How to Improve your Problem Solving Skill

Introduction

Problem-solving is one of the necessary skills for you in any profession. Human beings have remarkable problem-solving skills. However, employers prefer those employees that have the problem-solving skill regardless of their job description or title. Learning this art requires critical thinking. Today, we’ll discuss the problem-solving method and how to improve your problem-solving skill in detail.

Problem Solving Method

The problem-solving method means that you diagnose the causes of the problem and then developing/finding an action plan in order to solve the problem. It’s such a skill that people use it in their personal and professional lives all the time. However, effective problem solving is a step-by-step process. Some of the main steps are as follows;

Identifying Problem

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a simple problem or a complex one, first, you should clearly know what the problem really is that you’re trying to solve. In other words, you have to define the problem. If you’re solving a number of problems at once, then it’s a bit difficult task. If you have a team working with you, then every member of the team should have a clear comprehension of the problem that you’re focusing on.

Researching

After defining the problem that you’re focusing on, next you should research the number of causes and the nature of the problem. While researching, you may find past solutions to similar problems. Or it would require you to prepare and ask interview questions to all those members involved in the issue.

Possible Solution

After the diagnosis and researching about it, you should start focusing on finding the number of probable solutions. Here it requires brainstorming and creativity to come up with a solution or an alternative solution. However, when you’re solving a problem, then make sure to create some contingency plans in order to deal with potential problems.

Decision Making

After creating a list of solutions, next, you should narrow it down to the best possible solution under the circumstances that satisfies all the queries. However, if you’re making a decision collectively with a team, then you should try to come up with a consensus of the solution.

Implementing Decision

You should implement the solution deliberately in a well-planned way after finalizing the decision. However, you shouldn’t rush into it, because such hast solutions don’t produce the required results.

Results

You should keep an eye on the working and functionality of your solution, and deciding on implementing some further actions if needed. It’s better if you set up a time frame for observation, and then decide and follow up whether to make some further changes or not.

If you want to learn how to improve your problem-solving skill; some of the main suggestions to keep in mind are as follows;

Playing Football

There is a great link between sports success and the executive functionality of the brain. When you’re in action, then your brain could perform multitasking quickly like reacting, strategizing, anticipating, and moving. However, your brain has to perform a great amount of activity to do various tasks at once.

Therefore, when you’re playing football, then you compel your brain to perform various tasks like problem-solving, processing and thinking much quickly.

Psychological Distance

According to the theory of Construal Theory, psychological distancing is all those happenings that are occurring right here, now, and to ourselves, but we don’t experience it. For instance, it’s unlikely to think of the problem from someone else’s perspective.

Scientists say that when you create a distance between yourself and the problem, then you can easily come up with a creative solution. It’s because when you think of the problem abstractly, then your brain develops unrelated and unexpected connections with new concepts, so it amplified your problem-solving capabilities.

Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is a process of visually presenting the problem and the solution. It stimulates your mind to be focused, creative, and come up with new ideas. Here you draw the main problem in the center, add branches as the reasons for the problem, and sub-branches would further add detail to the problem.

After that, you should create a 2nd mind map of the possible solutions to the main problems. You should add branches of solving your problem, and then sub-branches of the available resources like techniques, strategies, colleagues, and other details. The mind mapping activity makes you think about what solution is cost-effective, time-saving, and practical.

Eating Cheerios

The last few cheerios in the bowl stick to one another and create surface tension. When you’re planning to solve a problem and experiencing surface tension, and clinging to your colleagues. However, you also depend on the ideas and experiences of those people completely different from yours. Here you should brainstorm, develop connections, and work with others in order to get the job done.

Yoga/How to improve your problem-solving skill

Meditation and yoga have a tremendous impact on your cognitive abilities, and it’s a strong integration of the air you’re breathing in and body awareness. A study at the University of Illinois showed that yoga improves attention rate and reaction time.

Idea Journal

You should maintain an idea journal where you should put down exploring ideas, draw sketches, and add your personal experiences. When you’re working on a specific problem and you have put down your thoughts and ideas on the paper. It’s much easier to figure when you view them on paper, instead of having all the ideas stuck into your head.

Tunes & Music

Research at the cardiac rehabilitation patient center has done testing of verbal fluency with and without music after excising. The experiment showed that the participant’s performance in verbal fluency was double of those who listened to music while exercising. According to a study, exercise and music stimulate cognitive arousal.

Good Sleep

Sleeping is the best medicine and it improves your creative processing in the brain. The REM (rapid eye movement) sleep improves the network associative capability and allows your brain to develop connections among unrelated thoughts. It’s because of the memory consolidation and not due to the enhancement of selective memory, and it happens when you’re awake.

Logical Puzzles & Games

You should play chess, Rubik’s Cubes, and other puzzle games that improve your brain activity. It provides you an opportunity to solve the problem backward, instead of forward. If you want to improve your problem-solving technique and build up brain muscles, then you should play puzzle and logic games.

Dancing

Studies have shown that dancing has a strong positive impact on your neural processing and making new neural pathways. If you participate in the structured form of dancing like ballet, then it amplifies your thinking. However, if you’re multitasking and thinking divergently, then participate in tap, hip-hop, or other types of improvised dancing.

Conclusion: How to Improve your Problem Solving Skill

After an in-depth study of how to improve your problem-solving skill, we’ve realized that problem-solving skill has a vast application in our lives. If you want to develop and improve your problem-solving skill, then follow the abovementioned suggestion to grow your brain activity.