&D courses for problem-solving are an excellent way to develop this type of mindset. Employees who have been trained by experts practiced in the IDEAL method, and have dealt with problems while not under pressure, are in a pretty good position.
Another way to develop a problem-solving mindset is to attend organizational strategy meetings. This allows employees to see real-world problem resolution for situations that they thoroughly understand, instead of classroom hypotheticals, because the cases deal with their own workplace.
Examples of Problem-Solving Skills in the Workplace
Successful companies aren’t just innovative and well-organized. Every business runs into a stream of constant challenges, and their survival depends on the ability to solve problems quickly and effectively. To illustrate, here are some real-world examples of problem-solving in action.
- PayPal
A boom in demand for PayPal’s services during the pandemic led to a new set of hurdles for the online payments company. PayPal was faced with sudden growth in its workforce, which in turn led to the issue of equal opportunities for women.
A widespread challenge for female employees is to get back on their professional track after taking career breaks, often to tend to their growing families. To assist this process, PayPal created the “Recharge” program, which includes a six-week training course that focuses on skill-building, mentorship, and real-time assignments.
The goals of the program have been met, with female employees finding more roles both at PayPal and in the general financial industry. As a result, PayPal continues to attract female applicants. Currently, 44% of PayPal’s global workforce is female, while they account for 1/3rd of technical jobs.
- Ernst & Young (EY)
Like many organizations, EY is faced with adapting to numerous global issues – sustainability, new methods of communication, and the rapid growth of artificial intelligence. But EY has the added challenge of being considered an expert both in accounting and business advisory across a wide range of industries including healthcare, financial services, education, retail, and media. In other words, EY must build its capabilities across new technological areas and for many types of companies.
One of their solutions has been an annual “Techathon”. Each year, EY holds a student competition that addresses a different issue; this year’s theme is Generative AI. The objective of the program is to find unique approaches to EY’s challenges while recruiting a wide range of talent. The results of the Techathon have been remarkable. Since the program began at the Indian office, it has seen a 44% growth rate in technology expert hires.
- Synchrony
Synchrony is a consumer financial services company with more than 20,000 employees. In the wake of the pandemic, Synchrony found that a majority of employees wanted to retain a hybrid work environment. Although many companies faced this issue, and decided against continuing it, Synchrony chose instead to listen to its employees.
But it did not do so blindly. Synchrony implemented an extensive coaching program to help workers make the most of the opportunity. It also deployed other L&D concepts such as a continuous learning initiative and an Agile approach. In keeping with the latter change, Synchrony replaced the traditional annual performance review with an “active listening” approach and constant employee feedback.
The results have been impressive. For the past seven years, Synchrony has been listed in Fortune Magazine’s “Best Companies to Work For” publication, and is currently at number five. Similarly, in a US employee survey by Great Place to Work, 94% of Synchrony employees confirmed that it is indeed a great place to work.
Let Growthspace Solve Your L&D Problems
One challenge that many HR people know well is that of delivering effective L&D programs. Tailoring courses to the specific needs of employees – particularly if there are hundreds of them – is nearly impossible. Understanding their requirements, and then finding the right specialists to teach them, is often beyond the ability of manual approaches.
That’s why Growthspace has created a scalable, technology-based process for granular L&D initiatives. Growthspace’s precision skill development platform matches experts in precise fields to the exact skills that your employees need. Through our platform, we solve the problem of making your people better at problem solving, rapidly and efficiently.
