examples of complex problem solving

26 Expert-Backed Problem Solving Examples – Interview Answers

Published: February 13, 2023

Interview Questions and Answers

Actionable advice from real experts:

Biron Clark

Former Recruiter

Contributor

Dr. Kyle Elliott

Career Coach

Hayley Jukes

Editor-in-Chief

Biron Clark , Former Recruiter

Kyle Elliott , Career Coach

Hayley Jukes , Editor

As a recruiter , I know employers like to hire people who can solve problems and work well under pressure.

 A job rarely goes 100% according to plan, so hiring managers are more likely to hire you if you seem like you can handle unexpected challenges while staying calm and logical.

But how do they measure this?

Hiring managers will ask you interview questions about your problem-solving skills, and they might also look for examples of problem-solving on your resume and cover letter. 

In this article, I’m going to share a list of problem-solving examples and sample interview answers to questions like, “Give an example of a time you used logic to solve a problem?” and “Describe a time when you had to solve a problem without managerial input. How did you handle it, and what was the result?”

• Problem-solving involves identifying, prioritizing, analyzing, and solving problems using a variety of skills like critical thinking, creativity, decision making, and communication.
• Describe the Situation, Task, Action, and Result ( STAR method ) when discussing your problem-solving experiences.
• Tailor your interview answer with the specific skills and qualifications outlined in the job description.
• Provide numerical data or metrics to demonstrate the tangible impact of your problem-solving efforts.

What are Problem Solving Skills? 

Problem-solving is the ability to identify a problem, prioritize based on gravity and urgency, analyze the root cause, gather relevant information, develop and evaluate viable solutions, decide on the most effective and logical solution, and plan and execute implementation. 

Problem-solving encompasses other skills that can be showcased in an interview response and your resume. Problem-solving skills examples include:

• Critical thinking
• Analytical skills
• Decision making
• Research skills
• Technical skills
• Communication skills
• Adaptability and flexibility

Why is Problem Solving Important in the Workplace?

Problem-solving is essential in the workplace because it directly impacts productivity and efficiency. Whenever you encounter a problem, tackling it head-on prevents minor issues from escalating into bigger ones that could disrupt the entire workflow. 

Beyond maintaining smooth operations, your ability to solve problems fosters innovation. It encourages you to think creatively, finding better ways to achieve goals, which keeps the business competitive and pushes the boundaries of what you can achieve. 

Effective problem-solving also contributes to a healthier work environment; it reduces stress by providing clear strategies for overcoming obstacles and builds confidence within teams. 

Examples of Problem-Solving in the Workplace

• Correcting a mistake at work, whether it was made by you or someone else
• Overcoming a delay at work through problem solving and communication
• Resolving an issue with a difficult or upset customer
• Overcoming issues related to a limited budget, and still delivering good work through the use of creative problem solving
• Overcoming a scheduling/staffing shortage in the department to still deliver excellent work
• Troubleshooting and resolving technical issues
• Handling and resolving a conflict with a coworker
• Solving any problems related to money, customer billing, accounting and bookkeeping, etc.
• Taking initiative when another team member overlooked or missed something important
• Taking initiative to meet with your superior to discuss a problem before it became potentially worse
• Solving a safety issue at work or reporting the issue to those who could solve it
• Using problem solving abilities to reduce/eliminate a company expense
• Finding a way to make the company more profitable through new service or product offerings, new pricing ideas, promotion and sale ideas, etc.
• Changing how a process, team, or task is organized to make it more efficient
• Using creative thinking to come up with a solution that the company hasn’t used before
• Performing research to collect data and information to find a new solution to a problem
• Boosting a company or team’s performance by improving some aspect of communication among employees
• Finding a new piece of data that can guide a company’s decisions or strategy better in a certain area

Problem-Solving Examples for Recent Grads/Entry-Level Job Seekers

• Coordinating work between team members in a class project
• Reassigning a missing team member’s work to other group members in a class project
• Adjusting your workflow on a project to accommodate a tight deadline
• Speaking to your professor to get help when you were struggling or unsure about a project
• Asking classmates, peers, or professors for help in an area of struggle
• Talking to your academic advisor to brainstorm solutions to a problem you were facing
• Researching solutions to an academic problem online, via Google or other methods
• Using problem solving and creative thinking to obtain an internship or other work opportunity during school after struggling at first

How To Answer “Tell Us About a Problem You Solved”

When you answer interview questions about problem-solving scenarios, or if you decide to demonstrate your problem-solving skills in a cover letter (which is a good idea any time the job description mentions problem-solving as a necessary skill), I recommend using the STAR method.

STAR stands for:

It’s a simple way of walking the listener or reader through the story in a way that will make sense to them. 

Start by briefly describing the general situation and the task at hand. After this, describe the course of action you chose and why. Ideally, show that you evaluated all the information you could given the time you had, and made a decision based on logic and fact. Finally, describe the positive result you achieved.

Note: Our sample answers below are structured following the STAR formula. Be sure to check them out!

EXPERT ADVICE

Dr. Kyle Elliott , MPA, CHES Tech & Interview Career Coach caffeinatedkyle.com

How can I communicate complex problem-solving experiences clearly and succinctly?

Before answering any interview question, it’s important to understand why the interviewer is asking the question in the first place.

When it comes to questions about your complex problem-solving experiences, for example, the interviewer likely wants to know about your leadership acumen, collaboration abilities, and communication skills, not the problem itself.

Therefore, your answer should be focused on highlighting how you excelled in each of these areas, not diving into the weeds of the problem itself, which is a common mistake less-experienced interviewees often make.

Tailoring Your Answer Based on the Skills Mentioned in the Job Description

As a recruiter, one of the top tips I can give you when responding to the prompt “Tell us about a problem you solved,” is to tailor your answer to the specific skills and qualifications outlined in the job description. 

Once you’ve pinpointed the skills and key competencies the employer is seeking, craft your response to highlight experiences where you successfully utilized or developed those particular abilities. 

For instance, if the job requires strong leadership skills, focus on a problem-solving scenario where you took charge and effectively guided a team toward resolution. 

By aligning your answer with the desired skills outlined in the job description, you demonstrate your suitability for the role and show the employer that you understand their needs.

Amanda Augustine expands on this by saying:

“Showcase the specific skills you used to solve the problem. Did it require critical thinking, analytical abilities, or strong collaboration? Highlight the relevant skills the employer is seeking.”  

Interview Answers to “Tell Me About a Time You Solved a Problem”

Now, let’s look at some sample interview answers to, “Give me an example of a time you used logic to solve a problem,” or “Tell me about a time you solved a problem,” since you’re likely to hear different versions of this interview question in all sorts of industries.

The example interview responses are structured using the STAR method and are categorized into the top 5 key problem-solving skills recruiters look for in a candidate.

1. Analytical Thinking

Situation: In my previous role as a data analyst , our team encountered a significant drop in website traffic.

Task: I was tasked with identifying the root cause of the decrease.

Action: I conducted a thorough analysis of website metrics, including traffic sources, user demographics, and page performance. Through my analysis, I discovered a technical issue with our website’s loading speed, causing users to bounce. 

Result: By optimizing server response time, compressing images, and minimizing redirects, we saw a 20% increase in traffic within two weeks.

2. Critical Thinking

Situation: During a project deadline crunch, our team encountered a major technical issue that threatened to derail our progress.

Task: My task was to assess the situation and devise a solution quickly.

Action: I immediately convened a meeting with the team to brainstorm potential solutions. Instead of panicking, I encouraged everyone to think outside the box and consider unconventional approaches. We analyzed the problem from different angles and weighed the pros and cons of each solution.

Result: By devising a workaround solution, we were able to meet the project deadline, avoiding potential delays that could have cost the company $100,000 in penalties for missing contractual obligations.

3. Decision Making

Situation: As a project manager , I was faced with a dilemma when two key team members had conflicting opinions on the project direction.

Task: My task was to make a decisive choice that would align with the project goals and maintain team cohesion.

Action: I scheduled a meeting with both team members to understand their perspectives in detail. I listened actively, asked probing questions, and encouraged open dialogue. After carefully weighing the pros and cons of each approach, I made a decision that incorporated elements from both viewpoints.

Result: The decision I made not only resolved the immediate conflict but also led to a stronger sense of collaboration within the team. By valuing input from all team members and making a well-informed decision, we were able to achieve our project objectives efficiently.

4. Communication (Teamwork)

Situation: During a cross-functional project, miscommunication between departments was causing delays and misunderstandings.

Task: My task was to improve communication channels and foster better teamwork among team members.

Action: I initiated regular cross-departmental meetings to ensure that everyone was on the same page regarding project goals and timelines. I also implemented a centralized communication platform where team members could share updates, ask questions, and collaborate more effectively.

Result: Streamlining workflows and improving communication channels led to a 30% reduction in project completion time, saving the company $25,000 in operational costs.

5. Persistence 

Situation: During a challenging sales quarter, I encountered numerous rejections and setbacks while trying to close a major client deal.

Task: My task was to persistently pursue the client and overcome obstacles to secure the deal.

Action: I maintained regular communication with the client, addressing their concerns and demonstrating the value proposition of our product. Despite facing multiple rejections, I remained persistent and resilient, adjusting my approach based on feedback and market dynamics.

Result: After months of perseverance, I successfully closed the deal with the client. By closing the major client deal, I exceeded quarterly sales targets by 25%, resulting in a revenue increase of $250,000 for the company.

Tips to Improve Your Problem-Solving Skills

Throughout your career, being able to showcase and effectively communicate your problem-solving skills gives you more leverage in achieving better jobs and earning more money .

So to improve your problem-solving skills, I recommend always analyzing a problem and situation before acting.

 When discussing problem-solving with employers, you never want to sound like you rush or make impulsive decisions. They want to see fact-based or data-based decisions when you solve problems.

Don’t just say you’re good at solving problems. Show it with specifics. How much did you boost efficiency? Did you save the company money? Adding numbers can really make your achievements stand out.

To get better at solving problems, analyze the outcomes of past solutions you came up with. You can recognize what works and what doesn’t.

Think about how you can improve researching and analyzing a situation, how you can get better at communicating, and deciding on the right people in the organization to talk to and “pull in” to help you if needed, etc.

Finally, practice staying calm even in stressful situations. Take a few minutes to walk outside if needed. Step away from your phone and computer to clear your head. A work problem is rarely so urgent that you cannot take five minutes to think (with the possible exception of safety problems), and you’ll get better outcomes if you solve problems by acting logically instead of rushing to react in a panic.

You can use all of the ideas above to describe your problem-solving skills when asked interview questions about the topic. If you say that you do the things above, employers will be impressed when they assess your problem-solving ability.

More Interview Resources

• 3 Answers to “How Do You Handle Stress?”
• How to Answer “How Do You Handle Conflict?” (Interview Question)
• Sample Answers to “Tell Me About a Time You Failed”

About the Author

Biron Clark is a former executive recruiter who has worked individually with hundreds of job seekers, reviewed thousands of resumes and LinkedIn profiles, and recruited for top venture-backed startups and Fortune 500 companies. He has been advising job seekers since 2012 to think differently in their job search and land high-paying, competitive positions. Follow on Twitter and LinkedIn .

Read more articles by Biron Clark

About the Contributor

Kyle Elliott , career coach and mental health advocate, transforms his side hustle into a notable practice, aiding Silicon Valley professionals in maximizing potential. Follow Kyle on LinkedIn .

About the Editor

Hayley Jukes is the Editor-in-Chief at CareerSidekick with five years of experience creating engaging articles, books, and transcripts for diverse platforms and audiences.

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50 Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking Examples

Critical thinking and problem solving are essential skills for success in the 21st century. Critical thinking is the ability to analyze information, evaluate evidence, and draw logical conclusions. Problem solving is the ability to apply critical thinking to find effective solutions to various challenges. Both skills require creativity, curiosity, and persistence. Developing critical thinking and problem solving skills can help students improve their academic performance, enhance their career prospects, and become more informed and engaged citizens.

Sanju Pradeepa

In today’s complex and fast-paced world, the ability to think critically and solve problems effectively has become a vital skill for success in all areas of life. Whether it’s navigating professional challenges, making sound decisions, or finding innovative solutions, critical thinking and problem-solving are key to overcoming obstacles and achieving desired outcomes. In this blog post, we will explore problem-solving and critical thinking examples.

Table of Contents

Developing the skills needed for critical thinking and problem solving.

It is not enough to simply recognize an issue; we must use the right tools and techniques to address it. To do this, we must learn how to define and identify the problem or task at hand, gather relevant information from reliable sources, analyze and compare data to draw conclusions, make logical connections between different ideas, generate a solution or action plan, and make a recommendation.

The first step in developing these skills is understanding what the problem or task is that needs to be addressed. This requires careful consideration of all available information in order to form an accurate picture of what needs to be done. Once the issue has been identified, gathering reliable sources of data can help further your understanding of it. Sources could include interviews with customers or stakeholders, surveys, industry reports, and analysis of customer feedback.

After collecting relevant information from reliable sources, it’s important to analyze and compare the data in order to draw meaningful conclusions about the situation at hand. This helps us better understand our options for addressing an issue by providing context for decision-making. Once you have analyzed the data you collected, making logical connections between different ideas can help you form a more complete picture of the situation and inform your potential solutions.

Once you have analyzed your options for addressing an issue based on all available data points, it’s time to generate a solution or action plan that takes into account considerations such as cost-effectiveness and feasibility. It’s also important to consider the risk factors associated with any proposed solutions in order to ensure that they are responsible before moving forward with implementation. Finally, once all the analysis has been completed, it is time to make a recommendation based on your findings, which should take into account any objectives set out by stakeholders at the beginning of this process as well as any other pertinent factors discovered throughout the analysis stage.

By following these steps carefully when faced with complex issues, one can effectively use critical thinking and problem-solving skills in order to achieve desired outcomes more efficiently than would otherwise be possible without them, while also taking responsibility for decisions made along the way.

What Does Critical Thinking Involve: 5 Essential Skill

Problem-solving and critical thinking examples.

Problem-solving and critical thinking are key skills that are highly valued in any professional setting. These skills enable individuals to analyze complex situations, make informed decisions, and find innovative solutions. Here, we present 25 examples of problem-solving and critical thinking. problem-solving scenarios to help you cultivate and enhance these skills.

Ethical dilemma: A company faces a situation where a client asks for a product that does not meet quality standards. The team must decide how to address the client’s request without compromising the company’s credibility or values.

Brainstorming session: A team needs to come up with new ideas for a marketing campaign targeting a specific demographic. Through an organized brainstorming session, they explore various approaches and analyze their potential impact.

Troubleshooting technical issues : An IT professional receives a ticket indicating a network outage. They analyze the issue, assess potential causes (hardware, software, or connectivity), and solve the problem efficiently.

Negotiation : During contract negotiations, representatives from two companies must find common ground to strike a mutually beneficial agreement, considering the needs and limitations of both parties.

Project management: A project manager identifies potential risks and develops contingency plans to address unforeseen obstacles, ensuring the project stays on track.

Decision-making under pressure: In a high-stakes situation, a medical professional must make a critical decision regarding a patient’s treatment, weighing all available information and considering potential risks.

Conflict resolution: A team encounters conflicts due to differing opinions or approaches. The team leader facilitates a discussion to reach a consensus while considering everyone’s perspectives.

Data analysis: A data scientist is presented with a large dataset and is tasked with extracting valuable insights. They apply analytical techniques to identify trends, correlations, and patterns that can inform decision-making.

Customer service: A customer service representative encounters a challenging customer complaint and must employ active listening and problem-solving skills to address the issue and provide a satisfactory resolution.

Market research : A business seeks to expand into a new market. They conduct thorough market research, analyzing consumer behavior, competitor strategies, and economic factors to make informed market-entry decisions.

Creative problem-solvin g: An engineer faces a design challenge and must think outside the box to come up with a unique and innovative solution that meets project requirements.

Change management: During a company-wide transition, managers must effectively communicate the change, address employees’ concerns, and facilitate a smooth transition process.

Crisis management: When a company faces a public relations crisis, effective critical thinking is necessary to analyze the situation, develop a response strategy, and minimize potential damage to the company’s reputation.

Cost optimization : A financial analyst identifies areas where expenses can be reduced while maintaining operational efficiency, presenting recommendations for cost savings.

Time management : An employee has multiple deadlines to meet. They assess the priority of each task, develop a plan, and allocate time accordingly to achieve optimal productivity.

Quality control: A production manager detects an increase in product defects and investigates the root causes, implementing corrective actions to enhance product quality.

Strategic planning: An executive team engages in strategic planning to define long-term goals, assess market trends, and identify growth opportunities.

Cross-functional collaboration: Multiple teams with different areas of expertise must collaborate to develop a comprehensive solution, combining their knowledge and skills.

Training and development : A manager identifies skill gaps in their team and designs training programs to enhance critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities.

Risk assessment : A risk management professional evaluates potential risks associated with a new business venture, weighing their potential impact and developing strategies to mitigate them.

Continuous improvement: An operations manager analyzes existing processes, identifies inefficiencies, and introduces improvements to enhance productivity and customer satisfaction.

Customer needs analysis: A product development team conducts extensive research to understand customer needs and preferences, ensuring that the resulting product meets those requirements.

Crisis decision-making: A team dealing with a crisis must think quickly, assess the situation, and make timely decisions with limited information.

Marketing campaign analysis : A marketing team evaluates the success of a recent campaign, analyzing key performance indicators to understand its impact on sales and customer engagement.

Constructive feedback: A supervisor provides feedback to an employee, highlighting areas for improvement and offering constructive suggestions for growth.

Conflict resolution in a team project: Team members engaged in a project have conflicting ideas on the approach. They must engage in open dialogue, actively listen to each other’s perspectives, and reach a compromise that aligns with the project’s goals.

Crisis response in a natural disaster: Emergency responders must think critically and swiftly in responding to a natural disaster, coordinating rescue efforts, allocating resources effectively, and prioritizing the needs of affected individuals.

Product innovation : A product development team conducts market research, studies consumer trends, and uses critical thinking to create innovative products that address unmet customer needs.

Supply chain optimization: A logistics manager analyzes the supply chain to identify areas for efficiency improvement, such as reducing transportation costs, improving inventory management, or streamlining order fulfillment processes.

Business strategy formulation: A business executive assesses market dynamics, the competitive landscape, and internal capabilities to develop a robust business strategy that ensures sustainable growth and competitiveness.

Crisis communication: In the face of a public relations crisis, an organization’s spokesperson must think critically to develop and deliver a transparent, authentic, and effective communication strategy to rebuild trust and manage reputation.

Social problem-solving: A group of volunteers addresses a specific social issue, such as poverty or homelessness, by critically examining its root causes, collaborating with stakeholders, and implementing sustainable solutions for the affected population.

Problem-Solving Mindset: How to Achieve It (15 Ways)

Risk assessment in investment decision-making: An investment analyst evaluates various investment opportunities, conducting risk assessments based on market trends, financial indicators, and potential regulatory changes to make informed investment recommendations.

Environmental sustainability: An environmental scientist analyzes the impact of industrial processes on the environment, develops strategies to mitigate risks, and promotes sustainable practices within organizations and communities.

Adaptation to technological advancements : In a rapidly evolving technological landscape, professionals need critical thinking skills to adapt to new tools, software, and systems, ensuring they can effectively leverage these advancements to enhance productivity and efficiency.

Productivity improvement: An operations manager leverages critical thinking to identify productivity bottlenecks within a workflow and implement process improvements to optimize resource utilization, minimize waste, and increase overall efficiency.

Cost-benefit analysis: An organization considering a major investment or expansion opportunity conducts a thorough cost-benefit analysis, weighing potential costs against expected benefits to make an informed decision.

Human resources management : HR professionals utilize critical thinking to assess job applicants, identify skill gaps within the organization, and design training and development programs to enhance the workforce’s capabilities.

Root cause analysis: In response to a recurring problem or inefficiency, professionals apply critical thinking to identify the root cause of the issue, develop remedial actions, and prevent future occurrences.

Leadership development: Aspiring leaders undergo critical thinking exercises to enhance their decision-making abilities, develop strategic thinking skills, and foster a culture of innovation within their teams.

Brand positioning : Marketers conduct comprehensive market research and consumer behavior analysis to strategically position a brand, differentiating it from competitors and appealing to target audiences effectively.

Resource allocation: Non-profit organizations distribute limited resources efficiently, critically evaluating project proposals, considering social impact, and allocating resources to initiatives that align with their mission.

Innovating in a mature market: A company operating in a mature market seeks to innovate to maintain a competitive edge. They cultivate critical thinking skills to identify gaps, anticipate changing customer needs, and develop new strategies, products, or services accordingly.

Analyzing financial statements : Financial analysts critically assess financial statements, analyze key performance indicators, and derive insights to support financial decision-making, such as investment evaluations or budget planning.

Crisis intervention : Mental health professionals employ critical thinking and problem-solving to assess crises faced by individuals or communities, develop intervention plans, and provide support during challenging times.

Data privacy and cybersecurity : IT professionals critically evaluate existing cybersecurity measures, identify vulnerabilities, and develop strategies to protect sensitive data from threats, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations.

Process improvement : Professionals in manufacturing or service industries critically evaluate existing processes, identify inefficiencies, and implement improvements to optimize efficiency, quality, and customer satisfaction.

Multi-channel marketing strategy : Marketers employ critical thinking to design and execute effective marketing campaigns across various channels such as social media, web, print, and television, ensuring a cohesive brand experience for customers.

Peer review: Researchers critically analyze and review the work of their peers, providing constructive feedback and ensuring the accuracy, validity, and reliability of scientific studies.

Project coordination : A project manager must coordinate multiple teams and resources to ensure seamless collaboration, identify potential bottlenecks, and find solutions to keep the project on schedule.  

These examples highlight the various contexts in which problem-solving and critical-thinking skills are necessary for success. By understanding and practicing these skills, individuals can enhance their ability to navigate challenges and make sound decisions in both personal and professional endeavors.

Conclusion:

Critical thinking and problem-solving are indispensable skills that empower individuals to overcome challenges, make sound decisions, and find innovative solutions. By honing these skills, one can navigate through the complexities of modern life and achieve success in both personal and professional endeavors. Embrace the power of critical thinking and problem-solving, and unlock the door to endless possibilities and growth.

• Problem solving From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Critical thinking From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• The Importance of Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills for Students (5 Minutes)

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Culture Development

Workplace problem-solving examples: real scenarios, practical solutions.

• March 11, 2024

From conflicts among employees to high levels of stress, workplace problems can significantly impact productivity and overall well-being. However, by developing the art of problem-solving and implementing practical solutions, organizations can effectively tackle these challenges and foster a positive work culture.

In this article, we will delve into various workplace problem scenarios and explore strategies for resolution. By understanding common workplace problems and acquiring essential problem-solving skills, individuals and organizations can navigate these challenges with confidence and success.

Understanding Workplace Problems

Before we can effectively solve workplace problems , it is essential to gain a clear understanding of the issues at hand. Identifying common workplace problems is the first step toward finding practical solutions. By recognizing these challenges, organizations can develop targeted strategies and initiatives to address them.

Identifying Common Workplace Problems

One of the most common workplace problems is conflict. Whether it stems from differences in opinions, miscommunication, or personality clashes, conflict among colleagues can disrupt collaboration and hinder productivity. It is important to note that conflict is a natural part of any workplace, as individuals with different backgrounds and perspectives come together to work towards a common goal. However, when conflict is not managed effectively, it can escalate and create a toxic work environment.

In addition to conflict, workplace stress and burnout pose significant challenges. High workloads, tight deadlines, and a lack of work-life balance can all contribute to employee stress and dissatisfaction. When employees are overwhelmed and exhausted, their performance and overall well-being are compromised. This not only affects the individuals directly, but it also has a ripple effect on the entire organization.

Another common workplace problem is poor communication. Ineffective communication can lead to misunderstandings, delays, and errors. It can also create a sense of confusion and frustration among employees. Clear and open communication is vital for successful collaboration and the smooth functioning of any organization.

The Impact of Workplace Problems on Productivity

Workplace problems can have a detrimental effect on productivity levels. When conflicts are left unresolved, they can create a tense work environment, leading to decreased employee motivation and engagement. The negative energy generated by unresolved conflicts can spread throughout the organization, affecting team dynamics and overall performance.

Similarly, high levels of stress and burnout can result in decreased productivity, as individuals may struggle to focus and perform optimally. When employees are constantly under pressure and overwhelmed, their ability to think creatively and problem-solve diminishes. This can lead to a decline in the quality of work produced and an increase in errors and inefficiencies.

Poor communication also hampers productivity. When information is not effectively shared or understood, it can lead to misunderstandings, delays, and rework. This not only wastes time and resources but also creates frustration and demotivation among employees.

Furthermore, workplace problems can negatively impact employee morale and job satisfaction. When individuals are constantly dealing with conflicts, stress, and poor communication, their overall job satisfaction and engagement suffer. This can result in higher turnover rates , as employees seek a healthier and more supportive work environment.

Workplace problems such as conflict, stress, burnout, and poor communication can significantly hinder productivity and employee well-being. Organizations must address these issues promptly and proactively to create a positive and productive work atmosphere. By fostering open communication, providing support for stress management, and promoting conflict resolution strategies, organizations can create a work environment that encourages collaboration, innovation, and employee satisfaction.

The Art of Problem Solving in the Workplace

Now that we have a clear understanding of workplace problems, let’s explore the essential skills necessary for effective problem-solving in the workplace. By developing these skills and adopting a proactive approach, individuals can tackle problems head-on and find practical solutions.

Problem-solving in the workplace is a complex and multifaceted skill that requires a combination of analytical thinking, creativity, and effective communication. It goes beyond simply identifying problems and extends to finding innovative solutions that address the root causes.

Essential Problem-Solving Skills for the Workplace

To effectively solve workplace problems, individuals should possess a range of skills. These include strong analytical and critical thinking abilities, excellent communication and interpersonal skills, the ability to collaborate and work well in a team, and the capacity to adapt to change. By honing these skills, individuals can approach workplace problems with confidence and creativity.

Analytical and critical thinking skills are essential for problem-solving in the workplace. They involve the ability to gather and analyze relevant information, identify patterns and trends, and make logical connections. These skills enable individuals to break down complex problems into manageable components and develop effective strategies to solve them.

Effective communication and interpersonal skills are also crucial for problem-solving in the workplace. These skills enable individuals to clearly articulate their thoughts and ideas, actively listen to others, and collaborate effectively with colleagues. By fostering open and honest communication channels, individuals can better understand the root causes of problems and work towards finding practical solutions.

Collaboration and teamwork are essential for problem-solving in the workplace. By working together, individuals can leverage their diverse skills, knowledge, and perspectives to generate innovative solutions. Collaboration fosters a supportive and inclusive environment where everyone’s ideas are valued, leading to more effective problem-solving outcomes.

The ability to adapt to change is another important skill for problem-solving in the workplace. In today’s dynamic work environment, problems often arise due to changes in technology, processes, or market conditions. Individuals who can embrace change and adapt quickly are better equipped to find solutions that address the evolving needs of the organization.

The Role of Communication in Problem Solving

Communication is a key component of effective problem-solving in the workplace. By fostering open and honest communication channels, individuals can better understand the root causes of problems and work towards finding practical solutions. Active listening, clear and concise articulation of thoughts and ideas, and the ability to empathize are all valuable communication skills that facilitate problem-solving.

Active listening involves fully engaging with the speaker, paying attention to both verbal and non-verbal cues, and seeking clarification when necessary. By actively listening, individuals can gain a deeper understanding of the problem at hand and the perspectives of others involved. This understanding is crucial for developing comprehensive and effective solutions.

Clear and concise articulation of thoughts and ideas is essential for effective problem-solving communication. By expressing oneself clearly, individuals can ensure that their ideas are understood by others. This clarity helps to avoid misunderstandings and promotes effective collaboration.

Empathy is a valuable communication skill that plays a significant role in problem-solving. By putting oneself in the shoes of others and understanding their emotions and perspectives, individuals can build trust and rapport. This empathetic connection fosters a supportive and collaborative environment where everyone feels valued and motivated to contribute to finding solutions.

Problem-solving in the workplace requires a combination of essential skills such as analytical thinking, effective communication, collaboration, and adaptability. By honing these skills and fostering open communication channels, individuals can approach workplace problems with confidence and creativity, leading to practical and innovative solutions.

Real Scenarios of Workplace Problems

Now, let’s explore some real scenarios of workplace problems and delve into strategies for resolution. By examining these practical examples, individuals can develop a deeper understanding of how to approach and solve workplace problems.

Conflict Resolution in the Workplace

Imagine a scenario where two team members have conflicting ideas on how to approach a project. The disagreement becomes heated, leading to a tense work environment. To resolve this conflict, it is crucial to encourage open dialogue between the team members. Facilitating a calm and respectful conversation can help uncover underlying concerns and find common ground. Collaboration and compromise are key in reaching a resolution that satisfies all parties involved.

In this particular scenario, let’s dive deeper into the dynamics between the team members. One team member, let’s call her Sarah, strongly believes that a more conservative and traditional approach is necessary for the project’s success. On the other hand, her colleague, John, advocates for a more innovative and out-of-the-box strategy. The clash between their perspectives arises from their different backgrounds and experiences.

As the conflict escalates, it is essential for a neutral party, such as a team leader or a mediator, to step in and facilitate the conversation. This person should create a safe space for both Sarah and John to express their ideas and concerns without fear of judgment or retribution. By actively listening to each other, they can gain a better understanding of the underlying motivations behind their respective approaches.

During the conversation, it may become apparent that Sarah’s conservative approach stems from a fear of taking risks and a desire for stability. On the other hand, John’s innovative mindset is driven by a passion for pushing boundaries and finding creative solutions. Recognizing these underlying motivations can help foster empathy and create a foundation for collaboration.

As the dialogue progresses, Sarah and John can begin to identify areas of overlap and potential compromise. They may realize that while Sarah’s conservative approach provides stability, John’s innovative ideas can inject fresh perspectives into the project. By combining their strengths and finding a middle ground, they can develop a hybrid strategy that incorporates both stability and innovation.

Ultimately, conflict resolution in the workplace requires effective communication, active listening, empathy, and a willingness to find common ground. By addressing conflicts head-on and fostering a collaborative environment, teams can overcome challenges and achieve their goals.

Dealing with Workplace Stress and Burnout

Workplace stress and burnout can be debilitating for individuals and organizations alike. In this scenario, an employee is consistently overwhelmed by their workload and experiencing signs of burnout. To address this issue, organizations should promote a healthy work-life balance and provide resources to manage stress effectively. Encouraging employees to take breaks, providing access to mental health support, and fostering a supportive work culture are all practical solutions to alleviate workplace stress.

In this particular scenario, let’s imagine that the employee facing stress and burnout is named Alex. Alex has been working long hours, often sacrificing personal time and rest to meet tight deadlines and demanding expectations. As a result, Alex is experiencing physical and mental exhaustion, reduced productivity, and a sense of detachment from work.

Recognizing the signs of burnout, Alex’s organization takes proactive measures to address the issue. They understand that employee well-being is crucial for maintaining a healthy and productive workforce. To promote a healthy work-life balance, the organization encourages employees to take regular breaks and prioritize self-care. They emphasize the importance of disconnecting from work during non-working hours and encourage employees to engage in activities that promote relaxation and rejuvenation.

Additionally, the organization provides access to mental health support services, such as counseling or therapy sessions. They recognize that stress and burnout can have a significant impact on an individual’s mental well-being and offer resources to help employees manage their stress effectively. By destigmatizing mental health and providing confidential support, the organization creates an environment where employees feel comfortable seeking help when needed.

Furthermore, the organization fosters a supportive work culture by promoting open communication and empathy. They encourage managers and colleagues to check in with each other regularly, offering support and understanding. Team members are encouraged to collaborate and share the workload, ensuring that no one person is overwhelmed with excessive responsibilities.

By implementing these strategies, Alex’s organization aims to alleviate workplace stress and prevent burnout. They understand that a healthy and balanced workforce is more likely to be engaged, productive, and satisfied. Through a combination of promoting work-life balance, providing mental health support, and fostering a supportive work culture, organizations can effectively address workplace stress and create an environment conducive to employee well-being.

Practical Solutions to Workplace Problems

Now that we have explored real examples of workplace conflict scenarios, let’s discuss practical solutions that organizations can implement to address workplace problems. By adopting proactive strategies and establishing effective policies, organizations can create a positive work environment conducive to problem-solving and productivity.

Implementing Effective Policies for Problem Resolution

Organizations should have clear and well-defined policies in place to address workplace problems. These policies should outline procedures for conflict resolution, channels for reporting problems, and accountability measures. By ensuring that employees are aware of these policies and have easy access to them, organizations can facilitate problem-solving and prevent issues from escalating.

Promoting a Positive Workplace Culture

A positive workplace culture is vital for problem-solving. By fostering an environment of respect, collaboration, and open communication, organizations can create a space where individuals feel empowered to address and solve problems. Encouraging teamwork, recognizing and appreciating employees’ contributions, and promoting a healthy work-life balance are all ways to cultivate a positive workplace culture.

The Role of Leadership in Problem Solving in the Workplace

Leadership plays a crucial role in facilitating effective problem-solving within organizations. Different leadership styles can impact how problems are approached and resolved.

Leadership Styles and Their Impact on Problem-Solving

Leaders who adopt an autocratic leadership style may make decisions independently, potentially leaving their team members feeling excluded and undervalued. On the other hand, leaders who adopt a democratic leadership style involve their team members in the problem-solving process, fostering a sense of ownership and empowerment. By encouraging employee participation, organizations can leverage the diverse perspectives and expertise of their workforce to find innovative solutions to workplace problems.

Encouraging Employee Participation in Problem Solving

To harness an organization’s collective problem-solving abilities, it is crucial to encourage employee participation. Leaders can create opportunities for employees to contribute their ideas and perspectives through brainstorming sessions, team meetings, and collaborative projects. By valuing employee input and involving them in decision-making processes, organizations can foster a culture of inclusivity and drive innovative problem-solving efforts.

Workplace problems are unavoidable. However, by understanding common workplace problems, developing essential problem-solving skills, and implementing practical solutions, individuals and organizations can navigate these challenges effectively. By fostering a positive work culture, implementing effective policies, and encouraging employee participation, organizations can create an environment conducive to problem-solving and productivity. With proactive problem-solving strategies in place, organizations can thrive and overcome obstacles, ensuring long-term success and growth.

Contact us today to learn how culture can transform your business.

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What is Problem Solving? (Steps, Techniques, Examples)

By Status.net Editorial Team on May 7, 2023 — 5 minutes to read

What Is Problem Solving?

Definition and importance.

Problem solving is the process of finding solutions to obstacles or challenges you encounter in your life or work. It is a crucial skill that allows you to tackle complex situations, adapt to changes, and overcome difficulties with ease. Mastering this ability will contribute to both your personal and professional growth, leading to more successful outcomes and better decision-making.

Problem-Solving Steps

The problem-solving process typically includes the following steps:

• Identify the issue : Recognize the problem that needs to be solved.
• Analyze the situation : Examine the issue in depth, gather all relevant information, and consider any limitations or constraints that may be present.
• Generate potential solutions : Brainstorm a list of possible solutions to the issue, without immediately judging or evaluating them.
• Evaluate options : Weigh the pros and cons of each potential solution, considering factors such as feasibility, effectiveness, and potential risks.
• Select the best solution : Choose the option that best addresses the problem and aligns with your objectives.
• Implement the solution : Put the selected solution into action and monitor the results to ensure it resolves the issue.
• Review and learn : Reflect on the problem-solving process, identify any improvements or adjustments that can be made, and apply these learnings to future situations.

Defining the Problem

To start tackling a problem, first, identify and understand it. Analyzing the issue thoroughly helps to clarify its scope and nature. Ask questions to gather information and consider the problem from various angles. Some strategies to define the problem include:

• Brainstorming with others
• Asking the 5 Ws and 1 H (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How)
• Analyzing cause and effect
• Creating a problem statement

Generating Solutions

Once the problem is clearly understood, brainstorm possible solutions. Think creatively and keep an open mind, as well as considering lessons from past experiences. Consider:

• Creating a list of potential ideas to solve the problem
• Grouping and categorizing similar solutions
• Prioritizing potential solutions based on feasibility, cost, and resources required
• Involving others to share diverse opinions and inputs

Evaluating and Selecting Solutions

Evaluate each potential solution, weighing its pros and cons. To facilitate decision-making, use techniques such as:

• SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
• Decision-making matrices
• Pros and cons lists
• Risk assessments

After evaluating, choose the most suitable solution based on effectiveness, cost, and time constraints.

Implementing and Monitoring the Solution

Implement the chosen solution and monitor its progress. Key actions include:

• Communicating the solution to relevant parties
• Setting timelines and milestones
• Assigning tasks and responsibilities
• Monitoring the solution and making adjustments as necessary
• Evaluating the effectiveness of the solution after implementation

Utilize feedback from stakeholders and consider potential improvements. Remember that problem-solving is an ongoing process that can always be refined and enhanced.

Problem-Solving Techniques

During each step, you may find it helpful to utilize various problem-solving techniques, such as:

• Brainstorming : A free-flowing, open-minded session where ideas are generated and listed without judgment, to encourage creativity and innovative thinking.
• Root cause analysis : A method that explores the underlying causes of a problem to find the most effective solution rather than addressing superficial symptoms.
• SWOT analysis : A tool used to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to a problem or decision, providing a comprehensive view of the situation.
• Mind mapping : A visual technique that uses diagrams to organize and connect ideas, helping to identify patterns, relationships, and possible solutions.

Brainstorming

When facing a problem, start by conducting a brainstorming session. Gather your team and encourage an open discussion where everyone contributes ideas, no matter how outlandish they may seem. This helps you:

• Generate a diverse range of solutions
• Encourage all team members to participate
• Foster creative thinking

When brainstorming, remember to:

• Reserve judgment until the session is over
• Encourage wild ideas
• Combine and improve upon ideas

Root Cause Analysis

For effective problem-solving, identifying the root cause of the issue at hand is crucial. Try these methods:

• 5 Whys : Ask “why” five times to get to the underlying cause.
• Fishbone Diagram : Create a diagram representing the problem and break it down into categories of potential causes.
• Pareto Analysis : Determine the few most significant causes underlying the majority of problems.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis helps you examine the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats related to your problem. To perform a SWOT analysis:

• List your problem’s strengths, such as relevant resources or strong partnerships.
• Identify its weaknesses, such as knowledge gaps or limited resources.
• Explore opportunities, like trends or new technologies, that could help solve the problem.
• Recognize potential threats, like competition or regulatory barriers.

SWOT analysis aids in understanding the internal and external factors affecting the problem, which can help guide your solution.

Mind Mapping

A mind map is a visual representation of your problem and potential solutions. It enables you to organize information in a structured and intuitive manner. To create a mind map:

• Write the problem in the center of a blank page.
• Draw branches from the central problem to related sub-problems or contributing factors.
• Add more branches to represent potential solutions or further ideas.

Mind mapping allows you to visually see connections between ideas and promotes creativity in problem-solving.

Examples of Problem Solving in Various Contexts

In the business world, you might encounter problems related to finances, operations, or communication. Applying problem-solving skills in these situations could look like:

• Identifying areas of improvement in your company’s financial performance and implementing cost-saving measures
• Resolving internal conflicts among team members by listening and understanding different perspectives, then proposing and negotiating solutions
• Streamlining a process for better productivity by removing redundancies, automating tasks, or re-allocating resources

In educational contexts, problem-solving can be seen in various aspects, such as:

• Addressing a gap in students’ understanding by employing diverse teaching methods to cater to different learning styles
• Developing a strategy for successful time management to balance academic responsibilities and extracurricular activities
• Seeking resources and support to provide equal opportunities for learners with special needs or disabilities

Everyday life is full of challenges that require problem-solving skills. Some examples include:

• Overcoming a personal obstacle, such as improving your fitness level, by establishing achievable goals, measuring progress, and adjusting your approach accordingly
• Navigating a new environment or city by researching your surroundings, asking for directions, or using technology like GPS to guide you
• Dealing with a sudden change, like a change in your work schedule, by assessing the situation, identifying potential impacts, and adapting your plans to accommodate the change.
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Struggling to overcome challenges in your life? We all face problems, big and small, on a regular basis.

So how do you tackle them effectively? What are some key problem-solving strategies and skills that can guide you?

Effective problem-solving requires breaking issues down logically, generating solutions creatively, weighing choices critically, and adapting plans flexibly based on outcomes. Useful strategies range from leveraging past solutions that have worked to visualizing problems through diagrams. Core skills include analytical abilities, innovative thinking, and collaboration.

Want to improve your problem-solving skills? Keep reading to find out 17 effective problem-solving strategies, key skills, common obstacles to watch for, and tips on improving your overall problem-solving skills.

Key Takeaways:

• Effective problem-solving requires breaking down issues logically, generating multiple solutions creatively, weighing choices critically, and adapting plans based on outcomes.
• Useful problem-solving strategies range from leveraging past solutions to brainstorming with groups to visualizing problems through diagrams and models.
• Core skills include analytical abilities, innovative thinking, decision-making, and team collaboration to solve problems.
• Common obstacles include fear of failure, information gaps, fixed mindsets, confirmation bias, and groupthink.
• Boosting problem-solving skills involves learning from experts, actively practicing, soliciting feedback, and analyzing others’ success.
• Onethread’s project management capabilities align with effective problem-solving tenets – facilitating structured solutions, tracking progress, and capturing lessons learned.

What Is Problem-Solving?

Problem-solving is the process of understanding an issue, situation, or challenge that needs to be addressed and then systematically working through possible solutions to arrive at the best outcome.

It involves critical thinking, analysis, logic, creativity, research, planning, reflection, and patience in order to overcome obstacles and find effective answers to complex questions or problems.

The ultimate goal is to implement the chosen solution successfully.

What Are Problem-Solving Strategies?

Problem-solving strategies are like frameworks or methodologies that help us solve tricky puzzles or problems we face in the workplace, at home, or with friends.

Imagine you have a big jigsaw puzzle. One strategy might be to start with the corner pieces. Another could be looking for pieces with the same colors. 

Just like in puzzles, in real life, we use different plans or steps to find solutions to problems. These strategies help us think clearly, make good choices, and find the best answers without getting too stressed or giving up.

Why Is It Important To Know Different Problem-Solving Strategies?

Knowing different problem-solving strategies is important because different types of problems often require different approaches to solve them effectively. Having a variety of strategies to choose from allows you to select the best method for the specific problem you are trying to solve.

This improves your ability to analyze issues thoroughly, develop solutions creatively, and tackle problems from multiple angles. Knowing multiple strategies also aids in overcoming roadblocks if your initial approach is not working.

Here are some reasons why you need to know different problem-solving strategies:

• Different Problems Require Different Tools: Just like you can’t use a hammer to fix everything, some problems need specific strategies to solve them.
• Improves Creativity: Knowing various strategies helps you think outside the box and come up with creative solutions.
• Saves Time: With the right strategy, you can solve problems faster instead of trying things that don’t work.
• Reduces Stress: When you know how to tackle a problem, it feels less scary and you feel more confident.
• Better Outcomes: Using the right strategy can lead to better solutions, making things work out better in the end.
• Learning and Growth: Each time you solve a problem, you learn something new, which makes you smarter and better at solving future problems.

Knowing different ways to solve problems helps you tackle anything that comes your way, making life a bit easier and more fun!

17 Effective Problem-Solving Strategies

Effective problem-solving strategies include breaking the problem into smaller parts, brainstorming multiple solutions, evaluating the pros and cons of each, and choosing the most viable option. 

Critical thinking and creativity are essential in developing innovative solutions. Collaboration with others can also provide diverse perspectives and ideas. 

By applying these strategies, you can tackle complex issues more effectively.

Now, consider a challenge you’re dealing with. Which strategy could help you find a solution? Here we will discuss key problem strategies in detail.

1. Use a Past Solution That Worked

This strategy involves looking back at previous similar problems you have faced and the solutions that were effective in solving them.

It is useful when you are facing a problem that is very similar to something you have already solved. The main benefit is that you don’t have to come up with a brand new solution – you already know the method that worked before will likely work again.

However, the limitation is that the current problem may have some unique aspects or differences that mean your old solution is not fully applicable.

The ideal process is to thoroughly analyze the new challenge, identify the key similarities and differences versus the past case, adapt the old solution as needed to align with the current context, and then pilot it carefully before full implementation.

An example is using the same negotiation tactics from purchasing your previous home when putting in an offer on a new house. Key terms would be adjusted but overall it can save significant time versus developing a brand new strategy.

2. Brainstorm Solutions

This involves gathering a group of people together to generate as many potential solutions to a problem as possible.

It is effective when you need creative ideas to solve a complex or challenging issue. By getting input from multiple people with diverse perspectives, you increase the likelihood of finding an innovative solution.

The main limitation is that brainstorming sessions can sometimes turn into unproductive gripe sessions or discussions rather than focusing on productive ideation —so they need to be properly facilitated.

The key to an effective brainstorming session is setting some basic ground rules upfront and having an experienced facilitator guide the discussion. Rules often include encouraging wild ideas, avoiding criticism of ideas during the ideation phase, and building on others’ ideas.

For instance, a struggling startup might hold a session where ideas for turnaround plans are generated and then formalized with financials and metrics.

3. Work Backward from the Solution

This technique involves envisioning that the problem has already been solved and then working step-by-step backward toward the current state.

This strategy is particularly helpful for long-term, multi-step problems. By starting from the imagined solution and identifying all the steps required to reach it, you can systematically determine the actions needed. It lets you tackle a big hairy problem through smaller, reversible steps.

A limitation is that this approach may not be possible if you cannot accurately envision the solution state to start with.

The approach helps drive logical systematic thinking for complex problem-solving, but should still be combined with creative brainstorming of alternative scenarios and solutions.

An example is planning for an event – you would imagine the successful event occurring, then determine the tasks needed the week before, two weeks before, etc. all the way back to the present.

4. Use the Kipling Method

This method, named after author Rudyard Kipling, provides a framework for thoroughly analyzing a problem before jumping into solutions.

It consists of answering six fundamental questions: What, Where, When, How, Who, and Why about the challenge. Clearly defining these core elements of the problem sets the stage for generating targeted solutions.

The Kipling method enables a deep understanding of problem parameters and root causes before solution identification. By jumping to brainstorm solutions too early, critical information can be missed or the problem is loosely defined, reducing solution quality.

Answering the six fundamental questions illuminates all angles of the issue. This takes time but pays dividends in generating optimal solutions later tuned precisely to the true underlying problem.

The limitation is that meticulously working through numerous questions before addressing solutions can slow progress.

The best approach blends structured problem decomposition techniques like the Kipling method with spurring innovative solution ideation from a diverse team. 

An example is using this technique after a technical process failure – the team would systematically detail What failed, Where/When did it fail, How it failed (sequence of events), Who was involved, and Why it likely failed before exploring preventative solutions.

5. Try Different Solutions Until One Works (Trial and Error)

This technique involves attempting various potential solutions sequentially until finding one that successfully solves the problem.

Trial and error works best when facing a concrete, bounded challenge with clear solution criteria and a small number of discrete options to try. By methodically testing solutions, you can determine the faulty component.

A limitation is that it can be time-intensive if the working solution set is large.

The key is limiting the variable set first. For technical problems, this boundary is inherent and each element can be iteratively tested. But for business issues, artificial constraints may be required – setting decision rules upfront to reduce options before testing.

Furthermore, hypothesis-driven experimentation is far superior to blind trial and error – have logic for why Option A may outperform Option B.

Examples include fixing printer jams by testing different paper tray and cable configurations or resolving website errors by tweaking CSS/HTML line-by-line until the code functions properly.

6. Use Proven Formulas or Frameworks (Heuristics)

Heuristics refers to applying existing problem-solving formulas or frameworks rather than addressing issues completely from scratch.

This allows leveraging established best practices rather than reinventing the wheel each time.

It is effective when facing recurrent, common challenges where proven structured approaches exist.

However, heuristics may force-fit solutions to non-standard problems.

For example, a cost-benefit analysis can be used instead of custom weighting schemes to analyze potential process improvements.

Onethread allows teams to define, save, and replicate configurable project templates so proven workflows can be reliably applied across problems with some consistency rather than fully custom one-off approaches each time.

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7. Trust Your Instincts (Insight Problem-Solving)

Insight is a problem-solving technique that involves waiting patiently for an unexpected “aha moment” when the solution pops into your mind.

It works well for personal challenges that require intuitive realizations over calculated logic. The unconscious mind makes connections leading to flashes of insight when relaxing or doing mundane tasks unrelated to the actual problem.

Benefits include out-of-the-box creative solutions. However, the limitations are that insights can’t be forced and may never come at all if too complex. Critical analysis is still required after initial insights.

A real-life example would be a writer struggling with how to end a novel. Despite extensive brainstorming, they feel stuck. Eventually while gardening one day, a perfect unexpected plot twist sparks an ideal conclusion. However, once written they still carefully review if the ending flows logically from the rest of the story.

8. Reverse Engineer the Problem

This approach involves deconstructing a problem in reverse sequential order from the current undesirable outcome back to the initial root causes.

By mapping the chain of events backward, you can identify the origin of where things went wrong and establish the critical junctures for solving it moving ahead. Reverse engineering provides diagnostic clarity on multi-step problems.

However, the limitation is that it focuses heavily on autopsying the past versus innovating improved future solutions.

An example is tracing back from a server outage, through the cascade of infrastructure failures that led to it finally terminating at the initial script error that triggered the crisis. This root cause would then inform the preventative measure.

9. Break Down Obstacles Between Current and Goal State (Means-End Analysis)

This technique defines the current problem state and the desired end goal state, then systematically identifies obstacles in the way of getting from one to the other.

By mapping the barriers or gaps, you can then develop solutions to address each one. This methodically connects the problem to solutions.

A limitation is that some obstacles may be unknown upfront and only emerge later.

For example, you can list down all the steps required for a new product launch – current state through production, marketing, sales, distribution, etc. to full launch (goal state) – to highlight where resource constraints or other blocks exist so they can be addressed.

Onethread allows dividing big-picture projects into discrete, manageable phases, milestones, and tasks to simplify execution just as problems can be decomposed into more achievable components. Features like dependency mapping further reinforce interconnections.

Using Onethread’s issues and subtasks feature, messy problems can be decomposed into manageable chunks.

10. Ask “Why” Five Times to Identify the Root Cause (The 5 Whys)

This technique involves asking “Why did this problem occur?” and then responding with an answer that is again met with asking “Why?” This process repeats five times until the root cause is revealed.

Continually asking why digs deeper from surface symptoms to underlying systemic issues.

It is effective for getting to the source of problems originating from human error or process breakdowns.

However, some complex issues may have multiple tangled root causes not solvable through this approach alone.

An example is a retail store experiencing a sudden decline in customers. Successively asking why five times may trace an initial drop to parking challenges, stemming from a city construction project – the true starting point to address.

11. Evaluate Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT Analysis)

This involves analyzing a problem or proposed solution by categorizing internal and external factors into a 2×2 matrix: Strengths, Weaknesses as the internal rows; Opportunities and Threats as the external columns.

Systematically identifying these elements provides balanced insight to evaluate options and risks. It is impactful when evaluating alternative solutions or developing strategy amid complexity or uncertainty.

The key benefit of SWOT analysis is enabling multi-dimensional thinking when rationally evaluating options. Rather than getting anchored on just the upsides or the existing way of operating, it urges a systematic assessment through four different lenses:

• Internal Strengths: Our core competencies/advantages able to deliver success
• Internal Weaknesses: Gaps/vulnerabilities we need to manage
• External Opportunities: Ways we can differentiate/drive additional value
• External Threats: Risks we must navigate or mitigate

Multiperspective analysis provides the needed holistic view of the balanced risk vs. reward equation for strategic decision making amid uncertainty.

However, SWOT can feel restrictive if not tailored and evolved for different issue types.

Teams should view SWOT analysis as a starting point, augmenting it further for distinct scenarios.

An example is performing a SWOT analysis on whether a small business should expand into a new market – evaluating internal capabilities to execute vs. risks in the external competitive and demand environment to inform the growth decision with eyes wide open.

12. Compare Current vs Expected Performance (Gap Analysis)

This technique involves comparing the current state of performance, output, or results to the desired or expected levels to highlight shortfalls.

By quantifying the gaps, you can identify problem areas and prioritize address solutions.

Gap analysis is based on the simple principle – “you can’t improve what you don’t measure.” It enables facts-driven problem diagnosis by highlighting delta to goals, not just vague dissatisfaction that something seems wrong. And measurement immediately suggests improvement opportunities – address the biggest gaps first.

This data orientation also supports ROI analysis on fixing issues – the return from closing larger gaps outweighs narrowly targeting smaller performance deficiencies.

However, the approach is only effective if robust standards and metrics exist as the benchmark to evaluate against. Organizations should invest upfront in establishing performance frameworks.

Furthermore, while numbers are invaluable, the human context behind problems should not be ignored – quantitative versus qualitative gap assessment is optimally blended.

For example, if usage declines are noted during software gap analysis, this could be used as a signal to improve user experience through design.

13. Observe Processes from the Frontline (Gemba Walk)

A Gemba walk involves going to the actual place where work is done, directly observing the process, engaging with employees, and finding areas for improvement.

By experiencing firsthand rather than solely reviewing abstract reports, practical problems and ideas emerge.

The limitation is Gemba walks provide anecdotes not statistically significant data. It complements but does not replace comprehensive performance measurement.

An example is a factory manager inspecting the production line to spot jam areas based on direct reality rather than relying on throughput dashboards alone back in her office. Frontline insights prove invaluable.

14. Analyze Competitive Forces (Porter’s Five Forces)

This involves assessing the marketplace around a problem or business situation via five key factors: competitors, new entrants, substitute offerings, suppliers, and customer power.

Evaluating these forces illuminates risks and opportunities for strategy development and issue resolution. It is effective for understanding dynamic external threats and opportunities when operating in a contested space.

However, over-indexing on only external factors can overlook the internal capabilities needed to execute solutions.

A startup CEO, for example, may analyze market entry barriers, whitespace opportunities, and disruption risks across these five forces to shape new product rollout strategies and marketing approaches.

15. Think from Different Perspectives (Six Thinking Hats)

The Six Thinking Hats is a technique developed by Edward de Bono that encourages people to think about a problem from six different perspectives, each represented by a colored “thinking hat.”

The key benefit of this strategy is that it pushes team members to move outside their usual thinking style and consider new angles. This brings more diverse ideas and solutions to the table.

It works best for complex problems that require innovative solutions and when a team is stuck in an unproductive debate. The structured framework keeps the conversation flowing in a positive direction.

Limitations are that it requires training on the method itself and may feel unnatural at first. Team dynamics can also influence success – some members may dominate certain “hats” while others remain quiet.

A real-life example is a software company debating whether to build a new feature. The white hat focuses on facts, red on gut feelings, black on potential risks, yellow on benefits, green on new ideas, and blue on process. This exposes more balanced perspectives before deciding.

Onethread centralizes diverse stakeholder communication onto one platform, ensuring all voices are incorporated when evaluating project tradeoffs, just as problem-solving should consider multifaceted solutions.

16. Visualize the Problem (Draw it Out)

Drawing out a problem involves creating visual representations like diagrams, flowcharts, and maps to work through challenging issues.

This strategy is helpful when dealing with complex situations with lots of interconnected components. The visuals simplify the complexity so you can thoroughly understand the problem and all its nuances.

Key benefits are that it allows more stakeholders to get on the same page regarding root causes and it sparks new creative solutions as connections are made visually.

However, simple problems with few variables don’t require extensive diagrams. Additionally, some challenges are so multidimensional that fully capturing every aspect is difficult.

A real-life example would be mapping out all the possible causes leading to decreased client satisfaction at a law firm. An intricate fishbone diagram with branches for issues like service delivery, technology, facilities, culture, and vendor partnerships allows the team to trace problems back to their origins and brainstorm targeted fixes.

17. Follow a Step-by-Step Procedure (Algorithms)

An algorithm is a predefined step-by-step process that is guaranteed to produce the correct solution if implemented properly.

Using algorithms is effective when facing problems that have clear, binary right and wrong answers. Algorithms work for mathematical calculations, computer code, manufacturing assembly lines, and scientific experiments.

Key benefits are consistency, accuracy, and efficiency. However, they require extensive upfront development and only apply to scenarios with strict parameters. Additionally, human error can lead to mistakes.

For example, crew members of fast food chains like McDonald’s follow specific algorithms for food prep – from grill times to ingredient amounts in sandwiches, to order fulfillment procedures. This ensures uniform quality and service across all locations. However, if a step is missed, errors occur.

The Problem-Solving Process

The problem-solving process typically includes defining the issue, analyzing details, creating solutions, weighing choices, acting, and reviewing results.

In the above, we have discussed several problem-solving strategies. For every problem-solving strategy, you have to follow these processes. Here’s a detailed step-by-step process of effective problem-solving:

Step 1: Identify the Problem

The problem-solving process starts with identifying the problem. This step involves understanding the issue’s nature, its scope, and its impact. Once the problem is clearly defined, it sets the foundation for finding effective solutions.

Identifying the problem is crucial. It means figuring out exactly what needs fixing. This involves looking at the situation closely, understanding what’s wrong, and knowing how it affects things. It’s about asking the right questions to get a clear picture of the issue. 

This step is important because it guides the rest of the problem-solving process. Without a clear understanding of the problem, finding a solution is much harder. It’s like diagnosing an illness before treating it. Once the problem is identified accurately, you can move on to exploring possible solutions and deciding on the best course of action.

Step 2: Break Down the Problem

Breaking down the problem is a key step in the problem-solving process. It involves dividing the main issue into smaller, more manageable parts. This makes it easier to understand and tackle each component one by one.

After identifying the problem, the next step is to break it down. This means splitting the big issue into smaller pieces. It’s like solving a puzzle by handling one piece at a time. 

By doing this, you can focus on each part without feeling overwhelmed. It also helps in identifying the root causes of the problem. Breaking down the problem allows for a clearer analysis and makes finding solutions more straightforward. 

Each smaller problem can be addressed individually, leading to an effective resolution of the overall issue. This approach not only simplifies complex problems but also aids in developing a systematic plan to solve them.

Step 3: Come up with potential solutions

Coming up with potential solutions is the third step in the problem-solving process. It involves brainstorming various options to address the problem, considering creativity and feasibility to find the best approach.

After breaking down the problem, it’s time to think of ways to solve it. This stage is about brainstorming different solutions. You look at the smaller issues you’ve identified and start thinking of ways to fix them. This is where creativity comes in. 

You want to come up with as many ideas as possible, no matter how out-of-the-box they seem. It’s important to consider all options and evaluate their pros and cons. This process allows you to gather a range of possible solutions. 

Later, you can narrow these down to the most practical and effective ones. This step is crucial because it sets the stage for deciding on the best solution to implement. It’s about being open-minded and innovative to tackle the problem effectively.

Step 4: Analyze the possible solutions

Analyzing the possible solutions is the fourth step in the problem-solving process. It involves evaluating each proposed solution’s advantages and disadvantages to determine the most effective and feasible option.

After coming up with potential solutions, the next step is to analyze them. This means looking closely at each idea to see how well it solves the problem. You weigh the pros and cons of every solution.

Consider factors like cost, time, resources, and potential outcomes. This analysis helps in understanding the implications of each option. It’s about being critical and objective, ensuring that the chosen solution is not only effective but also practical.

This step is vital because it guides you towards making an informed decision. It involves comparing the solutions against each other and selecting the one that best addresses the problem.

By thoroughly analyzing the options, you can move forward with confidence, knowing you’ve chosen the best path to solve the issue.

Step 5: Implement and Monitor the Solutions

Implementing and monitoring the solutions is the final step in the problem-solving process. It involves putting the chosen solution into action and observing its effectiveness, making adjustments as necessary.

Once you’ve selected the best solution, it’s time to put it into practice. This step is about action. You implement the chosen solution and then keep an eye on how it works. Monitoring is crucial because it tells you if the solution is solving the problem as expected. 

If things don’t go as planned, you may need to make some changes. This could mean tweaking the current solution or trying a different one. The goal is to ensure the problem is fully resolved. 

This step is critical because it involves real-world application. It’s not just about planning; it’s about doing and adjusting based on results. By effectively implementing and monitoring the solutions, you can achieve the desired outcome and solve the problem successfully.

Why This Process is Important

Following a defined process to solve problems is important because it provides a systematic, structured approach instead of a haphazard one. Having clear steps guides logical thinking, analysis, and decision-making to increase effectiveness. Key reasons it helps are:

• Clear Direction: This process gives you a clear path to follow, which can make solving problems less overwhelming.
• Better Solutions: Thoughtful analysis of root causes, iterative testing of solutions, and learning orientation lead to addressing the heart of issues rather than just symptoms.
• Saves Time and Energy: Instead of guessing or trying random things, this process helps you find a solution more efficiently.
• Improves Skills: The more you use this process, the better you get at solving problems. It’s like practicing a sport. The more you practice, the better you play.
• Maximizes collaboration: Involving various stakeholders in the process enables broader inputs. Their communication and coordination are streamlined through organized brainstorming and evaluation.
• Provides consistency: Standard methodology across problems enables building institutional problem-solving capabilities over time. Patterns emerge on effective techniques to apply to different situations.

The problem-solving process is a powerful tool that can help us tackle any challenge we face. By following these steps, we can find solutions that work and learn important skills along the way.

Key Skills for Efficient Problem Solving

Efficient problem-solving requires breaking down issues logically, evaluating options, and implementing practical solutions.

Key skills include critical thinking to understand root causes, creativity to brainstorm innovative ideas, communication abilities to collaborate with others, and decision-making to select the best way forward. Staying adaptable, reflecting on outcomes, and applying lessons learned are also essential.

With practice, these capacities will lead to increased personal and team effectiveness in systematically addressing any problem.

 Let’s explore the powers you need to become a problem-solving hero!

Critical Thinking and Analytical Skills

Critical thinking and analytical skills are vital for efficient problem-solving as they enable individuals to objectively evaluate information, identify key issues, and generate effective solutions. 

These skills facilitate a deeper understanding of problems, leading to logical, well-reasoned decisions. By systematically breaking down complex issues and considering various perspectives, individuals can develop more innovative and practical solutions, enhancing their problem-solving effectiveness.

Communication Skills

Effective communication skills are essential for efficient problem-solving as they facilitate clear sharing of information, ensuring all team members understand the problem and proposed solutions. 

These skills enable individuals to articulate issues, listen actively, and collaborate effectively, fostering a productive environment where diverse ideas can be exchanged and refined. By enhancing mutual understanding, communication skills contribute significantly to identifying and implementing the most viable solutions.

Decision-Making

Strong decision-making skills are crucial for efficient problem-solving, as they enable individuals to choose the best course of action from multiple alternatives. 

These skills involve evaluating the potential outcomes of different solutions, considering the risks and benefits, and making informed choices. Effective decision-making leads to the implementation of solutions that are likely to resolve problems effectively, ensuring resources are used efficiently and goals are achieved.

Planning and Prioritization

Planning and prioritization are key for efficient problem-solving, ensuring resources are allocated effectively to address the most critical issues first. This approach helps in organizing tasks according to their urgency and impact, streamlining efforts towards achieving the desired outcome efficiently.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence enhances problem-solving by allowing individuals to manage emotions, understand others, and navigate social complexities. It fosters a positive, collaborative environment, essential for generating creative solutions and making informed, empathetic decisions.

Leadership skills drive efficient problem-solving by inspiring and guiding teams toward common goals. Effective leaders motivate their teams, foster innovation, and navigate challenges, ensuring collective efforts are focused and productive in addressing problems.

Time Management

Time management is crucial in problem-solving, enabling individuals to allocate appropriate time to each task. By efficiently managing time, one can ensure that critical problems are addressed promptly without neglecting other responsibilities.

Data Analysis

Data analysis skills are essential for problem-solving, as they enable individuals to sift through data, identify trends, and extract actionable insights. This analytical approach supports evidence-based decision-making, leading to more accurate and effective solutions.

Research Skills

Research skills are vital for efficient problem-solving, allowing individuals to gather relevant information, explore various solutions, and understand the problem’s context. This thorough exploration aids in developing well-informed, innovative solutions.

Becoming a great problem solver takes practice, but with these skills, you’re on your way to becoming a problem-solving hero. 

How to Improve Your Problem-Solving Skills?

Improving your problem-solving skills can make you a master at overcoming challenges. Learn from experts, practice regularly, welcome feedback, try new methods, experiment, and study others’ success to become better.

Learning from Experts

Improving problem-solving skills by learning from experts involves seeking mentorship, attending workshops, and studying case studies. Experts provide insights and techniques that refine your approach, enhancing your ability to tackle complex problems effectively.

To enhance your problem-solving skills, learning from experts can be incredibly beneficial. Engaging with mentors, participating in specialized workshops, and analyzing case studies from seasoned professionals can offer valuable perspectives and strategies. 

Experts share their experiences, mistakes, and successes, providing practical knowledge that can be applied to your own problem-solving process. This exposure not only broadens your understanding but also introduces you to diverse methods and approaches, enabling you to tackle challenges more efficiently and creatively.

Improving problem-solving skills through practice involves tackling a variety of challenges regularly. This hands-on approach helps in refining techniques and strategies, making you more adept at identifying and solving problems efficiently.

One of the most effective ways to enhance your problem-solving skills is through consistent practice. By engaging with different types of problems on a regular basis, you develop a deeper understanding of various strategies and how they can be applied. 

This hands-on experience allows you to experiment with different approaches, learn from mistakes, and build confidence in your ability to tackle challenges.

Regular practice not only sharpens your analytical and critical thinking skills but also encourages adaptability and innovation, key components of effective problem-solving.

Openness to Feedback

Being open to feedback is like unlocking a secret level in a game. It helps you boost your problem-solving skills. Improving problem-solving skills through openness to feedback involves actively seeking and constructively responding to critiques. 

This receptivity enables you to refine your strategies and approaches based on insights from others, leading to more effective solutions. 

Learning New Approaches and Methodologies

Learning new approaches and methodologies is like adding new tools to your toolbox. It makes you a smarter problem-solver. Enhancing problem-solving skills by learning new approaches and methodologies involves staying updated with the latest trends and techniques in your field. 

This continuous learning expands your toolkit, enabling innovative solutions and a fresh perspective on challenges.

Experimentation

Experimentation is like being a scientist of your own problems. It’s a powerful way to improve your problem-solving skills. Boosting problem-solving skills through experimentation means trying out different solutions to see what works best. This trial-and-error approach fosters creativity and can lead to unique solutions that wouldn’t have been considered otherwise.

Analyzing Competitors’ Success

Analyzing competitors’ success is like being a detective. It’s a smart way to boost your problem-solving skills. Improving problem-solving skills by analyzing competitors’ success involves studying their strategies and outcomes. Understanding what worked for them can provide valuable insights and inspire effective solutions for your own challenges. 

Challenges in Problem-Solving

Facing obstacles when solving problems is common. Recognizing these barriers, like fear of failure or lack of information, helps us find ways around them for better solutions.

Fear of Failure

Fear of failure is like a big, scary monster that stops us from solving problems. It’s a challenge many face. Because being afraid of making mistakes can make us too scared to try new solutions. 

How can we overcome this? First, understand that it’s okay to fail. Failure is not the opposite of success; it’s part of learning. Every time we fail, we discover one more way not to solve a problem, getting us closer to the right solution. Treat each attempt like an experiment. It’s not about failing; it’s about testing and learning.

Lack of Information

Lack of information is like trying to solve a puzzle with missing pieces. It’s a big challenge in problem-solving. Because without all the necessary details, finding a solution is much harder. 

How can we fix this? Start by gathering as much information as you can. Ask questions, do research, or talk to experts. Think of yourself as a detective looking for clues. The more information you collect, the clearer the picture becomes. Then, use what you’ve learned to think of solutions. 

Fixed Mindset

A fixed mindset is like being stuck in quicksand; it makes solving problems harder. It means thinking you can’t improve or learn new ways to solve issues. 

How can we change this? First, believe that you can grow and learn from challenges. Think of your brain as a muscle that gets stronger every time you use it. When you face a problem, instead of saying “I can’t do this,” try thinking, “I can’t do this yet.” Look for lessons in every challenge and celebrate small wins. 

Everyone starts somewhere, and mistakes are just steps on the path to getting better. By shifting to a growth mindset, you’ll see problems as opportunities to grow. Keep trying, keep learning, and your problem-solving skills will soar!

Jumping to Conclusions

Jumping to conclusions is like trying to finish a race before it starts. It’s a challenge in problem-solving. That means making a decision too quickly without looking at all the facts. 

How can we avoid this? First, take a deep breath and slow down. Think about the problem like a puzzle. You need to see all the pieces before you know where they go. Ask questions, gather information, and consider different possibilities. Don’t choose the first solution that comes to mind. Instead, compare a few options. 

Feeling Overwhelmed

Feeling overwhelmed is like being buried under a mountain of puzzles. It’s a big challenge in problem-solving. When we’re overwhelmed, everything seems too hard to handle. 

How can we deal with this? Start by taking a step back. Breathe deeply and focus on one thing at a time. Break the big problem into smaller pieces, like sorting puzzle pieces by color. Tackle each small piece one by one. It’s also okay to ask for help. Sometimes, talking to someone else can give you a new perspective. 

Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias is like wearing glasses that only let you see what you want to see. It’s a challenge in problem-solving. Because it makes us focus only on information that agrees with what we already believe, ignoring anything that doesn’t. 

How can we overcome this? First, be aware that you might be doing it. It’s like checking if your glasses are on right. Then, purposely look for information that challenges your views. It’s like trying on a different pair of glasses to see a new perspective. Ask questions and listen to answers, even if they don’t fit what you thought before.

Groupthink is like everyone in a group deciding to wear the same outfit without asking why. It’s a challenge in problem-solving. It means making decisions just because everyone else agrees, without really thinking it through. 

How can we avoid this? First, encourage everyone in the group to share their ideas, even if they’re different. It’s like inviting everyone to show their unique style of clothes. 

Listen to all opinions and discuss them. It’s okay to disagree; it helps us think of better solutions. Also, sometimes, ask someone outside the group for their thoughts. They might see something everyone in the group missed.

Overcoming obstacles in problem-solving requires patience, openness, and a willingness to learn from mistakes. By recognizing these barriers, we can develop strategies to navigate around them, leading to more effective and creative solutions.

What are the most common problem-solving techniques?

The most common techniques include brainstorming, the 5 Whys, mind mapping, SWOT analysis, and using algorithms or heuristics. Each approach has its strengths, suitable for different types of problems.

What’s the best problem-solving strategy for every situation?

There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy. The best approach depends on the problem’s complexity, available resources, and time constraints. Combining multiple techniques often yields the best results.

How can I improve my problem-solving skills?

Improve your problem-solving skills by practicing regularly, learning from experts, staying open to feedback, and continuously updating your knowledge on new approaches and methodologies.

Are there any tools or resources to help with problem-solving?

Yes, tools like mind mapping software, online courses on critical thinking, and books on problem-solving techniques can be very helpful. Joining forums or groups focused on problem-solving can also provide support and insights.

What are some common mistakes people make when solving problems?

Common mistakes include jumping to conclusions without fully understanding the problem, ignoring valuable feedback, sticking to familiar solutions without considering alternatives, and not breaking down complex problems into manageable parts.

Final Words

Mastering problem-solving strategies equips us with the tools to tackle challenges across all areas of life. By understanding and applying these techniques, embracing a growth mindset, and learning from both successes and obstacles, we can transform problems into opportunities for growth. Continuously improving these skills ensures we’re prepared to face and solve future challenges more effectively.

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Top 20 Problem Solving Interview Questions (Example Answers Included)

Mike Simpson 0 Comments

By Mike Simpson

When candidates prepare for interviews, they usually focus on highlighting their leadership, communication, teamwork, and similar crucial soft skills . However, not everyone gets ready for problem-solving interview questions. And that can be a big mistake.

Problem-solving is relevant to nearly any job on the planet. Yes, it’s more prevalent in certain industries, but it’s helpful almost everywhere.

Regardless of the role you want to land, you may be asked to provide problem-solving examples or describe how you would deal with specific situations. That’s why being ready to showcase your problem-solving skills is so vital.

If you aren’t sure who to tackle problem-solving questions, don’t worry, we have your back. Come with us as we explore this exciting part of the interview process, as well as some problem-solving interview questions and example answers.

What Is Problem-Solving?

When you’re trying to land a position, there’s a good chance you’ll face some problem-solving interview questions. But what exactly is problem-solving? And why is it so important to hiring managers?

Well, the good folks at Merriam-Webster define problem-solving as “the process or act of finding a solution to a problem.” While that may seem like common sense, there’s a critical part to that definition that should catch your eye.

What part is that? The word “process.”

In the end, problem-solving is an activity. It’s your ability to take appropriate steps to find answers, determine how to proceed, or otherwise overcome the challenge.

Being great at it usually means having a range of helpful problem-solving skills and traits. Research, diligence, patience, attention-to-detail , collaboration… they can all play a role. So can analytical thinking , creativity, and open-mindedness.

But why do hiring managers worry about your problem-solving skills? Well, mainly, because every job comes with its fair share of problems.

While problem-solving is relevant to scientific, technical, legal, medical, and a whole slew of other careers. It helps you overcome challenges and deal with the unexpected. It plays a role in troubleshooting and innovation. That’s why it matters to hiring managers.

How to Answer Problem-Solving Interview Questions

Okay, before we get to our examples, let’s take a quick second to talk about strategy. Knowing how to answer problem-solving interview questions is crucial. Why? Because the hiring manager might ask you something that you don’t anticipate.

Problem-solving interview questions are all about seeing how you think. As a result, they can be a bit… unconventional.

These aren’t your run-of-the-mill job interview questions . Instead, they are tricky behavioral interview questions . After all, the goal is to find out how you approach problem-solving, so most are going to feature scenarios, brainteasers, or something similar.

So, having a great strategy means knowing how to deal with behavioral questions. Luckily, there are a couple of tools that can help.

First, when it comes to the classic approach to behavioral interview questions, look no further than the STAR Method . With the STAR method, you learn how to turn your answers into captivating stories. This makes your responses tons more engaging, ensuring you keep the hiring manager’s attention from beginning to end.

Now, should you stop with the STAR Method? Of course not. If you want to take your answers to the next level, spend some time with the Tailoring Method , too.

With the Tailoring Method, it’s all about relevance. So, if you get a chance to choose an example that demonstrates your problem-solving skills, this is really the way to go.

We also wanted to let you know that we created an amazing free cheat sheet that will give you word-for-word answers for some of the toughest interview questions you are going to face in your upcoming interview. After all, hiring managers will often ask you more generalized interview questions!

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Top 3 Problem-Solving-Based Interview Questions

Alright, here is what you’ve been waiting for: the problem-solving questions and sample answers.

While many questions in this category are job-specific, these tend to apply to nearly any job. That means there’s a good chance you’ll come across them at some point in your career, making them a great starting point when you’re practicing for an interview.

So, let’s dive in, shall we? Here’s a look at the top three problem-solving interview questions and example responses.

1. Can you tell me about a time when you had to solve a challenging problem?

In the land of problem-solving questions, this one might be your best-case scenario. It lets you choose your own problem-solving examples to highlight, putting you in complete control.

When you choose an example, go with one that is relevant to what you’ll face in the role. The closer the match, the better the answer is in the eyes of the hiring manager.

EXAMPLE ANSWER:

“While working as a mobile telecom support specialist for a large organization, we had to transition our MDM service from one vendor to another within 45 days. This personally physically handling 500 devices within the agency. Devices had to be gathered from the headquarters and satellite offices, which were located all across the state, something that was challenging even without the tight deadline. I approached the situation by identifying the location assignment of all personnel within the organization, enabling me to estimate transit times for receiving the devices. Next, I timed out how many devices I could personally update in a day. Together, this allowed me to create a general timeline. After that, I coordinated with each location, both expressing the urgency of adhering to deadlines and scheduling bulk shipping options. While there were occasional bouts of resistance, I worked with location leaders to calm concerns and facilitate action. While performing all of the updates was daunting, my approach to organizing the event made it a success. Ultimately, the entire transition was finished five days before the deadline, exceeding the expectations of many.”

2. Describe a time where you made a mistake. What did you do to fix it?

While this might not look like it’s based on problem-solving on the surface, it actually is. When you make a mistake, it creates a challenge, one you have to work your way through. At a minimum, it’s an opportunity to highlight problem-solving skills, even if you don’t address the topic directly.

When you choose an example, you want to go with a situation where the end was positive. However, the issue still has to be significant, causing something negative to happen in the moment that you, ideally, overcame.

“When I first began in a supervisory role, I had trouble setting down my individual contributor hat. I tried to keep up with my past duties while also taking on the responsibilities of my new role. As a result, I began rushing and introduced an error into the code of the software my team was updating. The error led to a memory leak. We became aware of the issue when the performance was hindered, though we didn’t immediately know the cause. I dove back into the code, reviewing recent changes, and, ultimately, determined the issue was a mistake on my end. When I made that discovery, I took several steps. First, I let my team know that the error was mine and let them know its nature. Second, I worked with my team to correct the issue, resolving the memory leak. Finally, I took this as a lesson about delegation. I began assigning work to my team more effectively, a move that allowed me to excel as a manager and help them thrive as contributors. It was a crucial learning moment, one that I have valued every day since.”

3. If you identify a potential risk in a project, what steps do you take to prevent it?

Yes, this is also a problem-solving question. The difference is, with this one, it’s not about fixing an issue; it’s about stopping it from happening. Still, you use problem-solving skills along the way, so it falls in this question category.

If you can, use an example of a moment when you mitigated risk in the past. If you haven’t had that opportunity, approach it theoretically, discussing the steps you would take to prevent an issue from developing.

“If I identify a potential risk in a project, my first step is to assess the various factors that could lead to a poor outcome. Prevention requires analysis. Ensuring I fully understand what can trigger the undesired event creates the right foundation, allowing me to figure out how to reduce the likelihood of those events occurring. Once I have the right level of understanding, I come up with a mitigation plan. Exactly what this includes varies depending on the nature of the issue, though it usually involves various steps and checks designed to monitor the project as it progresses to spot paths that may make the problem more likely to happen. I find this approach effective as it combines knowledge and ongoing vigilance. That way, if the project begins to head into risky territory, I can correct its trajectory.”

17 More Problem-Solving-Based Interview Questions

In the world of problem-solving questions, some apply to a wide range of jobs, while others are more niche. For example, customer service reps and IT helpdesk professionals both encounter challenges, but not usually the same kind.

As a result, some of the questions in this list may be more relevant to certain careers than others. However, they all give you insights into what this kind of question looks like, making them worth reviewing.

Here are 17 more problem-solving interview questions you might face off against during your job search:

• How would you describe your problem-solving skills?
• Can you tell me about a time when you had to use creativity to deal with an obstacle?
• Describe a time when you discovered an unmet customer need while assisting a customer and found a way to meet it.
• If you were faced with an upset customer, how would you diffuse the situation?
• Tell me about a time when you had to troubleshoot a complex issue.
• Imagine you were overseeing a project and needed a particular item. You have two choices of vendors: one that can deliver on time but would be over budget, and one that’s under budget but would deliver one week later than you need it. How do you figure out which approach to use?
• Your manager wants to upgrade a tool you regularly use for your job and wants your recommendation. How do you formulate one?
• A supplier has said that an item you need for a project isn’t going to be delivered as scheduled, something that would cause your project to fall behind schedule. What do you do to try and keep the timeline on target?
• Can you share an example of a moment where you encountered a unique problem you and your colleagues had never seen before? How did you figure out what to do?
• Imagine you were scheduled to give a presentation with a colleague, and your colleague called in sick right before it was set to begin. What would you do?
• If you are given two urgent tasks from different members of the leadership team, both with the same tight deadline, how do you choose which to tackle first?
• Tell me about a time you and a colleague didn’t see eye-to-eye. How did you decide what to do?
• Describe your troubleshooting process.
• Tell me about a time where there was a problem that you weren’t able to solve. What happened?
• In your opening, what skills or traits make a person an exceptional problem-solver?
• When you face a problem that requires action, do you usually jump in or take a moment to carefully assess the situation?
• When you encounter a new problem you’ve never seen before, what is the first step that you take?

Putting It All Together

At this point, you should have a solid idea of how to approach problem-solving interview questions. Use the tips above to your advantage. That way, you can thrive during your next interview.

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Co-Founder and CEO of TheInterviewGuys.com. Mike is a job interview and career expert and the head writer at TheInterviewGuys.com.

His advice and insights have been shared and featured by publications such as Forbes , Entrepreneur , CNBC and more as well as educational institutions such as the University of Michigan , Penn State , Northeastern and others.

Learn more about The Interview Guys on our About Us page .

About The Author

Mike simpson.

Co-Founder and CEO of TheInterviewGuys.com. Mike is a job interview and career expert and the head writer at TheInterviewGuys.com. His advice and insights have been shared and featured by publications such as Forbes , Entrepreneur , CNBC and more as well as educational institutions such as the University of Michigan , Penn State , Northeastern and others. Learn more about The Interview Guys on our About Us page .

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How To Solve Complex Problems

In today’s increasingly complex world, we are constantly faced with ill-defined problems that don’t have a clear solution. From poverty and climate change to crime and addiction, complex situations surround us. Unlike simple problems with a pre-defined or “right” answer, complex problems share several basic characteristics that make them hard to solve. While these problems can be frustrating and overwhelming, they also offer an opportunity for growth and creativity. Complex problem-solving skills are the key to addressing these tough issues.

In this article, I will discuss simple versus complex problems, define complex problem solving, and describe why it is so important in complex dynamic environments. I will also explain how to develop problem-solving skills and share some tips for effectively solving complex problems.

How is simple problem-solving different from complex problem-solving?

Solving problems is about getting from a currently undesirable state to an intended goal state. In other words, about bridging the gap between “what is” and “what ought to be”. However, the challenge of reaching a solution varies based on the kind of problem that is being solved. There are generally three different kinds of problems you should consider.

Simple problems have one problem solution. The goal is to find that answer as quickly and efficiently as possible. Puzzles are classic examples of simple problem solving. The objective is to find the one correct solution out of many possibilities.

Problems are different from puzzles in that they don’t have a known problem solution. As such, many people may agree that there is an issue to be solved, but they may not agree on the intended goal state or how to get there. In this type of problem, people spend a lot of time debating the best solution and the optimal way to achieve it.

Messes are collections of interrelated problems where many stakeholders may not even agree on what the issue is. Unlike problems where there is agreement about what the problem is, in messes, there isn’t agreement amongst stakeholders. In other words, even “what is” can’t be taken for granted. Most complex social problems are messes, made up of interrelated social issues with ill-defined boundaries and goals.

Problems and messes can be complicated or complex

Puzzles are simple, but problems and messes exist on a continuum between complicated and complex. Complicated problems are technical in nature. There may be many involved variables, but the relationships are linear. As a result, complicated problems have step-by-step, systematic solutions. Repairing an engine or building a rocket may be difficult because of the many parts involved, but it is a technical problem we call complicated.

On the other hand, solving a complex problem is entirely different. Unlike complicated problems that may have many variables with linear relationships, a complex problem is characterized by connectivity patterns that are harder to understand and predict.

Characteristics of complex problems and messes

So what else makes a problem complex? Here are seven additional characteristics (from Funke and Hester and Adams ).

• Lack of information. There is often a lack of data or information about the problem itself. In some cases, variables are unknown or cannot be measured.
• Many goals. A complex problem has a mix of conflicting objectives. In some sense, every stakeholder involved with the problem may have their own goals. However, with limited resources, not all goals can be simultaneously satisfied.
• Unpredictable feedback loops. In part due to many variables connected by a range of different relationships, a change in one variable is likely to have effects on other variables in the system. However, because we do not know all of the variables it will affect, small changes can have disproportionate system-wide effects. These unexpected events that have big, unpredictable effects are sometimes called Black Swans.
• Dynamic. A complex problem changes over time and there is a significant impact based on when you act. In other words, because the problem and its parts and relationships are constantly changing, an action taken today won’t have the same effects as the same action taken tomorrow.
• Time-delayed. It takes a while for cause and effect to be realized. Thus it is very hard to know if any given intervention is working.
• Unknown unknowns. Building off the previous point about a lack of information, in a complex problem you may not even know what you don’t know. In other words, there may be very important variables that you are not even aware of.
• Affected by (error-prone) humans. Simply put, human behavior tends to be illogical and unpredictable. When humans are involved in a problem, avoiding error may be impossible.

What is complex problem-solving?

“Complex problem solving” is the term for how to address a complex problem or messes that have the characteristics listed above.

Since a complex problem is a different phenomenon than a simple or complicated problem, solving them requires a different approach. Methods designed for simple problems, like systematic organization, deductive logic, and linear thinking don’t work well on their own for a complex problem.

And yet, despite its importance, there isn’t complete agreement about what exactly it is.

How is complex problem solving defined by experts?

Let’s look at what scientists, researchers, and system thinkers have come up with in terms of a definition for solving a complex problem. 

As a series of observations and informed decisions

For many employers, the focus is on making smart decisions. These must weigh the future effects to the company of any given solution. According to Indeed.com , it is defined as “a series of observations and informed decisions used to find and implement a solution to a problem. Beyond finding and implementing a solution, complex problem solving also involves considering future changes to circumstance, resources, and capabilities that may affect the trajectory of the process and success of the solution. Complex problem solving also involves considering the impact of the solution on the surrounding environment and individuals.”

As using information to review options and develop solutions

For others, it is more of a systematic way to consider a range of options. According to O*NET ,  the definition focuses on “identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.”

As a self-regulated psychological process

Others emphasize the broad range of skills and emotions needed for change. In addition, they endorse an inspired kind of pragmatism. For example, Dietrich Dorner and Joachim Funke define it as “a collection of self-regulated psychological processes and activities necessary in dynamic environments to achieve ill-defined goals that cannot be reached by routine actions. Creative combinations of knowledge and a broad set of strategies are needed. Solutions are often more bricolage than perfect or optimal. The problem-solving process combines cognitive, emotional, and motivational aspects, particularly in high-stakes situations. Complex problems usually involve knowledge-rich requirements and collaboration among different persons.”

As a novel way of thinking and reasoning

Finally, some emphasize the multidisciplinary nature of knowledge and processes needed to tackle a complex problem. Patrick Hester and Kevin MacG. Adams have stated that “no single discipline can solve truly complex problems. Problems of real interest, those vexing ones that keep you up at night, require a discipline-agnostic approach…Simply they require us to think systemically about our problem…a novel way of thinking and reasoning about complex problems that encourages increased understanding and deliberate intervention.”

A synthesis definition

By pulling the main themes of these definitions together, we can get a sense of what complex problem-solvers must do:

Gain a better understanding of the phenomena of a complex problem or mess. Use a discipline-agnostic approach in order to develop deliberate interventions. Take into consideration future impacts on the surrounding environment.

Why is complex problem solving important?

Many efforts aimed at complex social problems like reducing homelessness and improving public health – despite good intentions giving more effort than ever before – are destined to fail because their approach is based on simple problem-solving. And some efforts might even unwittingly be contributing to the problems they’re trying to solve. 

Einstein said that “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” I think he could have easily been alluding to the need for more complex problem solvers who think differently. So what skills are required to do this?

What are complex problem-solving skills?

The skills required to solve a complex problem aren’t from one domain, nor are they an easily-packaged bundle. Rather, I like to think of them as a balancing act between a series of seemingly opposite approaches but synthesized. This brings a sort of cognitive dissonance into the process, which is itself informative.

It brings F. Scott Fitzgerald’s maxim to mind: 

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless yet be determined to make them otherwise.” 

To see the problem situation clearly, for example, but also with a sense of optimism and possibility.

Here are the top three dialectics to keep in mind:

Thinking and reasoning

Reasoning is the ability to make logical deductions based on evidence and counterevidence. On the other hand, thinking is more about imagining an unknown reality based on thoughts about the whole picture and how the parts could fit together. By thinking clearly, one can have a sense of possibility that prepares the mind to deduce the right action in the unique moment at hand.

As Dorner and Funke explain: “Not every situation requires the same action,  and we may want to act this way or another to reach this or that goal. This appears logical, but it is a logic based on constantly shifting grounds: We cannot know whether necessary conditions are met, sometimes the assumptions we have made later turn out to be incorrect, and sometimes we have to revise our assumptions or make completely new ones. It is necessary to constantly switch between our sense of possibility and our sense of reality, that is, to switch between thinking and reasoning. It is an arduous process, and some people handle it well, while others do not.”

Analysis and reductionism combined with synthesis and holism

It’s important to be able to use scientific processes to break down a complex problem into its parts and analyze them. But at the same time, a complex problem is more than the sum of its parts. In most cases, the relationships between the parts are more important than the parts themselves. Therefore, decomposing problems with rigor isn’t enough. What’s needed, once problems are reduced and understood, is a way of understanding the relationships between various components as well as putting the pieces back together. However, synthesis and holism on their own without deductive analysis can often miss details and relationships that matter.  

What makes this balancing act more difficult is that certain professions tend to be trained in and prefer one domain over the other. Scientists prefer analysis and reductionism whereas most social scientists and practitioners default to synthesis and holism. Unfortunately, this divide of preferences results in people working in their silos at the expense of multi-disciplinary approaches that together can better “see” complexity.

Situational awareness and self-awareness 

Dual awareness is the ability to pay attention to two experiences simultaneously. In the case of complex problems, context really matters. In other words, problem-solving exists in an ecosystem of environmental factors that are not incidental. Personal and cultural preferences play a part as do current events unfolding over time. But as a problem solver, knowing the environment is only part of the equation. 

The other crucial part is the internal psychological process unique to every individual who also interacts with the problem and the environment. Problem solvers inevitably come into contact with others who may disagree with them, or be advancing seemingly counterproductive solutions, and these interactions result in emotions and motivations. Without self-awareness, we can become attached to our own subjective opinions, fall in love with “our” solutions, and generally be driven by the desire to be seen as problem solvers at the expense of actually solving the problem.

By balancing these three dialectics, practitioners can better deal with uncertainty as well as stay motivated despite setbacks. Self-regulation among these seemingly opposite approaches also reminds one to stay open-minded.

How do you develop complex problem-solving skills?

There is no one answer to this question, as the best way to develop them will vary depending on your strengths and weaknesses. However, there are a few general things that you can do to improve your ability to solve problems.

Ground yourself in theory and knowledge

First, it is important to learn about systems thinking and complexity theories. These frameworks will help you understand how complex systems work, and how different parts of a system interact with each other. This conceptual understanding will allow you to identify potential solutions to problems more quickly and effectively.

Practice switching between approaches

Second, practice switching between the dialectics mentioned above. For example, in your next meeting try to spend roughly half your time thinking and half your time reasoning. The important part is trying to get habituated to regularly switching lenses. It may seem disjointed at first, but after a while, it becomes second nature to simultaneously see how the parts interact and the big picture.

Focus on the specific problem phenomena

Third, it may sound obvious, but people often don’t spend very much time studying the problem itself and how it functions. In some sense, becoming a good problem-solver involves becoming a problem scientist. Your time should be spent regularly investigating the phenomena of “what is” rather than “what ought to be”. A holistic understanding of the problem is the required prerequisite to coming up with good solutions.

Stay curious

Finally, after we have worked on a problem for a while, we tend to think we know everything about it, including how to solve it. Even if we’re working on a problem, which may change dynamically from day to day, we start treating it more like a puzzle with a definite solution. When that happens, we can lose our motivation to continue learning about the problem. This is very risky because it closes the door to learning from others, regardless of whether we completely agree with them or not.

As Neils Bohr said, “Two different perspectives or models about a system will reveal truths regarding the system that are neither entirely independent nor entirely compatible.”

By staying curious, we can retain our ability to learn on a daily basis.

Tips for how to solve complex problems

Focus on processes over results.

It’s easy to get lost in utopian thinking. Many people spend so much time on “what ought to be” that they forget that problem solving is about the gap between “what is” and “what ought to be”. It is said that “life is a journey, not a destination.” The same is true for complex problem-solving. To do it well, a problem solver must focus on enjoying the process of gaining a holistic understanding of the problem. 

Adaptive and iterative methods and tools

A variety of adaptive and iterative methods have been developed to address complexity. They share a laser focus on gaining holistic understanding with tools that best match the phenomena of complexity. They are also non-ideological, trans-disciplinary, and flexible. In most cases, your journey through a set of steps won’t be linear. Rather, as you think and reason, analyze and synthesize, you’ll jump around to get a holistic picture.

In my online course , we generally follow a seven-step method:

• Get clear sight with a complex problem-solving frame
• Establish a secure base of operation
• Gain a deep understanding of the problem
• Create an interactive model of the problem
• Develop an impact strategy
• Create an action plan and implement
• Embed systemic solutions

Of course, each of these steps involves testing to see what works and consistently evaluating our process and progress.

Resolution is about systematically managing a problem over time

One last thing to keep in mind. Most social problems are not just solved one day, never to return. In reality,  most complex problems are managed, not solved. For all practical purposes, what this means is that “the solution” is a way of systematically dealing with the problem over time. Some find this disappointing, but it’s actually a pragmatic pointer to think about resolution – a way move problems in the right direction – rather than final solutions.

Problem solvers regularly train and practice

If you need help developing your complex problem-solving skills, I have an online class where you can learn everything you need to know. 

Sign up today and learn how to be successful at making a difference in the world!

SoftwareDominos

The 7 Timeless Steps to Guide You Through Complex Problem Solving

I. Introduction

As we go through life, we inevitably encounter problems that require extensive forethought, critical thinking , and creativity . Solving complex problems is a crucial skill for success, whether it’s a business challenge, a personal dilemma, or a societal issue.

This guide will explore the fundamentals of complex problem-solving and provide practical tips and strategies for mastering this critical skill.

II. This Series Also Discusses…

This article is part of a series on complex problem-solving. The list below will guide you through the different subtopics.

Complex Problem-Solving Guide in 7 Steps

The Nature of Complex Problems

What Does the Nature of the Problem Tell Us About Its Solution

Gaussian Distributions vs Power Laws

Your Ultimate Guide to Making Sense of Natural and Social Phenomena

Complex Problem-Solving in Groups

An Exploratory Overview of ProbleSolving Processes in Groups

The Power of Critical Thinking

An Essential Guide for Personal and Professional Development

Group-Decision Making

6 Modes That Tell Us How Teams Decide

III. What Is a Complex Problem?

A. generic definition of complex problems.

Four properties allow us to distinguish complex problems from simple ones.

• Complex problems accept alternative solutions
• Choices can be weighed in multiple ways
• Data supports multiple hypotheses
• Breakdown of causal chains.

A complex problem presents no trivial or obvious solution. In other words, it shows the following characteristics:

Now that we have defined the general notion of a complex problem, let’s examine some specific cases related to software development , business management , and complexity theory.

B. Examples of Complex Problems

1. complex problems in software development.

A complex software development problem involves intricate interactions between numerous system components and requires a sophisticated understanding of the business problem, computing , algorithms and data structures.

Source: “Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software” by Eric Evans

2. Complex Problems in Business Management

In business management , a complex problem is characterized by interconnected elements, uncertainty, and dynamic interactions, making it challenging to predict outcomes and devise straightforward solutions. This is most obviously seen in formulating effective organisational strategies or leading successful enterprise transformations.

Source: “ Strategic Management and Organisational Dynamics: The Challenge of Complexity ” by Ralph D. Stacey

3. Complex Problems in Complexity Theory

From a complexity theory standpoint, a complex problem involves many interacting agents or components, often exhibiting emergent properties that cannot be easily deduced from the properties of individual agents.

Source: “ The Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex ” by Murray Gell-Mann

Complex problems are contrasted with complicated problems. Complicated problems have clear causes and effects, can be broken down into smaller parts, and have predictable solutions. Complex problems, however, are dynamic, have interconnected parts, and exhibit emergent properties (unpredictable outcomes from the interaction of parts).

Source:  “Cynefin Framework” (2007) by Dave Snowden

C. What are Complex Problem Solving Skills?

Complex problem-solving skills involve identifying , analysing , and solving non-routine problems requiring high cognitive effort.

These problems typically involve a large number of variables and require the application of creative and critical thinking skills to identify potential solutions. Individuals with complex problem-solving skills can work through ambiguity and uncertainty and use logical reasoning to develop effective solutions.

IV. Solving Complex Problems: A Generic Approach

While developing a universal solution that works in any context would be very challenging, we will describe a generic approach consisting of seven steps that will assist you in creating a bespoke method suitable to the specific context you are working in.

At the heart of this approach is logical decomposition , or breaking down a complex problem into smaller, more manageable ones and then developing and implementing effective solutions for each. This skill is essential for success in many areas of life, including business, education , and personal relationships.

Logical decomposition is at the heart of scientific thought, as described in Edsger W. Dijkstra’s paper “ On the Role of Scientific Thought “.

The seven steps to solving complex problems are listed below. We will discuss them in great detail in the following sections.

The 7 steps to creative solutions

V. Complex Problem-Solving Skills

A. why are complex problem solving skills essential.

In today’s rapidly changing world, individuals and organizations must possess complex problem-solving skills to succeed. These skills are essential for several reasons:

Dealing with Uncertainty

In many situations, there is no clear-cut solution to a problem. Complex problem-solving skills enable individuals to work through ambiguity and uncertainty and develop effective solutions.

Identifying Root Causes

Complex problems often have multiple causes that are difficult to identify. Individuals with complex problem-solving skills can identify and address the root causes of problems rather than just treating the symptoms.

Developing Creative Solutions

Complex problems require creative solutions that go beyond traditional approaches. Individuals who possess complex problem-solving skills can think outside the box and develop innovative solutions.

Achieving Business Success

Organizations with complex problem-solving skills are better equipped to overcome challenges, identify opportunities, and succeed in today’s competitive business environment.

B. How to Develop Complex Problem-Solving Skills

While some individuals possess a natural aptitude for complex problem-solving, these skills can be developed and improved over time. Here are some tips to help you develop complex problem-solving skills:

1. Build Your Knowledge Base

Developing complex problem-solving skills requires a strong foundation of knowledge in your area of expertise. Stay updated on your field’s latest trends, research, and developments to enhance your problem-solving abilities.

2. Practice Critical Thinking

Developing critical thinking skills is essential for complex problem-solving. Practice questioning assumptions, analyzing information , and evaluating arguments to build critical thinking skills.

3. Welcome Creativity

Complex problems require creative solutions. Embrace your creativity by exploring new ideas, brainstorming solutions, and seeking diverse perspectives.

4. Collaborate with Others

Collaborating with others can help you develop your complex problem-solving skills. Working in a team environment can expose you to new ideas and approaches, help you identify blind spots, and provide opportunities for feedback and support.

5. Seek Out Challenging Problems

Developing complex problem-solving skills requires practice. Seek out challenging problems and apply your problem-solving skills to real-world situations.

VI. Step 1: Understanding the Nature of Complex vs Complicated

A. the cynefin framework.

Complex and complicated problems are two distinct types of challenges that require different approaches to solve. Dave Snowden, a management consultant and researcher, developed the Cynefin framework , a conceptual model used to understand complex systems and situations. The framework identifies five domains: simple, complicated, complex, chaotic, and disordered, and guides how to approach challenges in each domain.

B. Complicated Problems

Complicated Problems:

• are characterized by having many interrelated parts and require specialized knowledge and expertise to solve.
• have a clear cause-and-effect relationship , and the solution can be discovered by systematically analysing the components.
• are best addressed through a top-down, expert-driven approach , where the experts can identify the best solution through analysis and evaluation.

C. Complex Problems

Complex problems are characterized by uncertainty, ambiguity, and the involvement of multiple interconnected factors. There is no clear cause-and-effect relationship, and the solution cannot be found by simply analysing the components. Complex problems require a bottom-up, participatory approach, where multiple perspectives and ideas are considered to develop a solution. The solution may not be apparent initially, but it involves experimentation, adaptation, and feedback.

The Cynefin framework proposes that complex problems belong to the complex domain, where emergent solutions cannot be predicted or prescribed. The complex domain should explore the issue, generate hypotheses, and test them through experimentation. The emphasis is on learning from the process , adapting to changing circumstances, and using feedback to guide the solution.

D. Practical Tips on Identifying an Appropriate Framework

Objective — Classify the problem as complex, complicated, or disordered. This classification will determine the approach to be used.

How it’s done — You can do that by asking the following questions.

• Do we have multiple, internally consistent, competing hypotheses explaining the issue?
• Does the available data support both theories?

In this case, the problem lies in the complex domain, and the preferred approach is to identify suitable solutions and conduct safe-to-fail experiments. If it’s a complicated (but not complex) problem, the following questions can be answered in the affirmative:

• Do we have a single view that explains the problem?
• Do we know the engineering part of the solution?
• Is the problem sufficiently familiar to be solved by an expert?

VII. Step 2: Identifying and Defining the Problem

A. problem identification.

The first step in problem-solving is identifying the problem. This step involves recognizing that a problem exists and understanding its nature. Some tips for identifying the issue include:

Once you have identified the problem, the next step is to define it. This step involves breaking down the problem into smaller parts and better understanding its nature. Some tips for defining the issue include:

• Writing it down: Write down the problem statement clearly and concisely. This will help you to focus on the specific issue and avoid confusion.
• Breaking it down: Break the problem into smaller parts to better understand its nature. This can help you identify the underlying causes and potential solutions. The logical decomposition of the issues is vital, and we have dedicated the next section to this.
• Identifying the scope: Identify the scope of the problem and determine its impact. This can help you to prioritize the problem and allocate resources accordingly.

Reliable data and statistical analysis skills are crucial in problem-solving. Data provides information and insights necessary for understanding the root cause of the problem. Statistical analysis allows us to make sense of the data and extract meaningful information. This article will discuss the importance of reliable data and statistical analysis skills in problem identification.

B. Practical Tips on Identifying the Problem

Objective — Paint a complete picture of the problem by laying out the details, preferably on a piece of paper, classifying it, and deciding on an approach to solving it.

How it’s done — Write down a complete description of the problem, including its scope and impact on the various stakeholders or aspects of the business. Use data as evidence to support initial hypotheses. Find out if the problem is localised and can be resolved locally or whether it might need escalation and support from higher levels of management.

VIII. Step 3: Gathering and Analyzing Data

A. gathering reliable data.

In today’s fast-paced business environment, reliable data is more critical than ever. Accurate and objective information is vital to identifying problems and determining their root cause.

Without reliable data, it isn’t easy to make informed decisions that can lead to effective problem-solving. Here are some of the benefits of using reliable data in problem identification:

• Objective information: Reliable data provides an objective perspective of the situation.
• Evidence-based decision-making: Using reliable data ensures that decisions are based on evidence rather than assumptions or opinions.
• Improved accuracy: Reliable data improves the accuracy of problem identification, leading to better solutions.
• Better understanding: Reliable data provides a better understanding of the situation, leading to a more comprehensive and holistic approach to problem-solving.
• Improved Risk Management : Reliable helps put problems into perspective by allowing analysts to calculate their occurrence probabilities and impacts. Based on impact and likelihood, risk can then be categorised and prioritized.

B. Statistical Analysis Skills

Statistical analysis skills are necessary for making sense of the data and extracting meaningful information. These skills allow us to identify patterns and trends, understand the relationships between different variables, and (sometimes) predict future outcomes.

Some benefits of using statistical analysis skills in problem identification include the following:

• Identifying patterns: Statistical analysis skills enable us to identify patterns and trends in the data, which can help identify the problem accurately.
• Understanding relationships: Statistical analysis skills help us understand the relationships between different variables, which can help identify the problem’s root cause.
• Predictive capabilities: Statistical analysis skills allow us to predict future outcomes based on the data, which can help develop effective solutions.
• Objective analysis: Statistical analysis provides objective data analysis, which can help make evidence-based decisions.

Interpreting data, however, requires technical skills to avoid misinterpretations. The following is a common list of statistical analysis mistakes non-professionals can make.

C. How Software Team Leads Can Gather Reliable Data

Software team leads need reliable data on their performance to make informed decisions and identify areas for improvement. Here are some sources where software team leads can gather reliable data on their team’s performance:

• Project management tools: Most project management tools have built-in reporting features, allowing team leads to track performance metrics such as task completion rates, sprint velocity, and burn-down charts. This data can be used to identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions.
• Team feedback: Gathering feedback from team members through one-on-one meetings or anonymous feedback forms can provide valuable insights into team performance . This data can help team leads identify areas where team members may struggle or where additional training or resources may be needed. Crucially, it also provides insights into the organizational culture .
• Code analysis tools like SonarQube or Code Climate can provide insights into code quality , maintainability, and security. This data can help team leads identify needed code improvements and prioritize technical debt reduction.
• Customer feedback: Customer feedback, such as ratings, reviews, and support tickets, can provide insights into the usability and functionality of deployed applications. This data can help team leads identify areas for improvement and prioritize feature development.

The software team should gather data from multiple sources, use that data to inform decisions and identify areas for improvement. By using reliable data sources and monitoring team performance metrics regularly, software team leads can drive continuous improvement and ensure project success.

D. Practical Tips on Gathering Data to Support the Proposed Hypotheses

Objective — The availability of data can help put the problem into perspective. For example, a dollar figure for the losses due to process inefficiencies can help identify the potential solutions that management will deem feasible.

How it’s done — All modern project management and tracking tools have sophisticated built-in data capture tools that can be exported, cleaned, and analysed for insights.

For example, when evaluating a team’s productivity , you can export data from JIRA, Jenkins, or BitBucket and measure performance metrics such as team velocity, overruns, and time-to-market.

When evidence is insufficient, you can gather more data, abandon the hypothesis, or temporarily shelve it.

IX. Step 4: Logical Decomposition in Problem Solving

A. logical decomposition.

Logical decomposition is a problem-solving technique that breaks down complex problems into smaller, more manageable pieces. It is a structured approach that enables individuals to examine a problem from multiple angles, identify key issues and sub-problems, and develop a solution that addresses each piece of the problem.

The process of logical decomposition involves breaking down the main problem into smaller sub-problems, which are then broken down into smaller pieces. Each piece is analyzed in detail to determine its underlying cause-and-effect relationships and potential solutions. By breaking down the problem into smaller pieces, the individual can better understand the overall situation, identify possible solutions more quickly, and prioritize which sub-problems to address first.

Logical decomposition is particularly useful for dealing with complex issues. It allows individuals to break down a significant, overwhelming problem into smaller, more manageable pieces. This not only makes the problem easier to understand and solve but also less daunting and more approachable. Additionally, by breaking down the problem into smaller pieces, individuals can identify and focus on the underlying root causes of the problem rather than just treating the symptoms.

Logical decomposition is a vital stage of architecting large systems and solutions.

B. Practical Tips on Logical Decomposition

Objective — Most problems worth tackling are also overwhelming in size and complexity (or complicatedness). Luckily, a logical decomposition into specialized areas or modules will help focus the team’s efforts on a small enough subproblem or bring in the right expertise.

How it’s done — This author prefers mindmaps. A mindmap is a tree that starts with a single node and branches off into different areas, views, or perspectives of the problem. Mindmaps help analysts stay focused on a key area and ensure that all aspects of a problem are covered.

Once a mindmap has been created, potential solutions can be explored.

From Abstract Concepts to Tangible Value: Solution Architecture in Modern IT Systems

X. Step 5: Generating and Evaluating (Several) Potential Solutions

Generating multiple solutions to solve a problem is an effective way to increase creativity and innovation in problem-solving. By exploring different options, individuals can identify the strengths and weaknesses of each solution and determine the most effective approach to solving the problem. This section will discuss the advantages and techniques of generating multiple solutions to solve problems more effectively.

A. Advantages of Generating Multiple Solutions

The advantages of generating multiple solutions during problem-solving are:

B. Techniques for Generating Multiple Solutions

Techniques for generating multiple solutions:

C. Practical Tips on Solution Generation and Selection

Objective — The key principle of solution generation is comprehensively exploring the solution space. This exploration allows teams to avoid local minima or overcommitting to a suboptimal solution.

How it’s done — The most effective approach is to bring in several people from different areas of expertise or seniority and to offer every suggestion the opportunity to be heard and thoroughly explored.

Also, different stakeholders might favour solutions that maximise their (potentially) narrow gains. If not consulted, they might actively block the implementation of the selected solution if it adversely impacts their interests.

The technical aspect of problem-solving is relatively easy to generate and implement without budgetary or scheduling constraints . It’s only when you consider the cost and impact of a solution that complexity arises.

5 Key Concepts You Need to Know From Herbert Simon’s Paper on the Architecture of Complexity

XI. Step 6: Implementing and Assessing Solutions

Implementing solutions to complex problems requires a structured approach that considers the unique challenges and variables involved. Effective problem-solving involves implementing practical, feasible, and sustainable solutions.

This section will first discuss two approaches to implementing solutions to complex problems: small, safe-to-fail solutions and solving easy problems with enormous benefits.

A. Implementing Many Safe-to-Fail Solutions

One practical approach to implementing solutions to complex problems is small, safe-to-fail solutions. This technique involves implementing a small-scale solution that can be tested quickly and easily to gather feedback.

Starting with small-scale solutions allows individuals to gather feedback and adjust before investing significant resources in a more extensive solution. This approach can save time and resources while ensuring that the final solution meets the needs of stakeholders.

Small safe-to-fail experiments effectively deal with complexity where an engineering solution is unknown priori.

B. Prioritizing High-Yield Solutions

Another effective approach to implementing solutions to complex problems is to first solve easy problems with large benefits. This technique involves identifying and solving simple, straightforward problems that significantly impact the overall problem.

By prioritising easy problems, individuals can progress quickly and gain momentum towards solving the larger problem. This approach can also help build trust and credibility with stakeholders, as progress is visible and measurable.

C. A Systematic Approach to Implementing Solutions

It is important to note that both approaches should be used with a broader problem-solving methodology . Effective problem-solving requires a systematic approach that involves identifying the problem, gathering information, analyzing data, developing and evaluating potential solutions, and implementing the best solution. By implementing small, safe-to-fail solutions and solving easy problems with large benefits, individuals can enhance their problem-solving approach and increase the likelihood of success.

In conclusion, implementing solutions to complex problems requires a structured approach that considers the unique challenges and variables involved. Implementing small, safe-to-fail solutions and solving easy problems with large benefits are two effective techniques for enhancing problem-solving. These techniques should be used with a broader problem-solving methodology to ensure the final solution is practical, feasible, and sustainable.

D. Implementing the Solution

Objective — This stage aims to efficiently and effectively implement the (optimal) selected solution(s).

How it’s done — Three principal techniques are required for the implementation of the solution to succeed. The first is conducting safe-to-fail experiments. The second is allocating resources to conduct each experiment. The third is setting up the criteria for success or failure.

XII. Step 7: Evaluating the Solution

Objective — Solutions might work well under laboratory conditions but fail spectacularly in the field. Evaluating solutions after a trial is vital to avoid continuing investment in failed solutions.

How it’s done — The best way to evaluate a solution is to monitor the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) originally used in the problem diagnosis. When solutions are successful, noticeable and measurable improvements should be observed.

Measuring second-order effects or observing undesirable team or business dynamics changes is key to continuing or aborting initiatives.

Complex problem-solving refers to the ability to solve complex, ambiguous problems that often require creative and innovative solutions. It involves identifying the root cause of a problem, analyzing different variables and factors, developing and evaluating possible solutions, and selecting the best course of action.

Complex problem-solving is essential because it allows individuals and organizations to overcome challenges and obstacles hindering their progress and success. It enables them to identify opportunities, improve processes, and innovate to stay ahead of the competition.

To develop your complex problem-solving skills, you can practice consistently, develop a systematic approach, and leverage the right tools and resources. You can also seek feedback from others, learn from your mistakes, and adopt a growth mindset that values continuous learning and improvement.

Some common obstacles to effective problem-solving include cognitive biases , lack of information, unclear objectives, and groupthink. These obstacles can hinder individuals and teams from developing effective solutions to complex problems.

Various tools and techniques for complex problem-solving include root cause analysis, fishbone diagrams, SWOT analysis, Pareto analysis, decision trees, and scenario planning. These tools can help individuals and teams to analyze complex problems, identify underlying causes, and develop effective solutions.

To improve your decision-making skills, you can develop a structured approach, gather and analyze relevant data, evaluate different options, and consider each alternative’s potential risks and benefits. You can also seek feedback from others and reflect on your past decisions to learn from your mistakes.

Complex problem-solving skills can be applied in various aspects of your personal life, such as improving your relationships, managing your finances, and achieving your goals. You can overcome obstacles and succeed personally by systematically analyzing different variables and factors and developing creative and innovative solutions.

To overcome cognitive biases in problem-solving, you can challenge your assumptions, seek diverse perspectives, and use data and evidence to inform your decisions. You can also use brainstorming and mind-mapping techniques to generate new ideas and avoid tunnel vision.

XIV. Final Words

In conclusion, complex problem-solving is a crucial skill that can significantly impact your professional and personal life. It allows you to navigate complex challenges, identify the root cause of a problem, and develop practical solutions.

By mastering the art of complex problem-solving, you can enhance your critical thinking, analytical skills, and decision-making abilities, which are essential for success in today’s fast-paced and dynamic business environment.

The key to mastering complex problem-solving is to practice consistently, develop a systematic approach, and leverage the right tools and resources. With patience, persistence, and a growth mindset, anyone can become a skilled problem solver and tackle even the most challenging problems.

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40 problem-solving techniques and processes

All teams and organizations encounter challenges. Approaching those challenges without a structured problem solving process can end up making things worse.

Proven problem solving techniques such as those outlined below can guide your group through a process of identifying problems and challenges , ideating on possible solutions , and then evaluating and implementing the most suitable .

In this post, you'll find problem-solving tools you can use to develop effective solutions. You'll also find some tips for facilitating the problem solving process and solving complex problems.

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What is problem solving?

Problem solving is a process of finding and implementing a solution to a challenge or obstacle. In most contexts, this means going through a problem solving process that begins with identifying the issue, exploring its root causes, ideating and refining possible solutions before implementing and measuring the impact of that solution.

For simple or small problems, it can be tempting to skip straight to implementing what you believe is the right solution. The danger with this approach is that without exploring the true causes of the issue, it might just occur again or your chosen solution may cause other issues.

Particularly in the world of work, good problem solving means using data to back up each step of the process, bringing in new perspectives and effectively measuring the impact of your solution.

Effective problem solving can help ensure that your team or organization is well positioned to overcome challenges, be resilient to change and create innovation. In my experience, problem solving is a combination of skillset, mindset and process, and it’s especially vital for leaders to cultivate this skill.

What is the seven step problem solving process?

A problem solving process is a step-by-step framework from going from discovering a problem all the way through to implementing a solution.

With practice, this framework can become intuitive, and innovative companies tend to have a consistent and ongoing ability to discover and tackle challenges when they come up.

You might see everything from a four step problem solving process through to seven steps. While all these processes cover roughly the same ground, I’ve found a seven step problem solving process is helpful for making all key steps legible.

We’ll outline that process here and then follow with techniques you can use to explore and work on that step of the problem solving process with a group.

The seven-step problem solving process is:

1. Problem identification 

The first stage of any problem solving process is to identify the problem(s) you need to solve. This often looks like using group discussions and activities to help a group surface and effectively articulate the challenges they’re facing and wish to resolve.

Be sure to align with your team on the exact definition and nature of the problem you’re solving. An effective process is one where everyone is pulling in the same direction – ensure clarity and alignment now to help avoid misunderstandings later.

2. Problem analysis and refinement

The process of problem analysis means ensuring that the problem you are seeking to solve is  the   right problem . Choosing the right problem to solve means you are on the right path to creating the right solution.

At this stage, you may look deeper at the problem you identified to try and discover the root cause at the level of people or process. You may also spend some time sourcing data, consulting relevant parties and creating and refining a problem statement.

Problem refinement means adjusting scope or focus of the problem you will be aiming to solve based on what comes up during your analysis. As you analyze data sources, you might discover that the root cause means you need to adjust your problem statement. Alternatively, you might find that your original problem statement is too big to be meaningful approached within your current project.

Remember that the goal of any problem refinement is to help set the stage for effective solution development and deployment. Set the right focus and get buy-in from your team here and you’ll be well positioned to move forward with confidence.

3. Solution generation

Once your group has nailed down the particulars of the problem you wish to solve, you want to encourage a free flow of ideas connecting to solving that problem. This can take the form of problem solving games that encourage creative thinking or techniquess designed to produce working prototypes of possible solutions. 

The key to ensuring the success of this stage of the problem solving process is to encourage quick, creative thinking and create an open space where all ideas are considered. The best solutions can often come from unlikely places and by using problem solving techniques that celebrate invention, you might come up with solution gold. 

4. Solution development

No solution is perfect right out of the gate. It’s important to discuss and develop the solutions your group has come up with over the course of following the previous problem solving steps in order to arrive at the best possible solution. Problem solving games used in this stage involve lots of critical thinking, measuring potential effort and impact, and looking at possible solutions analytically. 

During this stage, you will often ask your team to iterate and improve upon your front-running solutions and develop them further. Remember that problem solving strategies always benefit from a multitude of voices and opinions, and not to let ego get involved when it comes to choosing which solutions to develop and take further.

Finding the best solution is the goal of all problem solving workshops and here is the place to ensure that your solution is well thought out, sufficiently robust and fit for purpose. 

5. Decision making and planning

Nearly there! Once you’ve got a set of possible, you’ll need to make a decision on which to implement. This can be a consensus-based group decision or it might be for a leader or major stakeholder to decide. You’ll find a set of effective decision making methods below.

Once your group has reached consensus and selected a solution, there are some additional actions that also need to be decided upon. You’ll want to work on allocating ownership of the project, figure out who will do what, how the success of the solution will be measured and decide the next course of action.

Set clear accountabilities, actions, timeframes, and follow-ups for your chosen solution. Make these decisions and set clear next-steps in the problem solving workshop so that everyone is aligned and you can move forward effectively as a group. 

Ensuring that you plan for the roll-out of a solution is one of the most important problem solving steps. Without adequate planning or oversight, it can prove impossible to measure success or iterate further if the problem was not solved. 

6. Solution implementation 

This is what we were waiting for! All problem solving processes have the end goal of implementing an effective and impactful solution that your group has confidence in.

Project management and communication skills are key here – your solution may need to adjust when out in the wild or you might discover new challenges along the way. For some solutions, you might also implement a test with a small group and monitor results before rolling it out to an entire company.

You should have a clear owner for your solution who will oversee the plans you made together and help ensure they’re put into place. This person will often coordinate the implementation team and set-up processes to measure the efficacy of your solution too.

7. Solution evaluation 

So you and your team developed a great solution to a problem and have a gut feeling it’s been solved. Work done, right? Wrong. All problem solving strategies benefit from evaluation, consideration, and feedback.

You might find that the solution does not work for everyone, might create new problems, or is potentially so successful that you will want to roll it out to larger teams or as part of other initiatives. 

None of that is possible without taking the time to evaluate the success of the solution you developed in your problem solving model and adjust if necessary.

Remember that the problem solving process is often iterative and it can be common to not solve complex issues on the first try. Even when this is the case, you and your team will have generated learning that will be important for future problem solving workshops or in other parts of the organization. 

It’s also worth underlining how important record keeping is throughout the problem solving process. If a solution didn’t work, you need to have the data and records to see why that was the case. If you go back to the drawing board, notes from the previous workshop can help save time.

What does an effective problem solving process look like?

Every effective problem solving process begins with an agenda . In our experience, a well-structured problem solving workshop is one of the best methods for successfully guiding a group from exploring a problem to implementing a solution.

The format of a workshop ensures that you can get buy-in from your group, encourage free-thinking and solution exploration before making a decision on what to implement following the session.

This Design Sprint 2.0 template is an effective problem solving process from top agency AJ&Smart. It’s a great format for the entire problem solving process, with four-days of workshops designed to surface issues, explore solutions and even test a solution.

Check it for an example of how you might structure and run a problem solving process and feel free to copy and adjust it your needs!

For a shorter process you can run in a single afternoon, this remote problem solving agenda will guide you effectively in just a couple of hours.

Whatever the length of your workshop, by using SessionLab, it’s easy to go from an idea to a complete agenda . Start by dragging and dropping your core problem solving activities into place . Add timings, breaks and necessary materials before sharing your agenda with your colleagues.

The resulting agenda will be your guide to an effective and productive problem solving session that will also help you stay organized on the day!

Complete problem-solving methods

In this section, we’ll look at in-depth problem-solving methods that provide a complete end-to-end process for developing effective solutions. These will help guide your team from the discovery and definition of a problem through to delivering the right solution.

If you’re looking for an all-encompassing method or problem-solving model, these processes are a great place to start. They’ll ask your team to challenge preconceived ideas and adopt a mindset for solving problems more effectively.

Six Thinking Hats

Individual approaches to solving a problem can be very different based on what team or role an individual holds. It can be easy for existing biases or perspectives to find their way into the mix, or for internal politics to direct a conversation.

Six Thinking Hats is a classic method for identifying the problems that need to be solved and enables your team to consider them from different angles, whether that is by focusing on facts and data, creative solutions, or by considering why a particular solution might not work.

Like all problem-solving frameworks, Six Thinking Hats is effective at helping teams remove roadblocks from a conversation or discussion and come to terms with all the aspects necessary to solve complex problems.

The Six Thinking Hats   #creative thinking   #meeting facilitation   #problem solving   #issue resolution   #idea generation   #conflict resolution   The Six Thinking Hats are used by individuals and groups to separate out conflicting styles of thinking. They enable and encourage a group of people to think constructively together in exploring and implementing change, rather than using argument to fight over who is right and who is wrong.

Lightning Decision Jam

Featured courtesy of Jonathan Courtney of AJ&Smart Berlin, Lightning Decision Jam is one of those strategies that should be in every facilitation toolbox. Exploring problems and finding solutions is often creative in nature, though as with any creative process, there is the potential to lose focus and get lost.

Unstructured discussions might get you there in the end, but it’s much more effective to use a method that creates a clear process and team focus.

In Lightning Decision Jam, participants are invited to begin by writing challenges, concerns, or mistakes on post-its without discussing them before then being invited by the moderator to present them to the group.

From there, the team vote on which problems to solve and are guided through steps that will allow them to reframe those problems, create solutions and then decide what to execute on. 

By deciding the problems that need to be solved as a team before moving on, this group process is great for ensuring the whole team is aligned and can take ownership over the next stages. 

Lightning Decision Jam (LDJ)   #action   #decision making   #problem solving   #issue analysis   #innovation   #design   #remote-friendly   It doesn’t matter where you work and what your job role is, if you work with other people together as a team, you will always encounter the same challenges: Unclear goals and miscommunication that cause busy work and overtime Unstructured meetings that leave attendants tired, confused and without clear outcomes. Frustration builds up because internal challenges to productivity are not addressed Sudden changes in priorities lead to a loss of focus and momentum Muddled compromise takes the place of clear decision- making, leaving everybody to come up with their own interpretation. In short, a lack of structure leads to a waste of time and effort, projects that drag on for too long and frustrated, burnt out teams. AJ&Smart has worked with some of the most innovative, productive companies in the world. What sets their teams apart from others is not better tools, bigger talent or more beautiful offices. The secret sauce to becoming a more productive, more creative and happier team is simple: Replace all open discussion or brainstorming with a structured process that leads to more ideas, clearer decisions and better outcomes. When a good process provides guardrails and a clear path to follow, it becomes easier to come up with ideas, make decisions and solve problems. This is why AJ&Smart created Lightning Decision Jam (LDJ). It’s a simple and short, but powerful group exercise that can be run either in-person, in the same room, or remotely with distributed teams.

Problem Definition Process

While problems can be complex, the problem-solving methods you use to identify and solve those problems can often be simple in design. 

By taking the time to truly identify and define a problem before asking the group to reframe the challenge as an opportunity, this method is a great way to enable change.

Begin by identifying a focus question and exploring the ways in which it manifests before splitting into five teams who will each consider the problem using a different method: escape, reversal, exaggeration, distortion or wishful. Teams develop a problem objective and create ideas in line with their method before then feeding them back to the group.

This method is great for enabling in-depth discussions while also creating space for finding creative solutions too!

Problem Definition   #problem solving   #idea generation   #creativity   #online   #remote-friendly   A problem solving technique to define a problem, challenge or opportunity and to generate ideas.

The 5 Whys 

Sometimes, a group needs to go further with their strategies and analyze the root cause at the heart of organizational issues. An RCA or root cause analysis is the process of identifying what is at the heart of business problems or recurring challenges. 

The 5 Whys is a simple and effective method of helping a group go find the root cause of any problem or challenge and conduct analysis that will deliver results. 

By beginning with the creation of a problem statement and going through five stages to refine it, The 5 Whys provides everything you need to truly discover the cause of an issue.

The 5 Whys   #hyperisland   #innovation   This simple and powerful method is useful for getting to the core of a problem or challenge. As the title suggests, the group defines a problems, then asks the question “why” five times, often using the resulting explanation as a starting point for creative problem solving.

World Cafe is a simple but powerful facilitation technique to help bigger groups to focus their energy and attention on solving complex problems.

World Cafe enables this approach by creating a relaxed atmosphere where participants are able to self-organize and explore topics relevant and important to them which are themed around a central problem-solving purpose. Create the right atmosphere by modeling your space after a cafe and after guiding the group through the method, let them take the lead!

Making problem-solving a part of your organization’s culture in the long term can be a difficult undertaking. More approachable formats like World Cafe can be especially effective in bringing people unfamiliar with workshops into the fold. 

World Cafe   #hyperisland   #innovation   #issue analysis   World Café is a simple yet powerful method, originated by Juanita Brown, for enabling meaningful conversations driven completely by participants and the topics that are relevant and important to them. Facilitators create a cafe-style space and provide simple guidelines. Participants then self-organize and explore a set of relevant topics or questions for conversation.

Discovery & Action Dialogue (DAD)

One of the best approaches is to create a safe space for a group to share and discover practices and behaviors that can help them find their own solutions.

With DAD, you can help a group choose which problems they wish to solve and which approaches they will take to do so. It’s great at helping remove resistance to change and can help get buy-in at every level too!

This process of enabling frontline ownership is great in ensuring follow-through and is one of the methods you will want in your toolbox as a facilitator.

Discovery & Action Dialogue (DAD)   #idea generation   #liberating structures   #action   #issue analysis   #remote-friendly   DADs make it easy for a group or community to discover practices and behaviors that enable some individuals (without access to special resources and facing the same constraints) to find better solutions than their peers to common problems. These are called positive deviant (PD) behaviors and practices. DADs make it possible for people in the group, unit, or community to discover by themselves these PD practices. DADs also create favorable conditions for stimulating participants’ creativity in spaces where they can feel safe to invent new and more effective practices. Resistance to change evaporates as participants are unleashed to choose freely which practices they will adopt or try and which problems they will tackle. DADs make it possible to achieve frontline ownership of solutions.

Design Sprint 2.0

Want to see how a team can solve big problems and move forward with prototyping and testing solutions in a few days? The Design Sprint 2.0 template from Jake Knapp, author of Sprint, is a complete agenda for a with proven results.

Developing the right agenda can involve difficult but necessary planning. Ensuring all the correct steps are followed can also be stressful or time-consuming depending on your level of experience.

Use this complete 4-day workshop template if you are finding there is no obvious solution to your challenge and want to focus your team around a specific problem that might require a shortcut to launching a minimum viable product or waiting for the organization-wide implementation of a solution.

Open space technology

Open space technology- developed by Harrison Owen – creates a space where large groups are invited to take ownership of their problem solving and lead individual sessions. Open space technology is a great format when you have a great deal of expertise and insight in the room and want to allow for different takes and approaches on a particular theme or problem you need to be solved.

Start by bringing your participants together to align around a central theme and focus their efforts. Explain the ground rules to help guide the problem-solving process and then invite members to identify any issue connecting to the central theme that they are interested in and are prepared to take responsibility for.

Once participants have decided on their approach to the core theme, they write their issue on a piece of paper, announce it to the group, pick a session time and place, and post the paper on the wall. As the wall fills up with sessions, the group is then invited to join the sessions that interest them the most and which they can contribute to, then you’re ready to begin!

Everyone joins the problem-solving group they’ve signed up to, record the discussion and if appropriate, findings can then be shared with the rest of the group afterward.

Open Space Technology   #action plan   #idea generation   #problem solving   #issue analysis   #large group   #online   #remote-friendly   Open Space is a methodology for large groups to create their agenda discerning important topics for discussion, suitable for conferences, community gatherings and whole system facilitation

Techniques to identify and analyze problems

Using a problem-solving method to help a team identify and analyze a problem can be a quick and effective addition to any workshop or meeting.

While further actions are always necessary, you can generate momentum and alignment easily, and these activities are a great place to get started.

We’ve put together this list of techniques to help you and your team with problem identification, analysis, and discussion that sets the foundation for developing effective solutions.

Let’s take a look!

Fishbone Analysis

Organizational or team challenges are rarely simple, and it’s important to remember that one problem can be an indication of something that goes deeper and may require further consideration to be solved.

Fishbone Analysis helps groups to dig deeper and understand the origins of a problem. It’s a great example of a root cause analysis method that is simple for everyone on a team to get their head around. 

Participants in this activity are asked to annotate a diagram of a fish, first adding the problem or issue to be worked on at the head of a fish before then brainstorming the root causes of the problem and adding them as bones on the fish. 

Using abstractions such as a diagram of a fish can really help a team break out of their regular thinking and develop a creative approach.

Fishbone Analysis   #problem solving   ##root cause analysis   #decision making   #online facilitation   A process to help identify and understand the origins of problems, issues or observations.

Problem Tree 

Encouraging visual thinking can be an essential part of many strategies. By simply reframing and clarifying problems, a group can move towards developing a problem solving model that works for them. 

In Problem Tree, groups are asked to first brainstorm a list of problems – these can be design problems, team problems or larger business problems – and then organize them into a hierarchy. The hierarchy could be from most important to least important or abstract to practical, though the key thing with problem solving games that involve this aspect is that your group has some way of managing and sorting all the issues that are raised.

Once you have a list of problems that need to be solved and have organized them accordingly, you’re then well-positioned for the next problem solving steps.

Problem tree   #define intentions   #create   #design   #issue analysis   A problem tree is a tool to clarify the hierarchy of problems addressed by the team within a design project; it represents high level problems or related sublevel problems.

SWOT Analysis

Chances are you’ve heard of the SWOT Analysis before. This problem-solving method focuses on identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is a tried and tested method for both individuals and teams.

Start by creating a desired end state or outcome and bare this in mind – any process solving model is made more effective by knowing what you are moving towards. Create a quadrant made up of the four categories of a SWOT analysis and ask participants to generate ideas based on each of those quadrants.

Once you have those ideas assembled in their quadrants, cluster them together based on their affinity with other ideas. These clusters are then used to facilitate group conversations and move things forward. 

SWOT analysis   #gamestorming   #problem solving   #action   #meeting facilitation   The SWOT Analysis is a long-standing technique of looking at what we have, with respect to the desired end state, as well as what we could improve on. It gives us an opportunity to gauge approaching opportunities and dangers, and assess the seriousness of the conditions that affect our future. When we understand those conditions, we can influence what comes next.

Agreement-Certainty Matrix

Not every problem-solving approach is right for every challenge, and deciding on the right method for the challenge at hand is a key part of being an effective team.

The Agreement Certainty matrix helps teams align on the nature of the challenges facing them. By sorting problems from simple to chaotic, your team can understand what methods are suitable for each problem and what they can do to ensure effective results. 

If you are already using Liberating Structures techniques as part of your problem-solving strategy, the Agreement-Certainty Matrix can be an invaluable addition to your process. We’ve found it particularly if you are having issues with recurring problems in your organization and want to go deeper in understanding the root cause. 

Agreement-Certainty Matrix   #issue analysis   #liberating structures   #problem solving   You can help individuals or groups avoid the frequent mistake of trying to solve a problem with methods that are not adapted to the nature of their challenge. The combination of two questions makes it possible to easily sort challenges into four categories: simple, complicated, complex , and chaotic .  A problem is simple when it can be solved reliably with practices that are easy to duplicate.  It is complicated when experts are required to devise a sophisticated solution that will yield the desired results predictably.  A problem is complex when there are several valid ways to proceed but outcomes are not predictable in detail.  Chaotic is when the context is too turbulent to identify a path forward.  A loose analogy may be used to describe these differences: simple is like following a recipe, complicated like sending a rocket to the moon, complex like raising a child, and chaotic is like the game “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.”  The Liberating Structures Matching Matrix in Chapter 5 can be used as the first step to clarify the nature of a challenge and avoid the mismatches between problems and solutions that are frequently at the root of chronic, recurring problems.

Organizing and charting a team’s progress can be important in ensuring its success. SQUID (Sequential Question and Insight Diagram) is a great model that allows a team to effectively switch between giving questions and answers and develop the skills they need to stay on track throughout the process. 

Begin with two different colored sticky notes – one for questions and one for answers – and with your central topic (the head of the squid) on the board. Ask the group to first come up with a series of questions connected to their best guess of how to approach the topic. Ask the group to come up with answers to those questions, fix them to the board and connect them with a line. After some discussion, go back to question mode by responding to the generated answers or other points on the board.

It’s rewarding to see a diagram grow throughout the exercise, and a completed SQUID can provide a visual resource for future effort and as an example for other teams.

SQUID   #gamestorming   #project planning   #issue analysis   #problem solving   When exploring an information space, it’s important for a group to know where they are at any given time. By using SQUID, a group charts out the territory as they go and can navigate accordingly. SQUID stands for Sequential Question and Insight Diagram.

To continue with our nautical theme, Speed Boat is a short and sweet activity that can help a team quickly identify what employees, clients or service users might have a problem with and analyze what might be standing in the way of achieving a solution.

Methods that allow for a group to make observations, have insights and obtain those eureka moments quickly are invaluable when trying to solve complex problems.

In Speed Boat, the approach is to first consider what anchors and challenges might be holding an organization (or boat) back. Bonus points if you are able to identify any sharks in the water and develop ideas that can also deal with competitors!   

Speed Boat   #gamestorming   #problem solving   #action   Speedboat is a short and sweet way to identify what your employees or clients don’t like about your product/service or what’s standing in the way of a desired goal.

The Journalistic Six

Some of the most effective ways of solving problems is by encouraging teams to be more inclusive and diverse in their thinking.

Based on the six key questions journalism students are taught to answer in articles and news stories, The Journalistic Six helps create teams to see the whole picture. By using who, what, when, where, why, and how to facilitate the conversation and encourage creative thinking, your team can make sure that the problem identification and problem analysis stages of the are covered exhaustively and thoughtfully. Reporter’s notebook and dictaphone optional.

The Journalistic Six – Who What When Where Why How   #idea generation   #issue analysis   #problem solving   #online   #creative thinking   #remote-friendly   A questioning method for generating, explaining, investigating ideas.

Individual and group perspectives are incredibly important, but what happens if people are set in their minds and need a change of perspective in order to approach a problem more effectively?

Flip It is a method we love because it is both simple to understand and run, and allows groups to understand how their perspectives and biases are formed. 

Participants in Flip It are first invited to consider concerns, issues, or problems from a perspective of fear and write them on a flip chart. Then, the group is asked to consider those same issues from a perspective of hope and flip their understanding.  

No problem and solution is free from existing bias and by changing perspectives with Flip It, you can then develop a problem solving model quickly and effectively.

Flip It!   #gamestorming   #problem solving   #action   Often, a change in a problem or situation comes simply from a change in our perspectives. Flip It! is a quick game designed to show players that perspectives are made, not born.

LEGO Challenge

Now for an activity that is a little out of the (toy) box. LEGO Serious Play is a facilitation methodology that can be used to improve creative thinking and problem-solving skills. 

The LEGO Challenge includes giving each member of the team an assignment that is hidden from the rest of the group while they create a structure without speaking.

What the LEGO challenge brings to the table is a fun working example of working with stakeholders who might not be on the same page to solve problems. Also, it’s LEGO! Who doesn’t love LEGO! 

LEGO Challenge   #hyperisland   #team   A team-building activity in which groups must work together to build a structure out of LEGO, but each individual has a secret “assignment” which makes the collaborative process more challenging. It emphasizes group communication, leadership dynamics, conflict, cooperation, patience and problem solving strategy.

What, So What, Now What?

If not carefully managed, the problem identification and problem analysis stages of the problem-solving process can actually create more problems and misunderstandings.

The What, So What, Now What? problem-solving activity is designed to help collect insights and move forward while also eliminating the possibility of disagreement when it comes to identifying, clarifying, and analyzing organizational or work problems. 

Facilitation is all about bringing groups together so that might work on a shared goal and the best problem-solving strategies ensure that teams are aligned in purpose, if not initially in opinion or insight.

Throughout the three steps of this game, you give everyone on a team to reflect on a problem by asking what happened, why it is important, and what actions should then be taken. 

This can be a great activity for bringing our individual perceptions about a problem or challenge and contextualizing it in a larger group setting. This is one of the most important problem-solving skills you can bring to your organization.

W³ – What, So What, Now What?   #issue analysis   #innovation   #liberating structures   You can help groups reflect on a shared experience in a way that builds understanding and spurs coordinated action while avoiding unproductive conflict. It is possible for every voice to be heard while simultaneously sifting for insights and shaping new direction. Progressing in stages makes this practical—from collecting facts about What Happened to making sense of these facts with So What and finally to what actions logically follow with Now What . The shared progression eliminates most of the misunderstandings that otherwise fuel disagreements about what to do. Voila!

Journalists  

Problem analysis can be one of the most important and decisive stages of all problem-solving tools. Sometimes, a team can become bogged down in the details and are unable to move forward.

Journalists is an activity that can avoid a group from getting stuck in the problem identification or problem analysis stages of the process.

In Journalists, the group is invited to draft the front page of a fictional newspaper and figure out what stories deserve to be on the cover and what headlines those stories will have. By reframing how your problems and challenges are approached, you can help a team move productively through the process and be better prepared for the steps to follow.

Journalists   #vision   #big picture   #issue analysis   #remote-friendly   This is an exercise to use when the group gets stuck in details and struggles to see the big picture. Also good for defining a vision.

Problem-solving techniques for brainstorming solutions

Now you have the context and background of the problem you are trying to solving, now comes the time to start ideating and thinking about how you’ll solve the issue.

Here, you’ll want to encourage creative, free thinking and speed. Get as many ideas out as possible and explore different perspectives so you have the raw material for the next step.

Looking at a problem from a new angle can be one of the most effective ways of creating an effective solution. TRIZ is a problem-solving tool that asks the group to consider what they must not do in order to solve a challenge.

By reversing the discussion, new topics and taboo subjects often emerge, allowing the group to think more deeply and create ideas that confront the status quo in a safe and meaningful way. If you’re working on a problem that you’ve tried to solve before, TRIZ is a great problem-solving method to help your team get unblocked.

Making Space with TRIZ   #issue analysis   #liberating structures   #issue resolution   You can clear space for innovation by helping a group let go of what it knows (but rarely admits) limits its success and by inviting creative destruction. TRIZ makes it possible to challenge sacred cows safely and encourages heretical thinking. The question “What must we stop doing to make progress on our deepest purpose?” induces seriously fun yet very courageous conversations. Since laughter often erupts, issues that are otherwise taboo get a chance to be aired and confronted. With creative destruction come opportunities for renewal as local action and innovation rush in to fill the vacuum. Whoosh!

Mindspin  

Brainstorming is part of the bread and butter of the problem-solving process and all problem-solving strategies benefit from getting ideas out and challenging a team to generate solutions quickly. 

With Mindspin, participants are encouraged not only to generate ideas but to do so under time constraints and by slamming down cards and passing them on. By doing multiple rounds, your team can begin with a free generation of possible solutions before moving on to developing those solutions and encouraging further ideation. 

This is one of our favorite problem-solving activities and can be great for keeping the energy up throughout the workshop. Remember the importance of helping people become engaged in the process – energizing problem-solving techniques like Mindspin can help ensure your team stays engaged and happy, even when the problems they’re coming together to solve are complex. 

MindSpin   #teampedia   #idea generation   #problem solving   #action   A fast and loud method to enhance brainstorming within a team. Since this activity has more than round ideas that are repetitive can be ruled out leaving more creative and innovative answers to the challenge.

The Creativity Dice

One of the most useful problem solving skills you can teach your team is of approaching challenges with creativity, flexibility, and openness. Games like The Creativity Dice allow teams to overcome the potential hurdle of too much linear thinking and approach the process with a sense of fun and speed. 

In The Creativity Dice, participants are organized around a topic and roll a dice to determine what they will work on for a period of 3 minutes at a time. They might roll a 3 and work on investigating factual information on the chosen topic. They might roll a 1 and work on identifying the specific goals, standards, or criteria for the session.

Encouraging rapid work and iteration while asking participants to be flexible are great skills to cultivate. Having a stage for idea incubation in this game is also important. Moments of pause can help ensure the ideas that are put forward are the most suitable. 

The Creativity Dice   #creativity   #problem solving   #thiagi   #issue analysis   Too much linear thinking is hazardous to creative problem solving. To be creative, you should approach the problem (or the opportunity) from different points of view. You should leave a thought hanging in mid-air and move to another. This skipping around prevents premature closure and lets your brain incubate one line of thought while you consciously pursue another.

Idea and Concept Development

Brainstorming without structure can quickly become chaotic or frustrating. In a problem-solving context, having an ideation framework to follow can help ensure your team is both creative and disciplined.

In this method, you’ll find an idea generation process that encourages your group to brainstorm effectively before developing their ideas and begin clustering them together. By using concepts such as Yes and…, more is more and postponing judgement, you can create the ideal conditions for brainstorming with ease.

Idea & Concept Development   #hyperisland   #innovation   #idea generation   Ideation and Concept Development is a process for groups to work creatively and collaboratively to generate creative ideas. It’s a general approach that can be adapted and customized to suit many different scenarios. It includes basic principles for idea generation and several steps for groups to work with. It also includes steps for idea selection and development.

Problem-solving techniques for developing and refining solutions 

The success of any problem-solving process can be measured by the solutions it produces. After you’ve defined the issue, explored existing ideas, and ideated, it’s time to develop and refine your ideas in order to bring them closer to a solution that actually solves the problem.

Use these problem-solving techniques when you want to help your team think through their ideas and refine them as part of your problem solving process.

Improved Solutions

After a team has successfully identified a problem and come up with a few solutions, it can be tempting to call the work of the problem-solving process complete. That said, the first solution is not necessarily the best, and by including a further review and reflection activity into your problem-solving model, you can ensure your group reaches the best possible result. 

One of a number of problem-solving games from Thiagi Group, Improved Solutions helps you go the extra mile and develop suggested solutions with close consideration and peer review. By supporting the discussion of several problems at once and by shifting team roles throughout, this problem-solving technique is a dynamic way of finding the best solution. 

Improved Solutions   #creativity   #thiagi   #problem solving   #action   #team   You can improve any solution by objectively reviewing its strengths and weaknesses and making suitable adjustments. In this creativity framegame, you improve the solutions to several problems. To maintain objective detachment, you deal with a different problem during each of six rounds and assume different roles (problem owner, consultant, basher, booster, enhancer, and evaluator) during each round. At the conclusion of the activity, each player ends up with two solutions to her problem.

Four Step Sketch

Creative thinking and visual ideation does not need to be confined to the opening stages of your problem-solving strategies. Exercises that include sketching and prototyping on paper can be effective at the solution finding and development stage of the process, and can be great for keeping a team engaged. 

By going from simple notes to a crazy 8s round that involves rapidly sketching 8 variations on their ideas before then producing a final solution sketch, the group is able to iterate quickly and visually. Problem-solving techniques like Four-Step Sketch are great if you have a group of different thinkers and want to change things up from a more textual or discussion-based approach.

Four-Step Sketch   #design sprint   #innovation   #idea generation   #remote-friendly   The four-step sketch is an exercise that helps people to create well-formed concepts through a structured process that includes: Review key information Start design work on paper,  Consider multiple variations , Create a detailed solution . This exercise is preceded by a set of other activities allowing the group to clarify the challenge they want to solve. See how the Four Step Sketch exercise fits into a Design Sprint

Ensuring that everyone in a group is able to contribute to a discussion is vital during any problem solving process. Not only does this ensure all bases are covered, but its then easier to get buy-in and accountability when people have been able to contribute to the process.

1-2-4-All is a tried and tested facilitation technique where participants are asked to first brainstorm on a topic on their own. Next, they discuss and share ideas in a pair before moving into a small group. Those groups are then asked to present the best idea from their discussion to the rest of the team.

This method can be used in many different contexts effectively, though I find it particularly shines in the idea development stage of the process. Giving each participant time to concretize their ideas and develop them in progressively larger groups can create a great space for both innovation and psychological safety.

1-2-4-All   #idea generation   #liberating structures   #issue analysis   With this facilitation technique you can immediately include everyone regardless of how large the group is. You can generate better ideas and more of them faster than ever before. You can tap the know-how and imagination that is distributed widely in places not known in advance. Open, generative conversation unfolds. Ideas and solutions are sifted in rapid fashion. Most importantly, participants own the ideas, so follow-up and implementation is simplified. No buy-in strategies needed! Simple and elegant!

15% Solutions

Some problems are simpler than others and with the right problem-solving activities, you can empower people to take immediate actions that can help create organizational change. 

Part of the liberating structures toolkit, 15% solutions is a problem-solving technique that focuses on finding and implementing solutions quickly. A process of iterating and making small changes quickly can help generate momentum and an appetite for solving complex problems.

Problem-solving strategies can live and die on whether people are onboard. Getting some quick wins is a great way of getting people behind the process.   

It can be extremely empowering for a team to realize that problem-solving techniques can be deployed quickly and easily and delineate between things they can positively impact and those things they cannot change. 

15% Solutions   #action   #liberating structures   #remote-friendly   You can reveal the actions, however small, that everyone can do immediately. At a minimum, these will create momentum, and that may make a BIG difference.  15% Solutions show that there is no reason to wait around, feel powerless, or fearful. They help people pick it up a level. They get individuals and the group to focus on what is within their discretion instead of what they cannot change.  With a very simple question, you can flip the conversation to what can be done and find solutions to big problems that are often distributed widely in places not known in advance. Shifting a few grains of sand may trigger a landslide and change the whole landscape.

Problem-solving techniques for making decisions and planning

After your group is happy with the possible solutions you’ve developed, now comes the time to choose which to implement. There’s more than one way to make a decision and the best option is often dependant on the needs and set-up of your group.

Sometimes, it’s the case that you’ll want to vote as a group on what is likely to be the most impactful solution. Other times, it might be down to a decision maker or major stakeholder to make the final decision. Whatever your process, here’s some techniques you can use to help you make a decision during your problem solving process.

How-Now-Wow Matrix

The problem-solving process is often creative, as complex problems usually require a change of thinking and creative response in order to find the best solutions. While it’s common for the first stages to encourage creative thinking, groups can often gravitate to familiar solutions when it comes to the end of the process. 

When selecting solutions, you don’t want to lose your creative energy! The How-Now-Wow Matrix from Gamestorming is a great problem-solving activity that enables a group to stay creative and think out of the box when it comes to selecting the right solution for a given problem.

Problem-solving techniques that encourage creative thinking and the ideation and selection of new solutions can be the most effective in organisational change. Give the How-Now-Wow Matrix a go, and not just for how pleasant it is to say out loud. 

How-Now-Wow Matrix   #gamestorming   #idea generation   #remote-friendly   When people want to develop new ideas, they most often think out of the box in the brainstorming or divergent phase. However, when it comes to convergence, people often end up picking ideas that are most familiar to them. This is called a ‘creative paradox’ or a ‘creadox’. The How-Now-Wow matrix is an idea selection tool that breaks the creadox by forcing people to weigh each idea on 2 parameters.

Impact and Effort Matrix

All problem-solving techniques hope to not only find solutions to a given problem or challenge but to find the best solution. When it comes to finding a solution, groups are invited to put on their decision-making hats and really think about how a proposed idea would work in practice. 

The Impact and Effort Matrix is one of the problem-solving techniques that fall into this camp, empowering participants to first generate ideas and then categorize them into a 2×2 matrix based on impact and effort.

Activities that invite critical thinking while remaining simple are invaluable. Use the Impact and Effort Matrix to move from ideation and towards evaluating potential solutions before then committing to them. 

Impact and Effort Matrix   #gamestorming   #decision making   #action   #remote-friendly   In this decision-making exercise, possible actions are mapped based on two factors: effort required to implement and potential impact. Categorizing ideas along these lines is a useful technique in decision making, as it obliges contributors to balance and evaluate suggested actions before committing to them.

If you’ve followed each of the problem-solving steps with your group successfully, you should move towards the end of your process with heaps of possible solutions developed with a specific problem in mind. But how do you help a group go from ideation to putting a solution into action? 

Dotmocracy – or Dot Voting -is a tried and tested method of helping a team in the problem-solving process make decisions and put actions in place with a degree of oversight and consensus. 

One of the problem-solving techniques that should be in every facilitator’s toolbox, Dot Voting is fast and effective and can help identify the most popular and best solutions and help bring a group to a decision effectively. 

Dotmocracy   #action   #decision making   #group prioritization   #hyperisland   #remote-friendly   Dotmocracy is a simple method for group prioritization or decision-making. It is not an activity on its own, but a method to use in processes where prioritization or decision-making is the aim. The method supports a group to quickly see which options are most popular or relevant. The options or ideas are written on post-its and stuck up on a wall for the whole group to see. Each person votes for the options they think are the strongest, and that information is used to inform a decision.

Straddling the gap between decision making and planning, MoSCoW is a simple and effective method that allows a group team to easily prioritize a set of possible options.

Use this method in a problem solving process by collecting and summarizing all your possible solutions and then categorize them into 4 sections: “Must have”, “Should have”, “Could have”, or “Would like but won‘t get”.

This method is particularly useful when its less about choosing one possible solution and more about prioritorizing which to do first and which may not fit in the scope of your project. In my experience, complex challenges often require multiple small fixes, and this method can be a great way to move from a pile of things you’d all like to do to a structured plan.

MoSCoW   #define intentions   #create   #design   #action   #remote-friendly   MoSCoW is a method that allows the team to prioritize the different features that they will work on. Features are then categorized into “Must have”, “Should have”, “Could have”, or “Would like but won‘t get”. To be used at the beginning of a timeslot (for example during Sprint planning) and when planning is needed.

When it comes to managing the rollout of a solution, clarity and accountability are key factors in ensuring the success of the project. The RAACI chart is a simple but effective model for setting roles and responsibilities as part of a planning session.

Start by listing each person involved in the project and put them into the following groups in order to make it clear who is responsible for what during the rollout of your solution.

• Responsibility  (Which person and/or team will be taking action?)
• Authority  (At what “point” must the responsible person check in before going further?)
• Accountability  (Who must the responsible person check in with?)
• Consultation  (Who must be consulted by the responsible person before decisions are made?)
• Information  (Who must be informed of decisions, once made?)

Ensure this information is easily accessible and use it to inform who does what and who is looped into discussions and kept up to date.

RAACI   #roles and responsibility   #teamwork   #project management   Clarifying roles and responsibilities, levels of autonomy/latitude in decision making, and levels of engagement among diverse stakeholders.

Problem-solving warm-up activities

All facilitators know that warm-ups and icebreakers are useful for any workshop or group process. Problem-solving workshops are no different.

Use these problem-solving techniques to warm up a group and prepare them for the rest of the process. Activating your group by tapping into some of the top problem-solving skills can be one of the best ways to see great outcomes from your session.

Check-in / Check-out

Solid processes are planned from beginning to end, and the best facilitators know that setting the tone and establishing a safe, open environment can be integral to a successful problem-solving process. Check-in / Check-out is a great way to begin and/or bookend a problem-solving workshop. Checking in to a session emphasizes that everyone will be seen, heard, and expected to contribute. 

If you are running a series of meetings, setting a consistent pattern of checking in and checking out can really help your team get into a groove. We recommend this opening-closing activity for small to medium-sized groups though it can work with large groups if they’re disciplined!

Check-in / Check-out   #team   #opening   #closing   #hyperisland   #remote-friendly   Either checking-in or checking-out is a simple way for a team to open or close a process, symbolically and in a collaborative way. Checking-in/out invites each member in a group to be present, seen and heard, and to express a reflection or a feeling. Checking-in emphasizes presence, focus and group commitment; checking-out emphasizes reflection and symbolic closure.

Doodling Together  

Thinking creatively and not being afraid to make suggestions are important problem-solving skills for any group or team, and warming up by encouraging these behaviors is a great way to start. 

Doodling Together is one of our favorite creative ice breaker games – it’s quick, effective, and fun and can make all following problem-solving steps easier by encouraging a group to collaborate visually. By passing cards and adding additional items as they go, the workshop group gets into a groove of co-creation and idea development that is crucial to finding solutions to problems. 

Doodling Together   #collaboration   #creativity   #teamwork   #fun   #team   #visual methods   #energiser   #icebreaker   #remote-friendly   Create wild, weird and often funny postcards together & establish a group’s creative confidence.

Show and Tell

You might remember some version of Show and Tell from being a kid in school and it’s a great problem-solving activity to kick off a session.

Asking participants to prepare a little something before a workshop by bringing an object for show and tell can help them warm up before the session has even begun! Games that include a physical object can also help encourage early engagement before moving onto more big-picture thinking.

By asking your participants to tell stories about why they chose to bring a particular item to the group, you can help teams see things from new perspectives and see both differences and similarities in the way they approach a topic. Great groundwork for approaching a problem-solving process as a team! 

Show and Tell   #gamestorming   #action   #opening   #meeting facilitation   Show and Tell taps into the power of metaphors to reveal players’ underlying assumptions and associations around a topic The aim of the game is to get a deeper understanding of stakeholders’ perspectives on anything—a new project, an organizational restructuring, a shift in the company’s vision or team dynamic.

Constellations

Who doesn’t love stars? Constellations is a great warm-up activity for any workshop as it gets people up off their feet, energized, and ready to engage in new ways with established topics. It’s also great for showing existing beliefs, biases, and patterns that can come into play as part of your session.

Using warm-up games that help build trust and connection while also allowing for non-verbal responses can be great for easing people into the problem-solving process and encouraging engagement from everyone in the group. Constellations is great in large spaces that allow for movement and is definitely a practical exercise to allow the group to see patterns that are otherwise invisible. 

Constellations   #trust   #connection   #opening   #coaching   #patterns   #system   Individuals express their response to a statement or idea by standing closer or further from a central object. Used with teams to reveal system, hidden patterns, perspectives.

Draw a Tree

Problem-solving games that help raise group awareness through a central, unifying metaphor can be effective ways to warm-up a group in any problem-solving model.

Draw a Tree is a simple warm-up activity you can use in any group and which can provide a quick jolt of energy. Start by asking your participants to draw a tree in just 45 seconds – they can choose whether it will be abstract or realistic. 

Once the timer is up, ask the group how many people included the roots of the tree and use this as a means to discuss how we can ignore important parts of any system simply because they are not visible.

All problem-solving strategies are made more effective by thinking of problems critically and by exposing things that may not normally come to light. Warm-up games like Draw a Tree are great in that they quickly demonstrate some key problem-solving skills in an accessible and effective way.

Draw a Tree   #thiagi   #opening   #perspectives   #remote-friendly   With this game you can raise awarness about being more mindful, and aware of the environment we live in.

Closing activities for a problem-solving process

Each step of the problem-solving workshop benefits from an intelligent deployment of activities, games, and techniques. Bringing your session to an effective close helps ensure that solutions are followed through on and that you also celebrate what has been achieved.

Here are some problem-solving activities you can use to effectively close a workshop or meeting and ensure the great work you’ve done can continue afterward.

One Breath Feedback

Maintaining attention and focus during the closing stages of a problem-solving workshop can be tricky and so being concise when giving feedback can be important. It’s easy to incur “death by feedback” should some team members go on for too long sharing their perspectives in a quick feedback round. 

One Breath Feedback is a great closing activity for workshops. You give everyone an opportunity to provide feedback on what they’ve done but only in the space of a single breath. This keeps feedback short and to the point and means that everyone is encouraged to provide the most important piece of feedback to them. 

One breath feedback   #closing   #feedback   #action   This is a feedback round in just one breath that excels in maintaining attention: each participants is able to speak during just one breath … for most people that’s around 20 to 25 seconds … unless of course you’ve been a deep sea diver in which case you’ll be able to do it for longer.

Who What When Matrix 

Matrices feature as part of many effective problem-solving strategies and with good reason. They are easily recognizable, simple to use, and generate results.

The Who What When Matrix is a great tool to use when closing your problem-solving session by attributing a who, what and when to the actions and solutions you have decided upon. The resulting matrix is a simple, easy-to-follow way of ensuring your team can move forward. 

Great solutions can’t be enacted without action and ownership. Your problem-solving process should include a stage for allocating tasks to individuals or teams and creating a realistic timeframe for those solutions to be implemented or checked out. Use this method to keep the solution implementation process clear and simple for all involved. 

Who/What/When Matrix   #gamestorming   #action   #project planning   With Who/What/When matrix, you can connect people with clear actions they have defined and have committed to.

Response cards

Group discussion can comprise the bulk of most problem-solving activities and by the end of the process, you might find that your team is talked out! 

Providing a means for your team to give feedback with short written notes can ensure everyone is head and can contribute without the need to stand up and talk. Depending on the needs of the group, giving an alternative can help ensure everyone can contribute to your problem-solving model in the way that makes the most sense for them.

Response Cards is a great way to close a workshop if you are looking for a gentle warm-down and want to get some swift discussion around some of the feedback that is raised. 

Response Cards   #debriefing   #closing   #structured sharing   #questions and answers   #thiagi   #action   It can be hard to involve everyone during a closing of a session. Some might stay in the background or get unheard because of louder participants. However, with the use of Response Cards, everyone will be involved in providing feedback or clarify questions at the end of a session.

Tips for effective problem solving

Problem-solving activities are only one part of the puzzle. While a great method can help unlock your team’s ability to solve problems, without a thoughtful approach and strong facilitation the solutions may not be fit for purpose.

Let’s take a look at some problem-solving tips you can apply to any process to help it be a success!

Clearly define the problem

Jumping straight to solutions can be tempting, though without first clearly articulating a problem, the solution might not be the right one. Many of the problem-solving activities below include sections where the problem is explored and clearly defined before moving on.

This is a vital part of the problem-solving process and taking the time to fully define an issue can save time and effort later. A clear definition helps identify irrelevant information and it also ensures that your team sets off on the right track.

Don’t jump to conclusions

It’s easy for groups to exhibit cognitive bias or have preconceived ideas about both problems and potential solutions. Be sure to back up any problem statements or potential solutions with facts, research, and adequate forethought.

The best techniques ask participants to be methodical and challenge preconceived notions. Make sure you give the group enough time and space to collect relevant information and consider the problem in a new way. By approaching the process with a clear, rational mindset, you’ll often find that better solutions are more forthcoming.  

Try different approaches  

Problems come in all shapes and sizes and so too should the methods you use to solve them. If you find that one approach isn’t yielding results and your team isn’t finding different solutions, try mixing it up. You’ll be surprised at how using a new creative activity can unblock your team and generate great solutions.

Don’t take it personally 

Depending on the nature of your team or organizational problems, it’s easy for conversations to get heated. While it’s good for participants to be engaged in the discussions, ensure that emotions don’t run too high and that blame isn’t thrown around while finding solutions.

You’re all in it together, and even if your team or area is seeing problems, that isn’t necessarily a disparagement of you personally. Using facilitation skills to manage group dynamics is one effective method of helping conversations be more constructive.

Get the right people in the room

Your problem-solving method is often only as effective as the group using it. Getting the right people on the job and managing the number of people present is important too!

If the group is too small, you may not get enough different perspectives to effectively solve a problem. If the group is too large, you can go round and round during the ideation stages.

Creating the right group makeup is also important in ensuring you have the necessary expertise and skillset to both identify and follow up on potential solutions. Carefully consider who to include at each stage to help ensure your problem-solving method is followed and positioned for success.

Create psychologically safe spaces for discussion

Identifying a problem accurately also requires that all members of a group are able to contribute their views in an open and safe manner.

It can be tough for people to stand up and contribute if the problems or challenges are emotive or personal in nature. Try and create a psychologically safe space for these kinds of discussions and where possible, create regular opportunities for challenges to be brought up organically.

Document everything

The best solutions can take refinement, iteration, and reflection to come out. Get into a habit of documenting your process in order to keep all the learnings from the session and to allow ideas to mature and develop. Many of the methods below involve the creation of documents or shared resources. Be sure to keep and share these so everyone can benefit from the work done!

Bring a facilitator 

Facilitation is all about making group processes easier. With a subject as potentially emotive and important as problem-solving, having an impartial third party in the form of a facilitator can make all the difference in finding great solutions and keeping the process moving. Consider bringing a facilitator to your problem-solving session to get better results and generate meaningful solutions!

Develop your problem-solving skills

It takes time and practice to be an effective problem solver. While some roles or participants might more naturally gravitate towards problem-solving, it can take development and planning to help everyone create better solutions.

You might develop a training program, run a problem-solving workshop or simply ask your team to practice using the techniques below. Check out our post on problem-solving skills to see how you and your group can develop the right mental process and be more resilient to issues too!

Design a great agenda

Workshops are a great format for solving problems. With the right approach, you can focus a group and help them find the solutions to their own problems. But designing a process can be time-consuming and finding the right activities can be difficult.

Check out our workshop planning guide to level-up your agenda design and start running more effective workshops. Need inspiration? Check out templates designed by expert facilitators to help you kickstart your process!

Save time and effort creating an effective problem solving process

A structured problem solving process is a surefire way of solving tough problems, discovering creative solutions and driving organizational change. But how can you design for successful outcomes?

With SessionLab, it’s easy to design engaging workshops that deliver results. Drag, drop and reorder blocks  to build your agenda. When you make changes or update your agenda, your session  timing   adjusts automatically , saving you time on manual adjustments.

Collaborating with stakeholders or clients? Share your agenda with a single click and collaborate in real-time. No more sending documents back and forth over email.

Explore  how to use SessionLab  to design effective problem solving workshops or  watch this five minute video  to see the planner in action!

Over to you

The problem-solving process can often be as complicated and multifaceted as the problems they are set-up to solve. With the right problem-solving techniques and a mix of exercises designed to guide discussion and generate purposeful ideas, we hope we’ve given you the tools to find the best solutions as simply and easily as possible.

Is there a problem-solving technique that you are missing here? Do you have a favorite activity or method you use when facilitating? Let us know in the comments below, we’d love to hear from you! 

James Smart is Head of Content at SessionLab. He’s also a creative facilitator who has run workshops and designed courses for establishments like the National Centre for Writing, UK. He especially enjoys working with young people and empowering others in their creative practice.

thank you very much for these excellent techniques

Certainly wonderful article, very detailed. Shared!

Your list of techniques for problem solving can be helpfully extended by adding TRIZ to the list of techniques. TRIZ has 40 problem solving techniques derived from methods inventros and patent holders used to get new patents. About 10-12 are general approaches. many organization sponsor classes in TRIZ that are used to solve business problems or general organiztational problems. You can take a look at TRIZ and dwonload a free internet booklet to see if you feel it shound be included per your selection process.

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• Career Blog

50 Problem Solving Examples for Interview Success in 2024

Problem-solving interview questions are a common tool used by employers to assess a candidate’s problem-solving skills. These questions are designed to evaluate a candidate’s ability to think critically, analyze information, and propose effective solutions to complex problems.

Importance of Problem-Solving Skills in the Workplace

Problem-solving skills are essential in the workplace as they help individuals to overcome challenges, make informed decisions, and improve productivity. With the rise of automation and artificial intelligence, problem-solving skills are becoming increasingly important, as they are one of the few skills that cannot be easily automated. Employers value individuals with strong problem-solving skills as they believe that these individuals can lead to better decision-making and improved organizational performance.

Understanding the Problem-Solving Process

When it comes to problem-solving, there is a well-established process that can guide individuals in reaching the best possible solutions. This process is composed of seven steps that can be applied to any problem or challenge one might encounter.

A. Define the Problem

The first step in the problem-solving process is to define the problem. This step involves identifying and understanding what the problem is, why it is occurring, and what its impact is on the situation or environment. A well-defined problem allows for a better understanding of the issue and helps in finding an appropriate solution.

B. Gather Information

The second step of the process is to gather information. In order to find the best solution, one must have complete and accurate information about the problem. Gathering information can be done through research, surveys, interviews, or any other means of collecting data relevant to the problem at hand.

C. Analyze Information

Once enough information has been collected, it is time to analyze it. This step involves the process of examining the data, identifying patterns, and looking for any underlying causes that might be contributing to the problem.

D. Develop Solutions

After analyzing the data, it is time to develop solutions. This step involves brainstorming potential solutions, evaluating their feasibility, and assessing their effectiveness. It is important to keep an open mind and to consider multiple approaches when developing solutions.

E. Select the Best Solution

Once potential solutions have been identified, it is time to select the best one. This involves weighing the pros and cons of each solution and selecting the one that is most likely to be effective in resolving the problem.

F. Implement the Solution

With the best solution selected, it is time to put it into action. This step involves developing an implementation plan, allocating resources, and taking the necessary steps to put the chosen solution into practice.

G. Monitor and Evaluate the Solution

The final step in the problem-solving process is to monitor and evaluate the chosen solution. It is important to assess its effectiveness and to make adjustments as necessary. This step involves monitoring the situation over time, collecting feedback, and identifying areas for improvement.

Understanding the problem-solving process is critical for success in interviews and in life. By following the seven steps outlined above, individuals can improve their ability to identify, analyze, and solve problems in a systematic and effective manner.

Behavioral Interview Questions

One of the most common interview techniques used by employers is the behavioral interview. This type of interview focuses on asking questions about past experiences to better understand how a candidate might behave in certain situations.

A. Explanation of Behavioral Interview Questions

Behavioral interview questions are designed to help the employer get a sense of how the candidate has handled specific situations in the past. For example, a question might ask the candidate to describe a time when they had to deal with a difficult customer or how they handle conflicts in the workplace. By asking these types of questions, the interviewer can get a better sense of the candidate’s skills and abilities.

B. How to Answer Behavioral Interview Questions with Problem-Solving Examples

When answering behavioral interview questions, it is important to provide specific examples of how you handled similar situations in the past. One effective strategy is to use the STAR method, which stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. Here’s how it works:

• Situation: Describe the situation or problem you faced.
• Task: Explain what your role was in the situation.
• Action: Describe the steps you took to solve the problem.
• Result: Explain the outcome of your actions.

By using the STAR method, you can provide a clear and structured response that demonstrates your problem-solving abilities.

C. Tips and Tricks for Mastering Behavioral Interview Questions

Here are some additional tips to help you master behavioral interview questions:

• Research common behavioral interview questions beforehand so that you can prepare your answers in advance.
• Use specific examples from your past experience to illustrate your skills and abilities.
• Be honest. Don’t try to misrepresent your past experiences to make yourself look better.
• Avoid using generic or clichéd responses. Instead, be creative and try to showcase your unique strengths.
• Practice your responses with a friend or mentor to gain confidence and improve your delivery.

With these tips in mind, you’ll be well-prepared to tackle any behavioral interview questions that come your way. Remember that the key is to demonstrate your problem-solving abilities by providing specific and relevant examples from your past experiences. Good luck!

Situational Interview Questions

Situational interview questions are a popular interviewing technique that is commonly used by recruiters to measure how well a candidate can handle real-life work scenarios. It’s a highly effective way to determine whether the individual has the necessary skills and knowledge to handle the demands of a particular job role.

A. Explanation of Situational Interview Questions

In situational interview questions, the recruiter will develop a hypothetical scenario about a specific work challenge or issue, which the candidate would typically experience in the role they are being interviewed for. The goal is to evaluate not only the candidate’s knowledge and skills but also to assess their critical thinking skills, decision-making skills, and problem-solving abilities.

B. How to Answer Situational Interview Questions with Problem-Solving Examples

The best way to answer situational interview questions is to use a structured problem-solving approach. This approach involves analyzing and breaking down the situation into smaller components, identifying the root cause of the problem, and devising a solution that is not only practical but also effective.

For instance, if you were asked to describe how you would handle a difficult customer in a sales role, you would first identify the source of the customer’s frustration, listen to their concerns, and develop a tailored resolution plan using the company’s policies as guidelines.

C. Tips and Tricks for Mastering Situational Interview Questions

To master situational interview questions, candidates need to prepare in advance by researching the company’s values, culture and analyzing the job description’s requirements. Candidates should also practice solving hypothetical scenarios with friends or family to become more comfortable in their approach.

It is also essential to remain calm throughout the interview, as situational interview questions can be stressful. Candidates should take their time to carefully listen to each question and ensure that they understand the question before attempting to answer.

Lastly, when answering situational interview questions, it is always best to provide specific examples of past experiences, such as a time where a problem was successfully solved, highlighting relevant skills to the role being interviewed.

By following these tips and using a structured problem-solving approach, candidates can conquer the situational interview and demonstrate their ability to handle real-world challenges effectively.

Communication Skills

Effective communication is indispensable in problem-solving. The ability to communicate effectively in a team environment is essential to achieving success. It allows each team member to synthesize their ideas, express their opinions, and share their knowledge.

A. Importance of Communication Skills in Problem-Solving

In problem-solving, communication plays a vital role in ensuring that everyone is on the same page. Without effective communication, the team may misunderstand the problem, the solution, or the approach, which may lead to delays, inefficiencies, or potential failure.

Communication skills are crucial in problem-solving for several reasons, including:

• Fostering a collaborative environment where ideas can be shared and discussed openly
• Ensuring that each team member understands their role and responsibilities
• Clarifying expectations and goals
• Encouraging feedback and constructive criticism
• Delineating potential risks and challenges
• Building rapport and trust among team members

B. Examples of Problem-Solving Scenarios That Highlight Communication Skills

Effective communication skills are essential in all problem-solving scenarios, but some scenarios require stronger communication skills than others. A few examples of problem-solving scenarios that highlight the importance of communication skills include:

• Dealing with a difficult client: A team may face a client who is dissatisfied with the project’s progress or outcome. The team must use effective communication skills to understand the client’s concerns, address their issues, and find a solution that satisfies both the client and the team.
• Handling a conflict within the team: Conflict is a natural occurrence when working in a team. The team must use effective communication skills to identify the root cause of the conflict, discuss potential solutions, and reach a resolution that all team members agree on.
• Brainstorming new ideas: Effective communication skills are crucial when brainstorming new ideas. Team members must use active listening skills to understand each other’s ideas, communicate their thoughts clearly, and provide feedback constructively.

C. Tips for Improving Communication Skills in Problem-Solving

Communication skills are not inherent but can be learned and improved. Here are a few tips for improving communication skills in problem-solving.

• Practice active listening: Active listening entails being completely present in the conversation, focusing your attention on what the speaker is saying, asking questions to clarify your understanding, and providing feedback.
• Be clear and concise: Clarity is critical in communication. Be sure to articulate your ideas clearly and concisely to avoid miscommunication.
• Use open-ended questions: Open-ended questions encourage discussion and provide more in-depth insights than closed-ended questions.
• Provide feedback constructively: Feedback must be constructive, objective, and sensitive to the recipient’s feelings. Focus on specific actions rather than personal traits, offer suggestions, and seek feedback in return.
• Use visual aids: Visuals can help explain complex topics and ideas, making them easier to understand for everyone.

Effective communication skills are essential in problem-solving scenarios.

Analytical Skills

In any problem-solving scenario, analytical skills are crucial to successful outcomes. Employers seek candidates who can evaluate information, identify patterns, and develop solutions based on data-driven insights. Here are the key elements to understand:

A. Importance of Analytical Skills in Problem-Solving

Analytical skills are essential in problem-solving because they enable one to identify the root cause of a problem and develop solutions that directly address it. This approach ensures that solutions are efficient, effective, and sustainable for the long-term. Employers value analytical skills as they are essential in any competitive business environment, helping organizations stay ahead of the curve and outperform their competitors.

B. Examples of Problem-Solving Scenarios That Highlight Analytical Skills

One scenario that highlights the importance of analytical skills is when a company aims to expand its operations to a new market. To achieve this goal, the organization must first conduct market research and analyze data regarding the new market’s economic, cultural, and geopolitical landscape. With this information, the company can identify potential barriers to entry, risks and rewards, and develop a successful entry strategy.

Another example is when a manufacturing company experiences consistent product failures. Instead of implementing a quick fix, the organization could conduct a root cause analysis to identify the underlying problem. This process involves analyzing production data and investigating distinct variables such as raw materials, production methodology, and machine maintenance. By identifying the root cause, the company can then develop an effective solution to prevent future product failures.

C. Tips for Improving Analytical Skills in Problem-Solving

There are several ways to improve your analytical skills in problem-solving. The first is to improve your ability to gather and analyze data effectively. This can be achieved by becoming more proficient in data analysis tools, such as Excel, or attending training sessions on data analysis.

Secondly, it is essential to cultivate critical thinking skills. This involves analyzing information objectively, considering various perspectives, and questioning assumptions. By doing so, you may arrive at a solution that is more efficient, effective, and innovative.

Finally, it is crucial to take advantage of opportunities to develop problem-solving skills. This includes taking on challenging projects, participating in cross-functional teams, and seeking feedback from colleagues. By continually practicing problem-solving skills, you can improve your ability to evaluate information, identify patterns, and develop innovative solutions.

Analytical skills are essential in problem-solving scenarios, and applicants demonstrating these skills have a higher chance of success in job interviews. By understanding the importance of analytical skills, highlighting examples of their implementation in various contexts, and cultivating strategies to enhance these skills, you can become a more adept problem-solver and stand out to potential employers.

Creative Problem-Solving

A. importance of creative problem-solving in the workplace.

Creative problem-solving is a vital skill that is highly sought after in most workplaces. It involves applying innovative and out-of-the-box thinking to identify and fix complex problems. In today’s fast-paced business world, where competition is fierce, companies require employees who can anticipate and solve problems quickly and efficiently. As such, creative problem-solving skills have become indispensable in almost all industries, from IT to healthcare and finance.

Those who possess strong creative problem-solving skills are assets to their organizations. They are likely to be better at tackling difficult tasks and sorting out problems that other employees may have difficulty resolving. Additionally, these individuals bring new ideas and approaches to the table, improve productivity, and increase overall efficiency.

B. Examples of Creative Problem-Solving Techniques

There are numerous creative problem-solving techniques that organizations and individuals can use to enhance their ability to solve problems effectively. Some examples include:

Mind Mapping: This technique fosters creative thinking by allowing individuals to document their ideas visually. It is a great way to organize complex information and identify new connections between concepts.

Brainstorming: Brainstorming involves generating a large amount of ideas without criticizing or evaluating any of them initially. It is often used to come up with creative solutions to a particular problem.

Reverse Thinking: This technique involves considering the opposite of the problem and then brainstorming ways to achieve it. It challenges individuals to think in a different way and can produce unique solutions.

SCAMPER: An acronym for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify or Magnify, Put to another use, Eliminate or Reverse, SCAMPER is a creative problem-solving technique that utilizes various ways to manipulate an idea or item to generate new solutions.

C. Tips for Developing Creative Problem-Solving Skills

Creative problem-solving is a skill that can be developed and honed through consistent practice. Some useful tips in developing creative problem-solving skills include:

Keep an open mind: Try to be open to new ideas and ways of thinking, even if they seem unconventional or unusual.

Take calculated risks: Do not be afraid to take calculated risks and try new approaches. Even if you fail, you will have learned something valuable.

Collaborate with others: Working with others allows for a broader range of perspectives and ideas. It can lead to more innovative solutions.

Experiment: Experiment with different creative problem-solving techniques until you find the ones that work best for you.

Keep learning: Keep up-to-date with the latest problem-solving techniques and strategies by reading books or attending workshops and seminars.

Mastering creative problem-solving is essential for career success in most industries. It enhances overall productivity, improves efficiency, and encourages innovation. By practicing various techniques and adopting several strategies, individuals can develop their creative problem-solving skills and set themselves apart in the job market.

Decision-Making Skills

Effective problem-solving requires strong decision-making skills. Decision-making is the process of choosing a course of action to address a particular situation or problem. It involves analyzing, evaluating, and selecting the most appropriate solution.

A. Importance of Decision-Making Skills in Problem-Solving

Decision-making skills are essential for effective problem-solving. Without good decision-making skills, one may struggle to make the right choices and solve problems efficiently. The ability to make informed decisions helps individuals to identify problems, explore possible solutions, and select the most suitable option.

In addition, decision-making skills enable individuals to evaluate the impact of their decisions and consider potential risks and benefits. They also allow individuals to weigh the consequences of inaction against those of action and make timely decisions.

B. Examples of Decision-Making Scenarios in Problem-Solving

There are several decision-making scenarios that individuals may encounter when solving problems. Examples include:

• Deciding on the best course of action to take when a project is behind schedule
• Choosing the most appropriate supplier for a particular product
• Deciding whether to invest in a new technology or stick with the status quo
• Prioritizing tasks when workload is overwhelming
• Evaluating competing job offers and selecting the best one.

C. Tips for Improving Decision-Making Skills in Problem-Solving

Improving decision-making skills requires effort and practice. Here are some tips to help you improve your decision-making skills:

Gather relevant information: Before making a decision, ensure that you have access to the relevant information. This may include data, reports, and expert opinions.

Analyze and evaluate options: Consider all possible solutions and evaluate them based on their effectiveness, feasibility, and potential risks and benefits.

Seek advice: When making an important decision, seek advice from colleagues or experts in the field. This can help you gain a different perspective and identify potential blind spots.

Consider the consequences: Anticipate the consequences of your decision and evaluate the impact it may have on stakeholders, resources, and goals.

Learn from experience: Reflect on past decisions and their outcomes to improve future decision-making skills. Consider what worked well and what could have been done differently.

Decision-making skills are critical in problem-solving. The ability to make informed decisions can help individuals to identify problems, explore possible solutions, and select the most appropriate option. By following the tips outlined in this section, you can improve your decision-making skills and enhance your problem-solving abilities.

Leadership Skills

Effective leadership skills play a crucial role in problem-solving, making it an indispensable part of any job interview. Employers look for candidates who possess leadership traits and can lead a team to success. In this section, we’ll discuss the importance of leadership skills in problem-solving, give examples of how leaders approach problem-solving scenarios, and provide tips on how to develop leadership skills in problem-solving.

A. Importance of Leadership Skills in Problem-Solving

When faced with a problem, a good leader takes charge and motivates their team to find a solution. They inspire confidence and provide direction, leading the team in the right direction. A leader who can effectively resolve problems creates a sense of trust and respect among their team members.

Effective leadership skills in problem-solving lead to better collaboration, communication, and decision-making. They foster creativity and innovation, empower team members, and build a resilient team equipped to tackle any challenge.

B. Examples of Leadership in Problem-Solving Scenarios

Leadership skills are particularly crucial in problem-solving scenarios, where creative, out-of-the-box thinking is required. Leaders must be able to approach problems with a clear mind, analyze the situation, and provide a solution that works for all stakeholders involved.

A good example of leadership in problem-solving is how NASA responded to the Apollo 13 crisis. When the spacecraft experienced an oxygen tank explosion, the crew needed to maneuver their way back to Earth safely. The NASA team worked tirelessly through numerous challenges, ultimately developing a solution that saved the crew’s lives.

Another example is how Airbnb’s leadership dealt with a growing concern over discrimination on their platform. They took immediate action, appointing a team of experts to address the issue and implementing policies to address the underlying problem.

C. Tips for Developing Leadership Skills in Problem-Solving

Leadership skills can be developed through practice, self-reflection, and learning from others. Here are some tips for developing leadership skills in problem-solving:

Practice active listening: Listening to different perspectives is critical in problem-solving. Actively listening to team members and stakeholders helps to gather valuable insights and build a shared understanding of the problem.

Encourage creativity: Leaders must foster an environment that promotes creativity and brainstorming. Encourage team members to approach problems from different angles, generating innovative solutions.

Focus on solutions: Rather than dwelling on the problem, leaders must remain focused on solutions. They should use their problem-solving skills to identify root causes and develop strategies that provide long-term solutions.

Lead by example: Effective leadership in problem-solving is not just about delegating tasks but leading by example. Leaders should participate in problem-solving alongside their team members, demonstrating their commitment to finding a solution.

Learn from failure: Failure is often an essential component of the problem-solving process. Leaders should focus on learning from failures, analyzing what worked and what didn’t, and adapting their approach moving forward.

Leadership skills are a cornerstone of effective problem-solving.

Time Management Skills

Effective time management skills play a critical role in successful problem-solving. Proper use of time ensures that problems are tackled comprehensively without inconveniencing other essential activities. Time management skills aid in the optimization of time usage, thereby improving productivity and bolstering overall performance.

A. Importance of Time Management Skills in Problem-Solving

In problem-solving, time is a precious commodity that cannot be wasted. Time management skills allow individuals to allocate sufficient time to different stages of the problem-solving process. Proper time allocation ensures that each stage of the problem-solving process is fully addressed, and no critical task is left incomplete. Time management helps maintain momentum in the problem-solving process, ensuring that hiccups, obstacles, or delays that may arise during the process are effectively handled. Effective time management skills also aid in decision-making, where required data and information are gathered promptly and analysed, leading to sound conclusions.

B. Examples of Problem-Solving Situations That Require Time Management Skills

Problem-solving situations requiring good time management skills are common in various industries. For instance, in tech industries, software troubleshooting and bug fixing require quick and efficient problem-solving abilities. Time management skills are crucial in such situations, where the capacity to swiftly and accurately identify a problem, evaluate potential solutions, and implement fixes directly affects the quality and performance of the software. In healthcare, emergency response situations require excellent time management abilities. In such situations, healthcare personnel must quickly and accurately assess a patient’s condition, gather their medical history, and provide proper treatment within the shortest time possible.

C. Tips for Improving Time Management Skills in Problem-Solving

To improve time management skills in problem-solving, individuals should:

i. Set Clear Priorities

Effective time management skills require individuals to set priorities based on the importance and urgency of each task. Create a to-do list and assign priorities to each task in line with the importance and urgency of each.

Eliminate Distractions

In problem-solving, distractions may hamper productivity, causing a delay in the problem-solving process. Ensure that any distractions are eliminated, and a conducive environment is set up to encourage focus and concentration.

Delegate Tasks

When possible, delegate tasks to other individuals to ensure a balanced workload. Delegation helps free up time, allowing individuals to focus on critical aspects of the problem-solving process.

Take Breaks

Taking regular breaks allows individuals to recharge and refocus, leading to better productivity. Ensure that breaks are taken at appropriate intervals to avoid prolonged distractions.

Leverage Technology

Technology has numerous tools and resources that aid in time management. Take advantage of these resources to optimize and streamline the problem-solving process.

Relevant Work Experience

A. explanation of the importance of relevant work experience in problem-solving.

When it comes to problem-solving, relevant work experience can make a significant difference. Employers are always looking for candidates who have the skills and experience necessary to tackle the challenges of the job. The ability to solve problems is a key skill that employers are constantly seeking, and relevant work experience is a great way to demonstrate your ability.

Relevant work experience helps you to develop problem-solving skills that are specific to your industry or field. For example, an IT professional who has worked on complex projects will have developed skills in problem-solving that are unique to the field of technology. Similarly, a lawyer who has worked on a high-profile case will have gained experience in problem-solving that is specific to the legal profession.

In addition to developing industry-specific skills, relevant work experience can also help you to develop transferable skills that can be applied in any profession. These skills include communication, critical thinking, creativity, and strategic thinking. Employers are looking for candidates who can demonstrate these skills, and relevant work experience is a great way to showcase them.

Relevant work experience also shows employers that you can handle challenges and overcome obstacles. Interviewers want to know that you have the ability to think on your feet and find solutions to problems that may arise in the workplace. By highlighting your relevant work experience, you can demonstrate to employers that you have a track record of success.

Relevant work experience is an essential component of problem-solving. It not only demonstrates your ability to solve problems in your industry or field, but it also highlights your transferable skills and ability to handle challenges. By showcasing your relevant work experience, you can increase your chances of landing your dream job and showcasing your problem-solving skills.

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Six tips for solving complex problems.

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Adam Stott is an entrepreneur, author, business coach and founder of Big Business Events.

Problems will always present themselves, and you need to be able to keep yourself on track, ask yourself the right questions and solve problems fast and efficiently. When you’re able to get things done more quickly, you will have more time to guide your business, more time for your personal relationships and more time to create more wealth.

Complex problems often put you in a place where you feel stuck. They can make you feel fearful, overwhelmed and like you just don't know what to do, which can slow your reaction in solving the issue. This happens to business owners who are at the height of their careers as well as leaders of new startups. The answer is really about making sure you ask yourself the right questions because those questions will help you see that you'll be able to overcome the challenges and the issues that you have and come up with answers quickly.

When things start to stack up on top of you and someone brings a new challenge to you, you might decide to put it off and deal with it later. What happens next? You get another challenge, and that only adds to what you have to deal with. Challenges never stop coming and, eventually, you have ten or eleven problems because you didn't deal with the things that were coming to you at that moment. Procrastinating leads to not getting things done and, eventually, you become overwhelmed and don’t know where to start.

Here are some things you can do to improve your ability to solve complex problems:

1. Always be learning.

Prepare your mind to be a bit faster and deal with things in a better way by constantly learning. Get your brain to go places you haven’t asked it to go before. When you’re challenging your brain and expanding your knowledge, you can also expand your ability to solve problems.

Believe it or not, this is something you need to prepare for. How do you have a fast mind and why does it matter? It matters because you're running a business, becoming more successful in your career and things are developing for you. You are becoming busier and being asked more and more questions. You have more decisions to make. You are responsible for more people, and if you're slow in your decision-making and in getting stuff done, what you'll find is things can start to pile up.

2. Try to solve problems more quickly.

One of the best ways to do this is with coaching because you have someone guiding you when an issue comes up, and you're able to ask questions of someone who has already been through what you're going through. This can allow you to get results much more quickly, and at the same time, you can learn from another's experiences.

3. Ask yourself what needs to happen.

When you have a complex challenge and you don't know what to do, ask yourself, “If I was to solve this problem, what would need to happen?”

When you do that, you're actively directing your thoughts toward a solution and you are more likely to start coming up with answers. Then ask yourself, “How can I benefit from this complex problem or challenge?” If you can come up with some sort of benefit, you can attach an incentive around completing it.

4. Ask a qualified person for help.

If you can't find the answer, ask a person who you think is best qualified to deal with the situation you have. Don't get advice from people who haven't been in situations similar to yours and who haven’t dealt with problems like yours. You are probably more qualified to answer the question yourself.

5. Ask yourself the best thing that can happen.

If you're struggling, ask yourself, “What is the best thing that can happen in this situation?” This gives you a best-case scenario. Then ask yourself, “What is the very worst thing that can happen?” Now you also know the worst-case scenario. Then ask yourself, “What’s the most likely thing that can happen?” Now you've covered all your bases.

6. Consider your current mindset.

Do you feel positive or are you in a place where you are feeling negative? If you're in a state where you're feeling negative, it can be very hard to come up with the right answers. Whereas if you're feeling positive, it can be easier to come up with the right answers. If you’re not in the right place to make a decision and you need to take a short break, do that. But be careful of ignoring problems and burying your head in the sand.

Try to make small decisions instantly and move forward. More complex problems might require a little more time and energy to think them through, so don't expend unnecessary energy on the small things.

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• Behavioral Interviews

Answering Problem-Solving Interview Questions: Tips and Examples

Problem-solving skills are difficult to describe and quantify: they’re a combination of different hard and soft skills such as logical inference, technical knowledge, adaptability and innovation, leadership potential, decision-making, productivity, and collaboration.

All are crucial for developing expertise and delivering results at work — especially when the going gets tough.

And because problem-solving is so important, you’re almost guaranteed to get asked about it in a job interview. Read on, and make sure no problem-solving question catches you off guard.

In this article, you’ll learn:

• How to answer problem-solving job interview questions
• Types of problem-solving questions
• Why recruiters ask these questions and what your answers might reveal
• Sample answers for the main types of problem-solving questions

Want to get an offer after every interview? Our interview prep tool will guide you through all the questions you can expect, let you record and analyze your answers, and provide instant AI feedback. You’ll know exactly what to improve to turn your next interview into a job.

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How to Answer Problem-Solving Job Interview Questions

Here’s how to understand the intention behind problem-solving interview questions and create an informative answer that will highlight your expertise and potential.

Understand the problem-solving question and why recruiters ask it

Reflect on your thought process, be specific, follow up with clear outcomes, use the star method.

Hiring managers and recruiters want to know how you identify roadblocks, analyze information, and overcome challenges. These challenges can vary from specific, technical issues to more general issues like improving company processes or handling interpersonal relationships.

To put these skills to the test, recruiters use “problem-solving” job interview questions, also known as analytical questions. Here are some common ones:

• Tell me about a situation where you had to solve a difficult problem.
• Give me a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem.
• Describe a time when you didn’t know how to solve a problem. What did you do?
• Describe how you approach a complex or difficult problem.

Here’s what these questions help recruiters discover:

Your adaptability and innovation

Are you an out-of-the-box thinker who’s open to new ideas and who can handle uncharted waters easily?

Efficiency and productivity

Are your problem-solving skills contributing to the team’s performance, removing bottlenecks, smoothing out processes, and keeping projects on track?

Collaboration and communication

Are you successfully collaborating with others to find solutions? Are you handling people-related problems effectively?

Decision-making

Can you efficiently evaluate different options and reach a decision independently? Can you make sound decisions to minimize risks and maximize benefits and opportunities?

Leadership potential

Are your problem-solving skills so good that they open up new opportunities for you to move in the leadership direction ?

Problem-solving interview questions are not tied to a specific role and industry. Mastering your problem-solving skills will help you stand out from the competition and be more successful in your role, whatever it may be.

And if you need help with answering other common interview questions, sign up for our free course !

Be mindful of your thought processes when you face a difficult problem.

Is your initial reaction to panic or are you calm and enthusiastic to tackle it? Is the problem stopping you from focusing on everything else you’re working on? Do you look at the problem as a whole or do you break it down?

Understanding how you think and approach the problem will help you know yourself and improve your problem-solving skills, but it’ll also make it easier to answer these tricky questions during an interview.

Tailor your answers to problem-solving interview questions so that you cover specific details, actions, and skills relevant to the position. If possible, list the results and share lessons learned from an experience you’re describing.

We’re not saying you should lie and make up a story about your problem-solving skills for each position you apply for; remember that this is a broad set of skills and you surely have something relevant from your past experience that you can bring up.

💡 For example, if you’re a Customer Service Representative applying for the same role in another company, you can speak about how you solved a customer’s problem or how you helped the team switch to a new CRM tool and transfer all the data.

💡 If you’re applying for a leadership role in the customer service field, you can speak about how you handled an interpersonal problem within a team or how you spotted bottlenecks and modified processes to make the team more efficient.

💡 If you’re moving to a Sales position, you can highlight your selling experience and talk about a time when you had to solve a customer’s problem and you managed to upsell them in the process.

Prove you have outstanding problem-solving skills by listing clear outcomes for every problem you solved. They can be quantitative or qualitative.

💡 Fixed a process? Say that it improved team productivity by X%.

💡 Handled a difficult client? If they became a VIP customer later on, mention it.

💡 Resolved a conflict? Describe how the experience helped you strengthen the bonds in a team.

💡 Solved a complex technical problem? Say that you got a bonus for it, or that you expanded and improved the existing documentation to help coworkers in the future.

Whenever possible, use the STAR (situation-task-action-result) method in your answer:

• (S) ituation: Describe the situation and provide context.
• (T) ask: What tasks you planned on doing to tackle the issue, your contribution.
• (A) ction you took (step-by-step).
• (R) esult of your efforts.

It’ll help you create a well-rounded answer that’s informative and engaging. Plus, using this method to prepare answers in advance will help you memorize the story quickly and easily.

✅ Bear in mind that not every problem-solving interview question can be answered with a STAR method. Some questions will be very specific and will ask for quick and short information about a certain tool or similar. Other questions, the ones beginning with “Give me an example when…” or “Tell me about a time when…” will be the perfect opportunity to use the STAR method.

Also, remember that there’s never a single correct answer to a problem-solving question, just like there usually are multiple solutions to a given problem — a study on the hospitality industry revealed that the most successful problem-solving strategies applied in the workplace were always very specific to given circumstances.

Questions about your problem-solving skills are just one group of the standard interview questions, you can be almost sure you will get asked. Prepare for other interview “classics” with our dedicated guides:

• Tell Me About Yourself: Sample Answers
• Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years?
• Why Did You Leave Your Last Job?
• What Are Your Strenghts?
• What Is Your Greatest Weakness?
• How Do You Handle Conflict?
• Why Should We Hire You?
• Why Do You Want to Work Here?

If prepping for a video interview, learn what to expect from this guide: Video Interviewing Tips & Tricks

And if you’re interested in interviewing for specific positions, see:

• Sales Interview Questions and Answers
• Customer Service Interview Questions and Answers
• Customer Service Manager Interview Questions and Answers
• Behavioral Interview Questions for Customer Service

Types of Problem-Solving Job Interview Questions

How do you approach complex problems.

• Can you provide an example of a challenging issue you’ve encountered and how you resolved it?

How do you prioritize multiple tasks when faced with tight deadlines?

• Tell me about a time when you faced a difficult problem at work. How did you solve it?
• Tell me about a time when your team faced a problem and you helped to find a solution.

Describe a situation in which you received criticism for your solution to a problem. How did you handle that?

Can you provide an example of when you had to collaborate with a team to solve a work-related problem.

• Can you describe a situation where you had to use your problem-solving skills to make a decision?

How would you respond if a high-priority project was suddenly delayed, jeopardizing the deadline?

Imagine a scenario where your manager was unavailable, but a client had an urgent issue – what would you do, if you encountered a high-stress situation that required you to stay calm and focused, how would you handle it.

• Imagine you’re faced with a tight deadline, but you’ve encountered a significant roadblock. How would you handle this situation?
• How would you assess and resolve a performance issue in a web application?
• Describe your approach to troubleshooting a networking issue that spans multiple devices.
• How would you approach debugging a piece of software with limited documentation?
• How would you deal with an angry VIP customer if your boss was away?
• What would you do if you noticed a decline in the ROI of your team?
• How would you troubleshoot an error in a software product that has been released to customers?

1. General problem-solving questions

These questions aim to discover your general approach to problems and challenges.

Interviewers want to know how you approach the process of solving complex problems. Do you jump straight into it or do you take a step back, break the problem down into manageable components, analyze the info you have, and then dive in?

Can you provide an example of a challenging issue you’ve encountered and how you resolved it?

Can you assess a situation and find the most appropriate solution? Can you handle the pressure? Do you take the lead during difficult times? Are you able to take responsibility for the outcomes?

This question is more specific than the previous one, so make sure you think about a situation in advance and prepare your answer using the STAR method.

Big Interview’s Answer Builder can help you shape your answer. You’ll be able to list and filter the points you’d like to mention, add details and rearrange the order to create a compelling story.

Plus, you’ll get bite-sized tips on how to answer the most common interview questions while you’re in the Builder.

Recruiters want to know how you set criteria based on which you’ll set priorities, how and if you juggle between multiple tasks, and how you communicate and collaborate with other people involved.

General problem-solving sample answer

“Tell me about a time when you faced a difficult problem at work. How did you solve it?”

Behavioral questions about problem-solving

Behavioral questions ask for specific situations from your past in which you displayed a certain behavior. Based on it, recruiters hope to predict how you’ll perform in the future.

Tell me about a time when your team faced a problem and you helped to find a solution

This one’s asked to assess your teamwork and cooperation skills in tough situations.

Interestingly, a 2015 study on problem-solving in the workplace showed that when it comes to expertise-related problems, employees rarely relied on trial-and-error or information retrieval as modes of problem-solving.

Instead, they mostly relied on help from others, that is, their coworkers who they believed were experts on the subject matter.

This puts emphasis on the importance of teamwork and collaboration in problem-solving. And you certainly noticed how easier it gets to solve a problem (or brainstorm a new idea) as a group, when different individuals bring fresh, unique ideas to the table.

So, recruiters want to know if you’d be cooperative and open to a teamwork experience, and these factors might hint at how you’ll fit in with the team.

This one checks how you handle feedback and criticism — it’s challenging, but it’s essential for growth.

In your answer, make sure you depict a situation in which you demonstrated that growth mindset and the ability to see that taking criticism is not a sign of weakness (or a personal attack on you) but a unique opportunity to learn something new.

Similarly to the first question in this group, this one aims to see how you perform in a team and solve problems collectively.

According to a study , in a team, task completion can be independent , when each team member completes their own activities, sequential , when activities go from one team member to another, reciprocal , when activities are done back-and-forth between team members, or intensive , when all team members work on activities and problem-solving simultaneously.

Recruiters want to get to know more about your ideal teamwork process model and how you connect with others to solve problems.

Your answer will tell them if you’re a good team problem-solver, team player, and if you’re able to give and share credit, as well as take responsibility if something goes wrong.

Behavioral problem-solving sample answer

“Can you describe a situation where you had to use your problem-solving skills to make a decision?”

Situational problem-solving questions

Situational problem-solving questions put you in a hypothetical situation, present a problem, and ask for your opinion/solution.

Even if you haven’t encountered a similar situation in the past, it will help you to draw parallels from your experience to create answers to these questions.

Your answer to this question will tell recruiters about your flexibility, time and task organization, prioritization, as well as how you handle pressure.

An ideal employee will be able to think quickly and adapt to unforeseen circumstances, all the while remaining calm and composed. You’ll want to aim at displaying these qualities in your answer.

Taking the lead and taking calculated risks shows that a person has outstanding problem-solving skills and is not afraid to take initiative, which shows leadership potential.

Your answer to this question needs to demonstrate your ability to quickly analyze information, weigh pros and cons of a situation, and make decisions on the spot. This is especially important if you’re applying for leadership positions, like a team leader or a project manager.

Recruiters and hiring managers want to assess your ability to handle stress, make rational decisions, and maintain a focused approach in tricky, high-pressure situations.

Make sure to provide them with relevant examples from your past that will paint a picture of your skills and abilities. This is especially relevant for high-pressure positions such as police officers, lawyers, financial analysts, and similar.

Situational problem-solving sample answer

“Imagine you’re faced with a tight deadline, but you’ve encountered a significant roadblock. How would you handle this situation?”

Technical questions about problem-solving

Technical problem-solving questions are based on the technical knowledge that underlies each role. They aim to check your expertise or the means by which you connect the dots or obtain information if you don’t possess it.

Will you sort through the documentation to find a solution? Or is your first reaction to recall a past experience? Perhaps you prefer connecting with an expert or a coworker with more experience than you. Or you’re the type of person to synthesize your existing knowledge and try to find a solution through trial and error. Maybe you’ll turn to a book or a course? Whatever it is, recruiters would like to know.

There are many ways to solve these problems and your preferred strategies will give recruiters insight into how you think and act.

Examples of technical questions about problem-solving are:

💡 Bear in mind that, with the rapid development of AI, the majority of technical tasks might be overtaken by robots in the future. That’s why it’s important that you work on your non-technical skills, too. Employers are already admitting that problem-solving skills are the second most important skill they’re looking for. For this reason, researchers are working hard to find and develop frameworks for helping people improve their problem-solving capabilities — you can read more about it in this paper on problem-solving skills among graduate engineers .

Technical problem-solving sample answer

“How would you troubleshoot an error in a software product that has been released to customers?”

✅ Pro tip: Practicing in advance is the only way to make sure your answer is flawless! The Mock Interview Tool will help you record your answer and get instant feedback on its quality and delivery. From power words and your pace of speech to “ummm” counter and eye contact, you’ll get help on how to improve in no time!

Our tool helped AJ land his first job in tech and get 7 job offers in the process . “I think Big Interview was super helpful in that aspect of having canned answers for every possible scenario and being in the moment of answering those questions.”, said AJ.

Problem-Solving Interview Questions: Popular Opinions vs. Expert Advice

Now that we covered different types of problem-solving questions and how to answer them, we decided to dive into popular forums and see what job-seekers have to say on this topic. We picked pieces of advice that resonated with the community and confronted them with expert-backed best practices. Let’s see where we stand.

IndianaJones Jr on Reddit said : “If I was an interviewer asking this question, I would expect a personalized answer relevant to yourself, not to specific projects. At least that’s my interpretation.

“What are your experiences in problem-solving?” 

Sample answer: Generally, when I’m working on a project I find it’s easier to start at the end and work backwards. I use that to get a broad strokes idea of where my work needs to take me on any particular project and then I head in that direction. I find that when I get to specific problems I can get too stuck on using tried and true methods so I try to encourage myself to use out-of-the-box solutions. For example [your example here]…”

Career expert comments:

The “bones” of this sample answer are solid. It puts emphasis on breaking down the candidate’s thought process and displays patterns through which the candidate solves problems and learns along the way. However, the most important part of the answer — the actual example of a candidate’s problem-solving skills put to practice — remains a placeholder. Remember, the more specific you get in your answer, the better the impression you make on the interviewer. So here, I recommend paying equal attention to a specific situation in which you solved a problem and using the STAR method to tell that story.

Ambitious_Tell_4852 , when discussing the question “Give an example of a challenge you faced and how you overcame it,” said: 

“Clearly, that is the standard trick question designed for a prospective new hire to tell a prospective employer about his/her professional weaknesses. Oldest “negative Nelli’’ question imaginable during the interview process. Always keep your answer thorough and positive albeit sickeningly sugar-coated! 😁”

This is, straight-out, a bad piece of advice. If an interviewer wants to hear about your weaknesses, they will ask “What is your greatest weakness?” 

A question about overcoming a challenge isn’t a trick question at all. I’d argue it’s actually an opportunity to share some of your proudest wins. But when it comes to answering this question, it’s true that your answers do need to be thorough and positive. This doesn’t mean you need to sugar-coat anything, though. Interviewers don’t want to hear you downplaying your challenges. On the contrary, they want to hear you speak about them honestly and explain what you learned from them. And being able to do so puts a healthy, positive spin on the situation. To put it shortly: provide a real example from your past, answer this question honestly, and emphasize the results and lessons learned. 

Here’s an opinion from a hiring manager, Hugh on Quora, about how to answer a question about a time you needed to solve a problem:

“It really doesn’t matter what the problem you describe is or how you solved it. What I am looking/listening for is 1) the size of the problem (the bigger, the better, a broken shoelace before going out on a date is not an impressive problem) and 2) a step-by-step process to a satisfactory solution (if suddenly all variables fell into place does not show me that you solved the problem — you were just there when it solved itself).

I am also looking/listening for an example of how you solve a problem after you are hired. I may have to explain it to my superiors, and I would like to know that I have a complete and accurate story to tell.”

Career expert comments:  

A good piece of advice from someone who has first-hand hiring experience. When talking about problem-solving, a detailed description of your process is key. The only thing I wouldn’t agree with is having to choose a “big” problem. If you do have experience solving a big problem, that’s great. But sometimes you won’t have a major problem to talk about, and it largely depends on your level of experience and your position. So pick a relevant difficulty, even if it’s not that big, in which you displayed skills relevant to the role you’re applying for.

• Problem-solving skills encompass your logical inference, technical knowledge, adaptability and innovation, leadership potential, decision-making, productivity, and collaboration.
• Because these skills are important in the workplace, there’s a variety of problem-solving interview questions recruiters will ask to assess you.
• Some of them include behavioral, situational, or technical problem-solving questions.
• In order to answer these questions, you need to be aware of your thought processes when faced with a problem.
• In your answer, be as specific as you can and use the STAR format whenever possible.
• Make sure to highlight outcomes, results, or lessons learned.
• As always, the best strategy is to anticipate these questions and prepare rough answers in advance. Including practicing your answer so you’re confident for your interview.

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• Tired of interviewing and not landing the job? Discover actionable lessons and interview practice here (Rated with 4.9/5 by 1,000,000 users).
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How can I improve my problem-solving skills?

Stay in the loop with new technologies and trends. Accept challenges and problems as a way to grow, don’t panic over them. Acquire a systematic approach to analyzing problems, break them down into smaller components which will help you discover root causes and devise a solution plan. Practice logical thinking, evaluating evidence, and staying objective. And give yourself time. Perhaps not surprisingly, studies suggest that the more business experience you have, the better you become at problem-solving.

Are there specific resources available to practice problem-solving interview questions?

There’s a variety of resources available to you, such as courses and Youtube tutorials, Facebook/LinkedIn groups, forums such as Reddit and Quora, books, or online platforms like Big Interview. If you’re trying to develop technical problem-solving skills, you might benefit from relevant platforms’ knowledge bases or YT channels; but if you’re looking specifically for how to answer interview questions, platforms like Big Interview are the way to go.

How should I handle a question about a problem-solving scenario I have not encountered before?

Don’t be afraid to ask additional questions for clarification. If you’ve never dealt with this problem before, be honest about it but answer how you would solve the problem if you were faced with it today. Break the problem down into manageable steps, try to recall a similar situation from your own experience that could help you draw parallels, and propose several different solutions.

Can I talk about my problem-solving experiences derived from non-professional settings such as student projects?

Yes, especially if you’re a recent graduate or a candidate with limited experience. You can use experiences and examples from student projects, extracurricular activities, and you can even use examples from your personal life, as long as you present them in a professional manner and connect them to the position you’re applying for. Remember to highlight the results, as well as the skills that helped you solve the problem and that are relevant to the position you’re applying for.

Are there any common mistakes to avoid when answering problem-solving questions during an interview?

The most common mistake is not preparing in advance which causes rambling. You need to make sure that your answer is informative and well-structured, and that you’re not only presenting a solution but also laying down the steps to display your logical reasoning. Make sure not to forget to give credit to teammates if they contributed to solving the problem you chose to talk about. Finally, for a coherent and informative presentation, make sure you use the STAR method.

What can I do if I don’t know the answer to a technical problem-solving question in an interview?

Handle it professionally. You can always try to reach a conclusion by breaking down the problem and thinking out loud to show your thinking mechanism. Draw parallels between the problem at hand and another similar problem you encountered before. Lay down possible solutions, even if you’re not sure they’ll work, and be transparent — feel free to tell the recruiter you’re not sure how to answer it, but make sure you emphasize that you’re open to learning.

Can I ask for help or guidance from the interviewer during a problem-solving question?

Avoid asking for help directly, but ask for clarification in case something is unclear or if you need additional information. Sometimes, the interviewer will take the initiative and provide you with hints to encourage you and see how you think.

How can I demonstrate creativity and resourcefulness when answering problem-solving questions?

It’s all about storytelling! Preparing in advance will provide some space for displaying your creativity. You can do it by making fun analogies or drawing parallels from well-known situations; or making pop-culture references.

Maja Stojanovic

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10 Problem-solving strategies to turn challenges on their head

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What is an example of problem-solving?

What are the 5 steps to problem-solving, 10 effective problem-solving strategies, what skills do efficient problem solvers have, how to improve your problem-solving skills.

Problems come in all shapes and sizes — from workplace conflict to budget cuts.

Creative problem-solving is one of the most in-demand skills in all roles and industries. It can boost an organization’s human capital and give it a competitive edge. 

Problem-solving strategies are ways of approaching problems that can help you look beyond the obvious answers and find the best solution to your problem . 

Let’s take a look at a five-step problem-solving process and how to combine it with proven problem-solving strategies. This will give you the tools and skills to solve even your most complex problems.

Good problem-solving is an essential part of the decision-making process . To see what a problem-solving process might look like in real life, let’s take a common problem for SaaS brands — decreasing customer churn rates.

To solve this problem, the company must first identify it. In this case, the problem is that the churn rate is too high. 

Next, they need to identify the root causes of the problem. This could be anything from their customer service experience to their email marketing campaigns. If there are several problems, they will need a separate problem-solving process for each one. 

Let’s say the problem is with email marketing — they’re not nurturing existing customers. Now that they’ve identified the problem, they can start using problem-solving strategies to look for solutions. 

This might look like coming up with special offers, discounts, or bonuses for existing customers. They need to find ways to remind them to use their products and services while providing added value. This will encourage customers to keep paying their monthly subscriptions.

They might also want to add incentives, such as access to a premium service at no extra cost after 12 months of membership. They could publish blog posts that help their customers solve common problems and share them as an email newsletter.

The company should set targets and a time frame in which to achieve them. This will allow leaders to measure progress and identify which actions yield the best results.

Perhaps you’ve got a problem you need to tackle. Or maybe you want to be prepared the next time one arises. Either way, it’s a good idea to get familiar with the five steps of problem-solving. 

Use this step-by-step problem-solving method with the strategies in the following section to find possible solutions to your problem.

1. Identify the problem

The first step is to know which problem you need to solve. Then, you need to find the root cause of the problem. 

The best course of action is to gather as much data as possible, speak to the people involved, and separate facts from opinions. 

Once this is done, formulate a statement that describes the problem. Use rational persuasion to make sure your team agrees .

2. Break the problem down 

Identifying the problem allows you to see which steps need to be taken to solve it. 

First, break the problem down into achievable blocks. Then, use strategic planning to set a time frame in which to solve the problem and establish a timeline for the completion of each stage.

3. Generate potential solutions

At this stage, the aim isn’t to evaluate possible solutions but to generate as many ideas as possible. 

Encourage your team to use creative thinking and be patient — the best solution may not be the first or most obvious one.

Use one or more of the different strategies in the following section to help come up with solutions — the more creative, the better.

4. Evaluate the possible solutions

Once you’ve generated potential solutions, narrow them down to a shortlist. Then, evaluate the options on your shortlist. 

There are usually many factors to consider. So when evaluating a solution, ask yourself the following questions:

• Will my team be on board with the proposition?
• Does the solution align with organizational goals ?
• Is the solution likely to achieve the desired outcomes?
• Is the solution realistic and possible with current resources and constraints?
• Will the solution solve the problem without causing additional unintended problems?

5. Implement and monitor the solutions

Once you’ve identified your solution and got buy-in from your team, it’s time to implement it. 

But the work doesn’t stop there. You need to monitor your solution to see whether it actually solves your problem. 

Request regular feedback from the team members involved and have a monitoring and evaluation plan in place to measure progress.

If the solution doesn’t achieve your desired results, start this step-by-step process again.

There are many different ways to approach problem-solving. Each is suitable for different types of problems. 

The most appropriate problem-solving techniques will depend on your specific problem. You may need to experiment with several strategies before you find a workable solution.

Here are 10 effective problem-solving strategies for you to try:

• Use a solution that worked before
• Brainstorming
• Work backward
• Use the Kipling method
• Draw the problem
• Use trial and error
• Sleep on it
• Get advice from your peers
• Use the Pareto principle
• Add successful solutions to your toolkit

Let’s break each of these down.

1. Use a solution that worked before

It might seem obvious, but if you’ve faced similar problems in the past, look back to what worked then. See if any of the solutions could apply to your current situation and, if so, replicate them.

2. Brainstorming

The more people you enlist to help solve the problem, the more potential solutions you can come up with.

Use different brainstorming techniques to workshop potential solutions with your team. They’ll likely bring something you haven’t thought of to the table.

3. Work backward

Working backward is a way to reverse engineer your problem. Imagine your problem has been solved, and make that the starting point.

Then, retrace your steps back to where you are now. This can help you see which course of action may be most effective.

4. Use the Kipling method

This is a method that poses six questions based on Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “ I Keep Six Honest Serving Men .” 

• What is the problem?
• Why is the problem important?
• When did the problem arise, and when does it need to be solved?
• How did the problem happen?
• Where is the problem occurring?
• Who does the problem affect?

Answering these questions can help you identify possible solutions.

5. Draw the problem

Sometimes it can be difficult to visualize all the components and moving parts of a problem and its solution. Drawing a diagram can help.

This technique is particularly helpful for solving process-related problems. For example, a product development team might want to decrease the time they take to fix bugs and create new iterations. Drawing the processes involved can help you see where improvements can be made.

6. Use trial-and-error

A trial-and-error approach can be useful when you have several possible solutions and want to test them to see which one works best.

7. Sleep on it

Finding the best solution to a problem is a process. Remember to take breaks and get enough rest . Sometimes, a walk around the block can bring inspiration, but you should sleep on it if possible.

A good night’s sleep helps us find creative solutions to problems. This is because when you sleep, your brain sorts through the day’s events and stores them as memories. This enables you to process your ideas at a subconscious level. 

If possible, give yourself a few days to develop and analyze possible solutions. You may find you have greater clarity after sleeping on it. Your mind will also be fresh, so you’ll be able to make better decisions.

8. Get advice from your peers

Getting input from a group of people can help you find solutions you may not have thought of on your own. 

For solo entrepreneurs or freelancers, this might look like hiring a coach or mentor or joining a mastermind group. 

For leaders , it might be consulting other members of the leadership team or working with a business coach .

It’s important to recognize you might not have all the skills, experience, or knowledge necessary to find a solution alone. 

9. Use the Pareto principle

The Pareto principle — also known as the 80/20 rule — can help you identify possible root causes and potential solutions for your problems.

Although it’s not a mathematical law, it’s a principle found throughout many aspects of business and life. For example, 20% of the sales reps in a company might close 80% of the sales. 

You may be able to narrow down the causes of your problem by applying the Pareto principle. This can also help you identify the most appropriate solutions.

10. Add successful solutions to your toolkit

Every situation is different, and the same solutions might not always work. But by keeping a record of successful problem-solving strategies, you can build up a solutions toolkit. 

These solutions may be applicable to future problems. Even if not, they may save you some of the time and work needed to come up with a new solution.

Improving problem-solving skills is essential for professional development — both yours and your team’s. Here are some of the key skills of effective problem solvers:

• Critical thinking and analytical skills
• Communication skills , including active listening
• Decision-making
• Planning and prioritization
• Emotional intelligence , including empathy and emotional regulation
• Time management
• Data analysis
• Research skills
• Project management

And they see problems as opportunities. Everyone is born with problem-solving skills. But accessing these abilities depends on how we view problems. Effective problem-solvers see problems as opportunities to learn and improve.

Ready to work on your problem-solving abilities? Get started with these seven tips.

1. Build your problem-solving skills

One of the best ways to improve your problem-solving skills is to learn from experts. Consider enrolling in organizational training , shadowing a mentor , or working with a coach .

2. Practice

Practice using your new problem-solving skills by applying them to smaller problems you might encounter in your daily life. 

Alternatively, imagine problematic scenarios that might arise at work and use problem-solving strategies to find hypothetical solutions.

3. Don’t try to find a solution right away

Often, the first solution you think of to solve a problem isn’t the most appropriate or effective.

Instead of thinking on the spot, give yourself time and use one or more of the problem-solving strategies above to activate your creative thinking. 

4. Ask for feedback

Receiving feedback is always important for learning and growth. Your perception of your problem-solving skills may be different from that of your colleagues. They can provide insights that help you improve. 

5. Learn new approaches and methodologies

There are entire books written about problem-solving methodologies if you want to take a deep dive into the subject. 

We recommend starting with “ Fixed — How to Perfect the Fine Art of Problem Solving ” by Amy E. Herman. 

6. Experiment

Tried-and-tested problem-solving techniques can be useful. However, they don’t teach you how to innovate and develop your own problem-solving approaches. 

Sometimes, an unconventional approach can lead to the development of a brilliant new idea or strategy. So don’t be afraid to suggest your most “out there” ideas.

7. Analyze the success of your competitors

Do you have competitors who have already solved the problem you’re facing? Look at what they did, and work backward to solve your own problem. 

For example, Netflix started in the 1990s as a DVD mail-rental company. Its main competitor at the time was Blockbuster. 

But when streaming became the norm in the early 2000s, both companies faced a crisis. Netflix innovated, unveiling its streaming service in 2007. 

If Blockbuster had followed Netflix’s example, it might have survived. Instead, it declared bankruptcy in 2010.

Use problem-solving strategies to uplevel your business

When facing a problem, it’s worth taking the time to find the right solution. 

Otherwise, we risk either running away from our problems or headlong into solutions. When we do this, we might miss out on other, better options.

Use the problem-solving strategies outlined above to find innovative solutions to your business’ most perplexing problems.

If you’re ready to take problem-solving to the next level, request a demo with BetterUp . Our expert coaches specialize in helping teams develop and implement strategies that work.

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Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

8 creative solutions to your most challenging problems

5 problem-solving questions to prepare you for your next interview, 31 examples of problem solving performance review phrases, what are metacognitive skills examples in everyday life, what is lateral thinking 7 techniques to encourage creative ideas, leadership activities that encourage employee engagement, learn what process mapping is and how to create one (+ examples), how much do distractions cost 8 effects of lack of focus, 3 problem statement examples and steps to write your own, the pareto principle: how the 80/20 rule can help you do more with less, thinking outside the box: 8 ways to become a creative problem solver, 10 examples of principles that can guide your approach to work, contingency planning: 4 steps to prepare for the unexpected, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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• Turn your team into skilled problem sol ...

Turn your team into skilled problem solvers with these problem-solving strategies

Picture this, you're handling your daily tasks at work and your boss calls you in and says, "We have a problem." 

Unfortunately, we don't live in a world in which problems are instantly resolved with the snap of our fingers. Knowing how to effectively solve problems is an important professional skill to hone. If you have a problem that needs to be solved, what is the right process to use to ensure you get the most effective solution?

In this article we'll break down the problem-solving process and how you can find the most effective solutions for complex problems.

What is problem solving? 

Problem solving is the process of finding a resolution for a specific issue or conflict. There are many possible solutions for solving a problem, which is why it's important to go through a problem-solving process to find the best solution. You could use a flathead screwdriver to unscrew a Phillips head screw, but there is a better tool for the situation. Utilizing common problem-solving techniques helps you find the best solution to fit the needs of the specific situation, much like using the right tools.

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4 steps to better problem solving

While it might be tempting to dive into a problem head first, take the time to move step by step. Here’s how you can effectively break down the problem-solving process with your team:

1. Identify the problem that needs to be solved

One of the easiest ways to identify a problem is to ask questions. A good place to start is to ask journalistic questions, like:

Who : Who is involved with this problem? Who caused the problem? Who is most affected by this issue?

What: What is happening? What is the extent of the issue? What does this problem prevent from moving forward?

Where: Where did this problem take place? Does this problem affect anything else in the immediate area? 

When: When did this problem happen? When does this problem take effect? Is this an urgent issue that needs to be solved within a certain timeframe?

Why: Why is it happening? Why does it impact workflows?

How: How did this problem occur? How is it affecting workflows and team members from being productive?

Asking journalistic questions can help you define a strong problem statement so you can highlight the current situation objectively, and create a plan around that situation.

Here’s an example of how a design team uses journalistic questions to identify their problem:

Overarching problem: Design requests are being missed

Who: Design team, digital marketing team, web development team

What: Design requests are forgotten, lost, or being created ad hoc.

Where: Email requests, design request spreadsheet

When: Missed requests on January 20th, January 31st, February 4th, February 6th

How : Email request was lost in inbox and the intake spreadsheet was not updated correctly. The digital marketing team had to delay launching ads for a few days while design requests were bottlenecked. Designers had to work extra hours to ensure all requests were completed.

In this example, there are many different aspects of this problem that can be solved. Using journalistic questions can help you identify different issues and who you should involve in the process.

2. Brainstorm multiple solutions

If at all possible, bring in a facilitator who doesn't have a major stake in the solution. Bringing an individual who has little-to-no stake in the matter can help keep your team on track and encourage good problem-solving skills.

Here are a few brainstorming techniques to encourage creative thinking:

Brainstorm alone before hand: Before you come together as a group, provide some context to your team on what exactly the issue is that you're brainstorming. This will give time for you and your teammates to have some ideas ready by the time you meet.

Say yes to everything (at first): When you first start brainstorming, don't say no to any ideas just yet—try to get as many ideas down as possible. Having as many ideas as possible ensures that you’ll get a variety of solutions. Save the trimming for the next step of the strategy. 

Talk to team members one-on-one: Some people may be less comfortable sharing their ideas in a group setting. Discuss the issue with team members individually and encourage them to share their opinions without restrictions—you might find some more detailed insights than originally anticipated.

Break out of your routine: If you're used to brainstorming in a conference room or over Zoom calls, do something a little different! Take your brainstorming meeting to a coffee shop or have your Zoom call while you're taking a walk. Getting out of your routine can force your brain out of its usual rut and increase critical thinking.

3. Define the solution

After you brainstorm with team members to get their unique perspectives on a scenario, it's time to look at the different strategies and decide which option is the best solution for the problem at hand. When defining the solution, consider these main two questions: What is the desired outcome of this solution and who stands to benefit from this solution? 

Set a deadline for when this decision needs to be made and update stakeholders accordingly. Sometimes there's too many people who need to make a decision. Use your best judgement based on the limitations provided to do great things fast.

4. Implement the solution

To implement your solution, start by working with the individuals who are as closest to the problem. This can help those most affected by the problem get unblocked. Then move farther out to those who are less affected, and so on and so forth. Some solutions are simple enough that you don’t need to work through multiple teams.

After you prioritize implementation with the right teams, assign out the ongoing work that needs to be completed by the rest of the team. This can prevent people from becoming overburdened during the implementation plan . Once your solution is in place, schedule check-ins to see how the solution is working and course-correct if necessary.

Implement common problem-solving strategies

There are a few ways to go about identifying problems (and solutions). Here are some strategies you can try, as well as common ways to apply them:

Trial and error

Trial and error problem solving doesn't usually require a whole team of people to solve. To use trial and error problem solving, identify the cause of the problem, and then rapidly test possible solutions to see if anything changes. 

This problem-solving method is often used in tech support teams through troubleshooting.

The 5 whys problem-solving method helps get to the root cause of an issue. You start by asking once, “Why did this issue happen?” After answering the first why, ask again, “Why did that happen?” You'll do this five times until you can attribute the problem to a root cause. 

This technique can help you dig in and find the human error that caused something to go wrong. More importantly, it also helps you and your team develop an actionable plan so that you can prevent the issue from happening again.

Here’s an example:

Problem: The email marketing campaign was accidentally sent to the wrong audience.

“Why did this happen?” Because the audience name was not updated in our email platform.

“Why were the audience names not changed?” Because the audience segment was not renamed after editing. 

“Why was the audience segment not renamed?” Because everybody has an individual way of creating an audience segment.

“Why does everybody have an individual way of creating an audience segment?” Because there is no standardized process for creating audience segments. 

“Why is there no standardized process for creating audience segments?” Because the team hasn't decided on a way to standardize the process as the team introduced new members. 

In this example, we can see a few areas that could be optimized to prevent this mistake from happening again. When working through these questions, make sure that everyone who was involved in the situation is present so that you can co-create next steps to avoid the same problem. 

A SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis can help you highlight the strengths and weaknesses of a specific solution. SWOT stands for:

Strength: Why is this specific solution a good fit for this problem? 

Weaknesses: What are the weak points of this solution? Is there anything that you can do to strengthen those weaknesses?

Opportunities: What other benefits could arise from implementing this solution?

Threats: Is there anything about this decision that can detrimentally impact your team?

As you identify specific solutions, you can highlight the different strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of each solution. 

This particular problem-solving strategy is good to use when you're narrowing down the answers and need to compare and contrast the differences between different solutions. 

Even more successful problem solving

After you’ve worked through a tough problem, don't forget to celebrate how far you've come. Not only is this important for your team of problem solvers to see their work in action, but this can also help you become a more efficient, effective , and flexible team. The more problems you tackle together, the more you’ll achieve. 

Looking for a tool to help solve problems on your team? Track project implementation with a work management tool like Asana .

Related resources

How to streamline compliance management software with Asana

How to build your critical thinking skills in 7 steps (with examples)

10 tips to improve nonverbal communication

Scaling clinical trial management software with PM solutions

DEI in 2024 is a more polarized topic than in 2020 – Check out our recent survey and get the insights Download the report

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Problem-solving interview questions and answers

Use these sample problem-solving interview questions to discover how candidates approach complex situations and if they can provide effective solutions.

An experienced recruiter and HR professional who has transferred her expertise to insightful content to support others in HR.

10 good problem-solving interview questions

• Describe a time when you had to solve a problem without managerial input. How did you handle it, and what was the result?
• Give an example of a time when you identified and fixed a problem before it became urgent.
• Share a situation where you predicted a problem with a stakeholder. How did you prevent it from escalating?
• Describe a time when you faced challenges in doing your job efficiently. How did you overcome them?
• Recall a time when you successfully used crisis-management skills.
• How would you handle a new project with great revenue potential but potential legal implications for the company?
• How do you determine when to solve a problem on your own or ask for help?
• Describe a time when you faced a difficult situation at work that required critical thinking and decision-making under pressure.
• Have you ever used intuition or prior experience to anticipate and address a problem effectively? Provide an example.
• Share an example of a project or task that initially seemed overwhelming. How did you approach it, and what strategies did you use to ensure successful completion?

1. Describe a time when you had to solve a problem without managerial input. How did you handle it, and what was the result?

This question assesses candidates’ ability to take initiative and solve problems independently. Look for their problem-solving approach, the actions they took, and the outcome of their efforts.

Sample answer:

“In my previous role, we encountered a sudden technical issue that disrupted our operations. As the team lead, I gathered all available information, analyzed the root cause, and facilitated a brainstorming session with the team. We implemented a temporary workaround and collaborated with the IT department to resolve the issue. Our proactive approach ensured minimal disruption, and we were able to restore normal operations within 24 hours.”

2. Give an example of a time when you identified and fixed a problem before it became urgent.

This question evaluates candidates’ ability to anticipate and address problems proactively. Look for their ability to identify potential issues and take preventive measures.

“While working as a project manager, I noticed a potential bottleneck in our production process that could have led to delays if left unaddressed. I conducted a thorough analysis, identified the root cause, and proposed process improvements. By implementing these changes proactively, we eliminated the bottleneck and increased efficiency. As a result, we consistently met project deadlines, and our team’s productivity significantly improved.”

3. Share a situation where you predicted a problem with a stakeholder. How did you prevent it from escalating?

This question assesses candidates’ ability to identify and mitigate potential conflicts. Look for their communication and problem-solving skills in managing stakeholder relationships.

“While working on a cross-functional project, I anticipated a miscommunication issue that could arise with a key stakeholder due to conflicting expectations. I scheduled a meeting with the stakeholder, listened to their concerns, and facilitated a discussion among the team members. By proactively addressing the issue, we established clear communication channels, built trust, and ensured a smooth collaboration throughout the project.”

4. Describe a time when you faced challenges in doing your job efficiently. How did you overcome them?

This question evaluates candidates’ ability to handle challenges and find solutions to improve efficiency. Look for their problem-solving strategies and their adaptability to overcome obstacles.

“In a previous role, I faced a situation where the workload significantly increased due to unexpected circumstances. To maintain efficiency, I assessed the situation, identified tasks that could be delegated, and communicated with my colleagues to seek their support. By redistributing responsibilities and fostering a collaborative environment, we successfully managed the increased workload without compromising quality or missing deadlines.”

5. Recall a time when you successfully used crisis-management skills.

This question assesses candidates’ ability to remain calm and make effective decisions under pressure. Look for their problem-solving approach and their ability to handle high-stress situations.

“In a previous role as a customer service representative, we experienced a sudden surge in customer complaints due to a product quality issue. I quickly coordinated with relevant departments, identified the root cause, and developed an action plan. By prioritizing urgent cases, maintaining open communication with affected customers, and providing timely updates, we regained customer satisfaction and prevented further damage to our brand reputation.”

6. How would you handle a new project with great revenue potential but potential legal implications for the company?

This question assesses candidates’ ability to balance potential risks and rewards. Look for their ethical considerations, problem-solving approach, and willingness to seek guidance when faced with legal implications.

“If faced with a project that carries both revenue potential and potential legal implications, I would approach it with caution and thorough evaluation. I would research and seek legal guidance to fully understand the implications and compliance requirements. I would then collaborate with legal experts, cross-functional teams, and stakeholders to develop a comprehensive plan that minimizes legal risks while maximizing revenue potential.”

7. How do you determine when to solve a problem on your own or ask for help?

This question assesses candidates’ judgment and collaboration skills. Look for their ability to assess situations and make decisions about when to seek assistance.

“When faced with a problem, I first evaluate its complexity and impact on the project or task at hand. If it’s within my capabilities and doesn’t significantly hinder progress, I take the initiative to solve it on my own. However, if the problem is complex or could have a significant impact, I believe in seeking help from relevant team members or subject matter experts. Collaboration often leads to more comprehensive and effective solutions.”

8. Describe a time when you faced a difficult situation at work that required critical thinking and decision-making under pressure.

This question assesses candidates’ ability to think critically and make sound decisions in challenging situations. Look for their problem-solving approach, decision-making process, and the outcomes of their decisions.

“In a previous role, I faced a tight deadline for a project with limited resources. It required careful resource allocation and prioritization. I gathered all available data, analyzed the project requirements, and consulted with team members. Through strategic planning and effective delegation, we managed to complete the project successfully within the given timeframe, exceeding client expectations.”

9. Have you ever used intuition or prior experience to anticipate and address a problem effectively? Provide an example.

This question assesses candidates’ ability to leverage intuition and past experiences to navigate problem-solving situations. Look for their ability to reflect on past situations, apply lessons learned, and make informed decisions.

“In a previous role, I noticed a recurring issue in our supply chain that had caused delays in the past. Drawing upon my prior experience, I anticipated the problem and suggested process improvements to streamline the supply chain. By implementing these changes, we minimized delays and improved overall efficiency, resulting in cost savings for the company.”

10. Share an example of a project or task that initially seemed overwhelming. How did you approach it, and what strategies did you use to ensure successful completion?

This question assesses candidates’ ability to tackle complex projects and break them down into manageable tasks. Look for their problem-solving approach, organization skills, and ability to persevere in the face of challenges.

“I once undertook a project that involved a significant amount of data analysis and reporting within a tight deadline. Initially, it felt overwhelming, but I broke it down into smaller tasks and created a detailed timeline. I prioritized the most critical aspects and sought assistance from colleagues with specialized skills. Through effective time management, collaboration, and diligent effort, we successfully completed the project on time and delivered high-quality results.”

Why you should ask candidates problem-solving interview questions

Employees will face challenges in their job. Before you decide on your next hire, use your interview process to evaluate how candidates approach difficult situations.

Problem-solving interview questions show how candidates:

• Approach complex issues
• Analyze data to understand the root of the problem
• Perform under stressful and unexpected situations
• React when their beliefs are challenged

Identify candidates who are results-oriented with interview questions that assess problem-solving skills. Look for analytical and spherical thinkers with the potential for technical problem solving.

Potential hires who recognize a problem, or predict one could potentially occur, will stand out. Candidates should also demonstrate how they would fix the issue, and prevent it from occurring again.

These sample problem-solving interview questions apply to all positions, regardless of industry or seniority level. You can use the following questions to gauge your candidates’ way of thinking in difficult situations:

Tips to assess problem-solving skills in interviews

• During your interviews, use hypothetical scenarios that are likely to occur on the job. It’s best to avoid unrealistic problems that aren’t relevant to your company.
• Examine how candidates approach a problem step-by-step: from identifying and analyzing the issue to comparing alternatives and choosing the most effective solution.
• Pay attention to candidates who provide innovative solutions. Creative minds can contribute fresh perspectives that add value to your company.
• When problems arise, employees should show commitment and a can-do attitude. Test candidates’ problem-solving skills in past situations. If they were determined to find the best solution as soon as possible, they will be great hires.
• Most complex situations require a team effort. Candidates’ previous experiences will show you how they collaborated with their colleagues to reach decisions and how comfortable they felt asking for help.
• If you’re hiring for a technical role, ask questions relevant to the work your future hires will do. Technical problem-solving interview questions, like “How would you troubleshoot this X bug?” will reveal your candidates’ hard skills and their ability to effectively address problems on the job.
• No answer. If a candidate can’t recall an example of a problem they faced in a previous position, that’s a sign they may avoid dealing with difficult situations. Canned answers. A generic answer like “Once, I had to deal with a customer who complained about the pricing. I managed to calm them down and closed the deal,” doesn’t offer much insight about the candidate’s thought process. Ask follow-up questions to get more details.
• Focus on the problem, not the solution. Identifying the problem is one thing, but finding the solution is more important. Candidates who focus too much on the problem may be too negative for the position.
• Feeling stressed/uncomfortable. It’s normal to feel slightly uncomfortable when put on the spot. But, if candidates are so stressed they can’t answer the question, that’s an indicator they don’t handle stressful situations well.
• Superficial answers. Candidates who choose the easy way out of a problem usually don’t consider all aspects and limitations of the situation. Opt for candidates who analyze the data you’ve given them and ask for more information to better dig into the problem.
• Cover up the problem or minimize its significance. Unaddressed problems could quickly escalate into bigger issues. Employees who leave things for later mightn’t be result-oriented or engaged in their jobs.

In conclusion, problem-solving interview questions provide valuable insights into candidates’ abilities to approach challenges, think critically, and provide effective solutions. By asking these questions and considering the tips provided, you can assess candidates’ problem-solving skills and make informed hiring decisions that align with your organization’s needs.

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To Solve a Tough Problem, Reframe It

• Julia Binder
• Michael D. Watkins

Research shows that companies devote too little effort to examining problems before trying to solve them. By jumping immediately into problem-solving, teams limit their ability to design innovative solutions.

The authors recommend that companies spend more time up front on problem-framing, a process for understanding and defining a problem. Exploring different frames is like looking at a scene through various camera lenses while adjusting your angle, aperture, and focus. A wide-angle lens gives you a very different photo from that taken with a telephoto lens, and shifting your angle and depth of focus yields distinct images. Effective problem-framing is similar: Looking at a problem from a variety of perspectives helps you uncover new insights and generate fresh ideas.

This article introduces a five-phase approach to problem-framing: In the expand phase, the team identifies all aspects of a problem; in examine, it dives into root causes; in empathize, it considers key stakeholders’ perspectives; in elevate, it puts the problem into a broader context; and in envision, it creates a road map toward the desired outcome.

Five steps to ensure that you don’t jump to solutions

Idea in Brief

The problem.

Research shows that most companies devote too little effort to examining problems from all angles before trying to solve them. That limits their ability to come up with innovative ways to address them.

The Solution

Companies need a structured approach for understanding and defining complex problems to uncover new insights and generate fresh ideas.

The Approach

This article introduces a five-phase approach to problem-framing: In the expand phase, the team identifies all aspects of a problem; in examine, it dives into root causes; in empathize, it considers key stakeholders’ perspectives; in elevate, it puts the problem into a broader context; and in envision, it creates a road map toward the desired outcome.

When business leaders confront complex problems, there’s a powerful impulse to dive right into “solving” mode: You gather a team and then identify potential solutions. That’s fine for challenges you’ve faced before or when proven methods yield good results. But what happens when a new type of problem arises or aspects of a familiar one shift substantially? Or if you’re not exactly sure what the problem is?

Research conducted by us and others shows that leaders and their teams devote too little effort to examining and defining problems before trying to solve them. A study by Paul Nutt of Ohio State University, for example, looked at 350 decision-making processes at medium to large companies and found that more than half failed to achieve desired results, often because perceived time pressure caused people to pay insufficient attention to examining problems from all angles and exploring their complexities. By jumping immediately into problem-solving, teams limit their ability to design innovative and durable solutions.

When we work with organizations and teams, we encourage them to spend more time up front on problem-framing, a process for understanding and defining a problem. Exploring frames is like looking at a scene through various camera lenses while adjusting your angle, aperture, and focus. A wide-angle lens will give you a very different photo from that taken with a telephoto lens, and shifting your angle and depth of focus yields distinct images. Effective problem-framing is similar: Looking at a problem from a variety of perspectives lets you uncover new insights and generate fresh ideas.

As with all essential processes, it helps to have a methodology and a road map. This article introduces the E5 approach to problem-framing—expand, examine, empathize, elevate, and envision—and offers tools that enable leaders to fully explore the problem space.

Phase 1: Expand

In the first phase, set aside preconceptions and open your mind. We recommend using a tool called frame-storming, which encourages a comprehensive exploration of an issue and its nuances. It is a neglected precursor to brainstorming, which typically focuses on generating many different answers for an already framed challenge. Frame-storming helps teams identify assumptions and blind spots, mitigating the risk of pursuing inadequate or biased solutions. The goal is to spark innovation and creativity as people dig into—or as Tina Seelig from Stanford puts it, “fall in love with”—the problem.

Begin by assembling a diverse team, encompassing a variety of types of expertise and perspectives. Involving outsiders can be helpful, since they’re often coming to the issue cold. A good way to prompt the team to consider alternative scenarios is by asking “What if…?” and “How might we…?” questions. For example, ask your team, “What if we had access to unlimited resources to tackle this issue?” or “How might better collaboration between departments or teams help us tackle this issue?” The primary objective is to generate many alternative problem frames, allowing for a more holistic understanding of the issue. Within an open, nonjudgmental atmosphere, you deliberately challenge established thinking—what we call “breaking” the frame.

It may be easy to eliminate some possibilities, and that’s exactly what you should do. Rather than make assumptions, generate alternative hypotheses and then test them.

Consider the problem-framing process at a company we’ll call Omega Soundscapes, a midsize producer of high-end headphones. (Omega is a composite of several firms we’ve worked with.) Omega’s sales had declined substantially over the past two quarters, and the leadership team’s initial diagnosis, or reference frame, was that recent price hikes to its flagship product made it too expensive for its target market. Before acting on this assumption, the team convened knowledgeable representatives from sales, marketing, R&D, customer service, and external consultants to do some frame-storming. Team members were asked:

• What if we lowered the price of our flagship product? How would that impact sales and profitability?
• How might we identify customers in new target markets who could afford our headphones at the current price?
• What if we offered financing or a subscription-based model for our headphones? How would that change perceptions of affordability?
• How might we optimize our supply chain and production processes to reduce manufacturing costs without compromising quality?

In playing out each of those scenarios, the Omega team generated several problem frames:

• The target market’s preferences have evolved.
• New competitors have entered the market.
• Product quality has decreased.
• Something has damaged perceptions of the brand.
• Something has changed in the priorities of our key distributors.

Each of the frames presented a unique angle from which to approach the problem of declining sales, setting the stage for the development of diverse potential solutions. At this stage, it may be relatively easy to eliminate some possibilities, and that’s exactly what you should do. Rather than make assumptions, generate alternative hypotheses and then test them.

See more HBR charts in Data & Visuals

Phase 2: Examine

If the expand phase is about identifying all the facets of a problem, this one is about diving deep to identify root causes. The team investigates the issue thoroughly, peeling back the layers to understand underlying drivers and systemic contributors.

A useful tool for doing this is the iceberg model, which guides the team through layers of causation: surface-level events, the behavioral patterns that drive them, underlying systematic structures, and established mental models. As you probe ever deeper and document your findings, you begin to home in on the problem’s root causes. As is the case in the expand phase, open discussions and collaborative research are crucial for achieving a comprehensive analysis.

Let’s return to our Omega Soundscapes example and use the iceberg model to delve into the issues surrounding the two quarters of declining sales. Starting with the first layer beneath the surface, the behavioral pattern, the team diligently analyzed customer feedback. It discovered a significant drop in brand loyalty. This finding validated the problem frame of a “shifting brand perception,” prompting further investigation into what might have been causing it.

Phase 3: Empathize

In this phase, the focus is on the stakeholders—employees, customers, clients, investors, supply chain partners, and other parties—who are most central to and affected by the problem under investigation. The core objective is to understand how they perceive the issue: what they think and feel, how they’re acting, and what they want.

First list all the people who are directly or indirectly relevant to the problem. It may be helpful to create a visual representation of the network of relationships in the ecosystem. Prioritize the stakeholders according to their level of influence on and interest in the problem, and focus on understanding the roles, demographics, behavior patterns, motivations, and goals of the most important ones.

Now create empathy maps for those critical stakeholders. Make a template divided into four sections: Say, Think, Feel, and Do. Conduct interviews or surveys to gather authentic data. How do various users explain the problem? How do they think about the issue, and how do their beliefs inform that thinking? What emotions are they feeling and expressing? How are they behaving? Populate each section of the map with notes based on your observations and interactions. Finally, analyze the completed empathy maps. Look for pain points, inconsistencies, and patterns in stakeholder perspectives.

Returning to the Omega case study, the team identified its ecosystem of stakeholders: customers (both current and potential); retail partners and distributors; the R&D, marketing, and sales teams; suppliers of headphone components; investors and shareholders; and new and existing competitors. They narrowed the list to a few key stakeholders related to the declining-sales problem: customers, retail partners, and investors/shareholders; Omega created empathy maps for representatives from each.

Here’s what the empathy maps showed about what the stakeholders were saying, thinking, feeling, and doing:

Sarah, the customer, complained on social media about the high price of her favorite headphones. Dave, the retailer, expressed concerns about unsold inventory and the challenge of convincing customers to buy the expensive headphones. Alex, the shareholder, brought up Omega’s declining financial performance during its annual investor day.

Sarah thought that Omega was losing touch with its loyal customer base. Dave was considering whether to continue carrying Omega’s products in his store or explore other brands. Alex was contemplating diversifying his portfolio into other consumer-tech companies.

As a longtime supporter of the brand, Sarah felt frustrated and slightly betrayed. Dave was feeling anxious about the drop in sales and the impact on his store’s profitability. Alex was unhappy with the declining stock value.

Sarah was looking for alternatives to the headphones, even though she loves the product’s quality. Dave was scheduling a call with Omega to negotiate pricing and terms. Alex was planning to attend Omega’s next shareholder meeting to find out more information from the leadership team.

When Omega leaders analyzed the data in the maps, they realized that pricing wasn’t the only reason for declining sales. A more profound issue was customers’ dissatisfaction with the perceived price-to-quality ratio, especially when compared with competitors’ offerings. That insight prompted the team to consider enhancing the headphones with additional features, offering more-affordable alternatives, and possibly switching to a service model.

Phase 4: Elevate

This phase involves exploring how the problem connects to broader organizational issues. It’s like zooming out on a map to understand where a city lies in relation to the whole country or continent. This bird’s-eye view reveals interconnected issues and their implications.

For this analysis, we recommend the four-frame model developed by Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal, which offers distinct lenses through which to view the problem at a higher level. The structural frame helps you explore formal structures (such as hierarchy and reporting relationships); processes (such as workflow); and systems, rules, and policies. This frame examines efficiency, coordination, and alignment of activities.

The human resources frame focuses on people, relationships, and social dynamics. This includes teamwork, leadership, employee motivation, engagement, professional development, and personal growth. In this frame, the organization is seen as a community or a family that recognizes that talent is its most valuable asset. The political frame delves into power dynamics, competing interests, conflicts, coalitions, and negotiations. From this perspective, organizations are arenas where various stakeholders vie for resources and engage in political struggles to influence decisions. It helps you see how power is distributed, used, and contested.

The symbolic frame highlights the importance of symbols, rituals, stories, and shared values in shaping group identity and culture. In it, organizations are depicted as theaters through which its members make meaning.

Using this model, the Omega team generated the following insights in the four frames:

Structural.

A deeper look into the company’s structure revealed siloing and a lack of coordination between the R&D and marketing departments, which had led to misaligned messaging to customers. It also highlighted a lack of collaboration between the two functions and pointed to the need to communicate with the target market about the product’s features and benefits in a coherent and compelling way.

Human resources.

This frame revealed that the declining sales and price hikes had ramped up pressure on the sales team, damaging morale. The demotivated team was struggling to effectively promote the product, making it harder to recover from declining sales. Omega realized it was lacking adequate support, training, and incentives for the team.

The key insight from this frame was that the finance team’s reluctance to approve promotions in the sales group to maintain margins was exacerbating the morale problem. Omega understood that investing in sales leadership development while still generating profits was crucial for long-term success and that frank discussions about the issue were needed.

This frame highlighted an important misalignment in perception: The company believed that its headphones were of “top quality,” while customers reported in surveys that they were “overpriced.” This divergence raised alarm that branding, marketing, and pricing strategies, which were all predicated on the central corporate value of superior quality, were no longer resonating with customers. Omega realized that it had been paying too little attention to quality assurance and functionality.

Phase 5: Envision

In this phase, you transition from framing the problem to actively imagining and designing solutions. This involves synthesizing the insights gained from earlier phases and crafting a shared vision of the desired future state.

Here we recommend using a technique known as backcasting. First, clearly define your desired goal. For example, a team struggling with missed deadlines and declining productivity might aim to achieve on-time completion rates of 98% for its projects and increase its volume of projects by 5% over the next year. Next, reverse engineer the path to achieving your goal. Outline key milestones required over both the short term and the long term. For each one, pinpoint specific interventions, strategies, and initiatives that will propel you closer to your goal. These may encompass changes in processes, policies, technologies, and behaviors. Synthesize the activities into a sequenced, chronological, prioritized road map or action plan, and allocate the resources, including time, budget, and personnel, necessary to implement your plan. Finally, monitor progress toward your goal and be prepared to adjust the plan in response to outcomes, feedback, or changing circumstances. This approach ensures that the team’s efforts in implementing the insights from the previous phases are strategically and purposefully directed toward a concrete destination.

Applying the Approach

Albert Einstein once said, “If I had one hour to solve a problem, I would spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about the solution.” That philosophy underpins our E5 framework, which provides a structured approach for conscientiously engaging with complex problems before leaping to solutions.

As teams use the methodology, they must understand that problem-framing in today’s intricate business landscape is rarely a linear process. While we’re attempting to provide a structured path, we also recognize the dynamic nature of problems and the need for adaptability. Invariably, as teams begin to implement solutions, new facets of a problem may come to light, unforeseen challenges may arise, or external circumstances may evolve. Your team should be ready to loop back to previous phases—for instance, revisiting the expand phase to reassess the problem’s frame, delving deeper into an overlooked root cause in another examine phase, or gathering fresh insights from stakeholders in a new empathize phase. Ultimately, the E5 framework is intended to foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.

• JB Julia Binder is the director of the Center for Sustainable and Inclusive Business and a professor of sustainable innovation at IMD.
• Michael D. Watkins is a professor of leadership and organizational change at IMD , a cofounder of Genesis Advisers , and the author of The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking .

Partner Center

How to master the seven-step problem-solving process

In this episode of the McKinsey Podcast , Simon London speaks with Charles Conn, CEO of venture-capital firm Oxford Sciences Innovation, and McKinsey senior partner Hugo Sarrazin about the complexities of different problem-solving strategies.

Podcast transcript

Simon London: Hello, and welcome to this episode of the McKinsey Podcast , with me, Simon London. What’s the number-one skill you need to succeed professionally? Salesmanship, perhaps? Or a facility with statistics? Or maybe the ability to communicate crisply and clearly? Many would argue that at the very top of the list comes problem solving: that is, the ability to think through and come up with an optimal course of action to address any complex challenge—in business, in public policy, or indeed in life.

Looked at this way, it’s no surprise that McKinsey takes problem solving very seriously, testing for it during the recruiting process and then honing it, in McKinsey consultants, through immersion in a structured seven-step method. To discuss the art of problem solving, I sat down in California with McKinsey senior partner Hugo Sarrazin and also with Charles Conn. Charles is a former McKinsey partner, entrepreneur, executive, and coauthor of the book Bulletproof Problem Solving: The One Skill That Changes Everything [John Wiley & Sons, 2018].

Charles and Hugo, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for being here.

Hugo Sarrazin: Our pleasure.

Charles Conn: It’s terrific to be here.

Simon London: Problem solving is a really interesting piece of terminology. It could mean so many different things. I have a son who’s a teenage climber. They talk about solving problems. Climbing is problem solving. Charles, when you talk about problem solving, what are you talking about?

Charles Conn: For me, problem solving is the answer to the question “What should I do?” It’s interesting when there’s uncertainty and complexity, and when it’s meaningful because there are consequences. Your son’s climbing is a perfect example. There are consequences, and it’s complicated, and there’s uncertainty—can he make that grab? I think we can apply that same frame almost at any level. You can think about questions like “What town would I like to live in?” or “Should I put solar panels on my roof?”

You might think that’s a funny thing to apply problem solving to, but in my mind it’s not fundamentally different from business problem solving, which answers the question “What should my strategy be?” Or problem solving at the policy level: “How do we combat climate change?” “Should I support the local school bond?” I think these are all part and parcel of the same type of question, “What should I do?”

I’m a big fan of structured problem solving. By following steps, we can more clearly understand what problem it is we’re solving, what are the components of the problem that we’re solving, which components are the most important ones for us to pay attention to, which analytic techniques we should apply to those, and how we can synthesize what we’ve learned back into a compelling story. That’s all it is, at its heart.

I think sometimes when people think about seven steps, they assume that there’s a rigidity to this. That’s not it at all. It’s actually to give you the scope for creativity, which often doesn’t exist when your problem solving is muddled.

Simon London: You were just talking about the seven-step process. That’s what’s written down in the book, but it’s a very McKinsey process as well. Without getting too deep into the weeds, let’s go through the steps, one by one. You were just talking about problem definition as being a particularly important thing to get right first. That’s the first step. Hugo, tell us about that.

Hugo Sarrazin: It is surprising how often people jump past this step and make a bunch of assumptions. The most powerful thing is to step back and ask the basic questions—“What are we trying to solve? What are the constraints that exist? What are the dependencies?” Let’s make those explicit and really push the thinking and defining. At McKinsey, we spend an enormous amount of time in writing that little statement, and the statement, if you’re a logic purist, is great. You debate. “Is it an ‘or’? Is it an ‘and’? What’s the action verb?” Because all these specific words help you get to the heart of what matters.

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Simon London: So this is a concise problem statement.

Hugo Sarrazin: Yeah. It’s not like “Can we grow in Japan?” That’s interesting, but it is “What, specifically, are we trying to uncover in the growth of a product in Japan? Or a segment in Japan? Or a channel in Japan?” When you spend an enormous amount of time, in the first meeting of the different stakeholders, debating this and having different people put forward what they think the problem definition is, you realize that people have completely different views of why they’re here. That, to me, is the most important step.

Charles Conn: I would agree with that. For me, the problem context is critical. When we understand “What are the forces acting upon your decision maker? How quickly is the answer needed? With what precision is the answer needed? Are there areas that are off limits or areas where we would particularly like to find our solution? Is the decision maker open to exploring other areas?” then you not only become more efficient, and move toward what we call the critical path in problem solving, but you also make it so much more likely that you’re not going to waste your time or your decision maker’s time.

How often do especially bright young people run off with half of the idea about what the problem is and start collecting data and start building models—only to discover that they’ve really gone off half-cocked.

Hugo Sarrazin: Yeah.

Charles Conn: And in the wrong direction.

Simon London: OK. So step one—and there is a real art and a structure to it—is define the problem. Step two, Charles?

Charles Conn: My favorite step is step two, which is to use logic trees to disaggregate the problem. Every problem we’re solving has some complexity and some uncertainty in it. The only way that we can really get our team working on the problem is to take the problem apart into logical pieces.

What we find, of course, is that the way to disaggregate the problem often gives you an insight into the answer to the problem quite quickly. I love to do two or three different cuts at it, each one giving a bit of a different insight into what might be going wrong. By doing sensible disaggregations, using logic trees, we can figure out which parts of the problem we should be looking at, and we can assign those different parts to team members.

Simon London: What’s a good example of a logic tree on a sort of ratable problem?

Charles Conn: Maybe the easiest one is the classic profit tree. Almost in every business that I would take a look at, I would start with a profit or return-on-assets tree. In its simplest form, you have the components of revenue, which are price and quantity, and the components of cost, which are cost and quantity. Each of those can be broken out. Cost can be broken into variable cost and fixed cost. The components of price can be broken into what your pricing scheme is. That simple tree often provides insight into what’s going on in a business or what the difference is between that business and the competitors.

If we add the leg, which is “What’s the asset base or investment element?”—so profit divided by assets—then we can ask the question “Is the business using its investments sensibly?” whether that’s in stores or in manufacturing or in transportation assets. I hope we can see just how simple this is, even though we’re describing it in words.

When I went to work with Gordon Moore at the Moore Foundation, the problem that he asked us to look at was “How can we save Pacific salmon?” Now, that sounds like an impossible question, but it was amenable to precisely the same type of disaggregation and allowed us to organize what became a 15-year effort to improve the likelihood of good outcomes for Pacific salmon.

Simon London: Now, is there a danger that your logic tree can be impossibly large? This, I think, brings us onto the third step in the process, which is that you have to prioritize.

Charles Conn: Absolutely. The third step, which we also emphasize, along with good problem definition, is rigorous prioritization—we ask the questions “How important is this lever or this branch of the tree in the overall outcome that we seek to achieve? How much can I move that lever?” Obviously, we try and focus our efforts on ones that have a big impact on the problem and the ones that we have the ability to change. With salmon, ocean conditions turned out to be a big lever, but not one that we could adjust. We focused our attention on fish habitats and fish-harvesting practices, which were big levers that we could affect.

People spend a lot of time arguing about branches that are either not important or that none of us can change. We see it in the public square. When we deal with questions at the policy level—“Should you support the death penalty?” “How do we affect climate change?” “How can we uncover the causes and address homelessness?”—it’s even more important that we’re focusing on levers that are big and movable.

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Simon London: Let’s move swiftly on to step four. You’ve defined your problem, you disaggregate it, you prioritize where you want to analyze—what you want to really look at hard. Then you got to the work plan. Now, what does that mean in practice?

Hugo Sarrazin: Depending on what you’ve prioritized, there are many things you could do. It could be breaking the work among the team members so that people have a clear piece of the work to do. It could be defining the specific analyses that need to get done and executed, and being clear on time lines. There’s always a level-one answer, there’s a level-two answer, there’s a level-three answer. Without being too flippant, I can solve any problem during a good dinner with wine. It won’t have a whole lot of backing.

Simon London: Not going to have a lot of depth to it.

Hugo Sarrazin: No, but it may be useful as a starting point. If the stakes are not that high, that could be OK. If it’s really high stakes, you may need level three and have the whole model validated in three different ways. You need to find a work plan that reflects the level of precision, the time frame you have, and the stakeholders you need to bring along in the exercise.

Charles Conn: I love the way you’ve described that, because, again, some people think of problem solving as a linear thing, but of course what’s critical is that it’s iterative. As you say, you can solve the problem in one day or even one hour.

Charles Conn: We encourage our teams everywhere to do that. We call it the one-day answer or the one-hour answer. In work planning, we’re always iterating. Every time you see a 50-page work plan that stretches out to three months, you know it’s wrong. It will be outmoded very quickly by that learning process that you described. Iterative problem solving is a critical part of this. Sometimes, people think work planning sounds dull, but it isn’t. It’s how we know what’s expected of us and when we need to deliver it and how we’re progressing toward the answer. It’s also the place where we can deal with biases. Bias is a feature of every human decision-making process. If we design our team interactions intelligently, we can avoid the worst sort of biases.

Simon London: Here we’re talking about cognitive biases primarily, right? It’s not that I’m biased against you because of your accent or something. These are the cognitive biases that behavioral sciences have shown we all carry around, things like anchoring, overoptimism—these kinds of things.

Both: Yeah.

Charles Conn: Availability bias is the one that I’m always alert to. You think you’ve seen the problem before, and therefore what’s available is your previous conception of it—and we have to be most careful about that. In any human setting, we also have to be careful about biases that are based on hierarchies, sometimes called sunflower bias. I’m sure, Hugo, with your teams, you make sure that the youngest team members speak first. Not the oldest team members, because it’s easy for people to look at who’s senior and alter their own creative approaches.

Hugo Sarrazin: It’s helpful, at that moment—if someone is asserting a point of view—to ask the question “This was true in what context?” You’re trying to apply something that worked in one context to a different one. That can be deadly if the context has changed, and that’s why organizations struggle to change. You promote all these people because they did something that worked well in the past, and then there’s a disruption in the industry, and they keep doing what got them promoted even though the context has changed.

Simon London: Right. Right.

Hugo Sarrazin: So it’s the same thing in problem solving.

Charles Conn: And it’s why diversity in our teams is so important. It’s one of the best things about the world that we’re in now. We’re likely to have people from different socioeconomic, ethnic, and national backgrounds, each of whom sees problems from a slightly different perspective. It is therefore much more likely that the team will uncover a truly creative and clever approach to problem solving.

Simon London: Let’s move on to step five. You’ve done your work plan. Now you’ve actually got to do the analysis. The thing that strikes me here is that the range of tools that we have at our disposal now, of course, is just huge, particularly with advances in computation, advanced analytics. There’s so many things that you can apply here. Just talk about the analysis stage. How do you pick the right tools?

Charles Conn: For me, the most important thing is that we start with simple heuristics and explanatory statistics before we go off and use the big-gun tools. We need to understand the shape and scope of our problem before we start applying these massive and complex analytical approaches.

Simon London: Would you agree with that?

Hugo Sarrazin: I agree. I think there are so many wonderful heuristics. You need to start there before you go deep into the modeling exercise. There’s an interesting dynamic that’s happening, though. In some cases, for some types of problems, it is even better to set yourself up to maximize your learning. Your problem-solving methodology is test and learn, test and learn, test and learn, and iterate. That is a heuristic in itself, the A/B testing that is used in many parts of the world. So that’s a problem-solving methodology. It’s nothing different. It just uses technology and feedback loops in a fast way. The other one is exploratory data analysis. When you’re dealing with a large-scale problem, and there’s so much data, I can get to the heuristics that Charles was talking about through very clever visualization of data.

You test with your data. You need to set up an environment to do so, but don’t get caught up in neural-network modeling immediately. You’re testing, you’re checking—“Is the data right? Is it sound? Does it make sense?”—before you launch too far.

Simon London: You do hear these ideas—that if you have a big enough data set and enough algorithms, they’re going to find things that you just wouldn’t have spotted, find solutions that maybe you wouldn’t have thought of. Does machine learning sort of revolutionize the problem-solving process? Or are these actually just other tools in the toolbox for structured problem solving?

Charles Conn: It can be revolutionary. There are some areas in which the pattern recognition of large data sets and good algorithms can help us see things that we otherwise couldn’t see. But I do think it’s terribly important we don’t think that this particular technique is a substitute for superb problem solving, starting with good problem definition. Many people use machine learning without understanding algorithms that themselves can have biases built into them. Just as 20 years ago, when we were doing statistical analysis, we knew that we needed good model definition, we still need a good understanding of our algorithms and really good problem definition before we launch off into big data sets and unknown algorithms.

Simon London: Step six. You’ve done your analysis.

Charles Conn: I take six and seven together, and this is the place where young problem solvers often make a mistake. They’ve got their analysis, and they assume that’s the answer, and of course it isn’t the answer. The ability to synthesize the pieces that came out of the analysis and begin to weave those into a story that helps people answer the question “What should I do?” This is back to where we started. If we can’t synthesize, and we can’t tell a story, then our decision maker can’t find the answer to “What should I do?”

Simon London: But, again, these final steps are about motivating people to action, right?

Charles Conn: Yeah.

Simon London: I am slightly torn about the nomenclature of problem solving because it’s on paper, right? Until you motivate people to action, you actually haven’t solved anything.

Charles Conn: I love this question because I think decision-making theory, without a bias to action, is a waste of time. Everything in how I approach this is to help people take action that makes the world better.

Simon London: Hence, these are absolutely critical steps. If you don’t do this well, you’ve just got a bunch of analysis.

Charles Conn: We end up in exactly the same place where we started, which is people speaking across each other, past each other in the public square, rather than actually working together, shoulder to shoulder, to crack these important problems.

Simon London: In the real world, we have a lot of uncertainty—arguably, increasing uncertainty. How do good problem solvers deal with that?

Hugo Sarrazin: At every step of the process. In the problem definition, when you’re defining the context, you need to understand those sources of uncertainty and whether they’re important or not important. It becomes important in the definition of the tree.

You need to think carefully about the branches of the tree that are more certain and less certain as you define them. They don’t have equal weight just because they’ve got equal space on the page. Then, when you’re prioritizing, your prioritization approach may put more emphasis on things that have low probability but huge impact—or, vice versa, may put a lot of priority on things that are very likely and, hopefully, have a reasonable impact. You can introduce that along the way. When you come back to the synthesis, you just need to be nuanced about what you’re understanding, the likelihood.

Often, people lack humility in the way they make their recommendations: “This is the answer.” They’re very precise, and I think we would all be well-served to say, “This is a likely answer under the following sets of conditions” and then make the level of uncertainty clearer, if that is appropriate. It doesn’t mean you’re always in the gray zone; it doesn’t mean you don’t have a point of view. It just means that you can be explicit about the certainty of your answer when you make that recommendation.

Simon London: So it sounds like there is an underlying principle: “Acknowledge and embrace the uncertainty. Don’t pretend that it isn’t there. Be very clear about what the uncertainties are up front, and then build that into every step of the process.”

Hugo Sarrazin: Every step of the process.

Simon London: Yeah. We have just walked through a particular structured methodology for problem solving. But, of course, this is not the only structured methodology for problem solving. One that is also very well-known is design thinking, which comes at things very differently. So, Hugo, I know you have worked with a lot of designers. Just give us a very quick summary. Design thinking—what is it, and how does it relate?

Hugo Sarrazin: It starts with an incredible amount of empathy for the user and uses that to define the problem. It does pause and go out in the wild and spend an enormous amount of time seeing how people interact with objects, seeing the experience they’re getting, seeing the pain points or joy—and uses that to infer and define the problem.

Simon London: Problem definition, but out in the world.

Hugo Sarrazin: With an enormous amount of empathy. There’s a huge emphasis on empathy. Traditional, more classic problem solving is you define the problem based on an understanding of the situation. This one almost presupposes that we don’t know the problem until we go see it. The second thing is you need to come up with multiple scenarios or answers or ideas or concepts, and there’s a lot of divergent thinking initially. That’s slightly different, versus the prioritization, but not for long. Eventually, you need to kind of say, “OK, I’m going to converge again.” Then you go and you bring things back to the customer and get feedback and iterate. Then you rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. There’s a lot of tactile building, along the way, of prototypes and things like that. It’s very iterative.

Simon London: So, Charles, are these complements or are these alternatives?

Charles Conn: I think they’re entirely complementary, and I think Hugo’s description is perfect. When we do problem definition well in classic problem solving, we are demonstrating the kind of empathy, at the very beginning of our problem, that design thinking asks us to approach. When we ideate—and that’s very similar to the disaggregation, prioritization, and work-planning steps—we do precisely the same thing, and often we use contrasting teams, so that we do have divergent thinking. The best teams allow divergent thinking to bump them off whatever their initial biases in problem solving are. For me, design thinking gives us a constant reminder of creativity, empathy, and the tactile nature of problem solving, but it’s absolutely complementary, not alternative.

Simon London: I think, in a world of cross-functional teams, an interesting question is do people with design-thinking backgrounds really work well together with classical problem solvers? How do you make that chemistry happen?

Hugo Sarrazin: Yeah, it is not easy when people have spent an enormous amount of time seeped in design thinking or user-centric design, whichever word you want to use. If the person who’s applying classic problem-solving methodology is very rigid and mechanical in the way they’re doing it, there could be an enormous amount of tension. If there’s not clarity in the role and not clarity in the process, I think having the two together can be, sometimes, problematic.

The second thing that happens often is that the artifacts the two methodologies try to gravitate toward can be different. Classic problem solving often gravitates toward a model; design thinking migrates toward a prototype. Rather than writing a big deck with all my supporting evidence, they’ll bring an example, a thing, and that feels different. Then you spend your time differently to achieve those two end products, so that’s another source of friction.

Now, I still think it can be an incredibly powerful thing to have the two—if there are the right people with the right mind-set, if there is a team that is explicit about the roles, if we’re clear about the kind of outcomes we are attempting to bring forward. There’s an enormous amount of collaborativeness and respect.

Simon London: But they have to respect each other’s methodology and be prepared to flex, maybe, a little bit, in how this process is going to work.

Hugo Sarrazin: Absolutely.

Simon London: The other area where, it strikes me, there could be a little bit of a different sort of friction is this whole concept of the day-one answer, which is what we were just talking about in classical problem solving. Now, you know that this is probably not going to be your final answer, but that’s how you begin to structure the problem. Whereas I would imagine your design thinkers—no, they’re going off to do their ethnographic research and get out into the field, potentially for a long time, before they come back with at least an initial hypothesis.

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Hugo Sarrazin: That is a great callout, and that’s another difference. Designers typically will like to soak into the situation and avoid converging too quickly. There’s optionality and exploring different options. There’s a strong belief that keeps the solution space wide enough that you can come up with more radical ideas. If there’s a large design team or many designers on the team, and you come on Friday and say, “What’s our week-one answer?” they’re going to struggle. They’re not going to be comfortable, naturally, to give that answer. It doesn’t mean they don’t have an answer; it’s just not where they are in their thinking process.

Simon London: I think we are, sadly, out of time for today. But Charles and Hugo, thank you so much.

Charles Conn: It was a pleasure to be here, Simon.

Hugo Sarrazin: It was a pleasure. Thank you.

Simon London: And thanks, as always, to you, our listeners, for tuning into this episode of the McKinsey Podcast . If you want to learn more about problem solving, you can find the book, Bulletproof Problem Solving: The One Skill That Changes Everything , online or order it through your local bookstore. To learn more about McKinsey, you can of course find us at McKinsey.com.

Charles Conn is CEO of Oxford Sciences Innovation and an alumnus of McKinsey’s Sydney office. Hugo Sarrazin is a senior partner in the Silicon Valley office, where Simon London, a member of McKinsey Publishing, is also based.

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• Problem-Solving Skills to Highlight on Your Resume with Examples

Imagine you’re a superhero in the job market, equipped with a unique set of skills that can save the day. While a list of qualifications might get you noticed, it’s your problem-solving prowess that truly sets you apart from the rest. In a world where 92% of hiring managers emphasize the importance of these skills, standing out requires more than just the basics. Problem-solving isn’t just a buzzword—it’s your superpower. 

So, how do you make sure this superpower shines through on your resume? Let’s dive into how you can effectively showcase your problem-solving abilities with real-life examples and stand out in the competitive job arena.

Why are Problem-Solving Skills Important?

Problem-solving skills encompass a range of key abilities that are crucial in any industry or job role. Analytical thinking allows you to deconstruct complex problems into manageable parts and assess them systematically, helping you identify the root causes and develop effective solutions. Creativity fosters innovative approaches to problem-solving, often leading to breakthrough ideas and new methods that can significantly benefit an organization. 

Decision-making is essential for making informed choices based on data and insights, ensuring that solutions are practical and aligned with organisational goals. Adaptability is crucial in dynamic environments, enabling you to adjust strategies as new information or challenges arise. Collaboration enhances problem-solving by leveraging diverse perspectives and team strengths, while resilience ensures you remain focused and positive despite setbacks. 

Critical thinking helps you evaluate information objectively and make reasoned judgments, ensuring that solutions are based on sound logic. Finally, strong communication skills are vital for clearly articulating problems, solutions, and the rationale behind your decisions, ensuring that your ideas are understood and effectively implemented.

How to Highlight Problem-Solving Skills on Your Resume

Use specific examples.

One of the most effective ways to demonstrate your problem-solving skills is by providing specific examples. This approach helps employers see the real impact of your abilities. Here’s how you can structure your examples:

• Situation: Briefly describe the context or challenge you faced.
• Task: Explain the objective or responsibility you had in addressing the challenge.
• Action: Detail the steps you took to resolve the issue.
• Result: Share the outcome of your actions and how it benefited the organization.

Situation: At XYZ Company, we faced a significant decline in customer satisfaction scores.

Task: As the Customer Service Manager, the responsibility is to improve the customer experience.

Action: Initiate a comprehensive review of the customer service processes, implement new training programs for staff, and introduce a feedback system.

Result: Increased customer satisfaction score by 30% over six months, and grew repeat customers by 20%.

Quantify Your Achievements

Quantifying your achievements adds credibility to your problem-solving skills. Numbers and percentages make your accomplishments more tangible and impressive.

Situation: Our sales team was struggling to meet quarterly targets.

Task: As a Sales Analyst, you need to identify and address the root causes of the underperformance.

Action: Analysing the sales data, identifying key areas of improvement, and developing a targeted sales strategy. Implement a new CRM system to track performance more effectively.

Result: Overachieved sales targets by 15% with 25% increased accuracy in the new CRM system.

Highlight Relevant Skills and Tools

In addition to providing examples, it’s important to mention the specific skills and tools you used to solve problems. This helps employers understand the technical and soft skills you bring to the table.

Situation: The marketing team needed to improve the effectiveness of our online campaigns.

Task: As a Digital Marketing Specialist, the role is to enhance campaign performance.

Action: Use data analytics tools such as Google Analytics and A/B testing to optimize ad strategies and targeting. New content strategies should be implemented based on user behaviour insights.

Result: Grew campaign conversation rates by 40% with 25% improvement in overall ROI.

Showcase Problem-Solving in Different Scenarios

Demonstrating problem-solving skills in various scenarios, such as team projects, individual tasks, and crisis situations, provides a well-rounded view of your abilities.

Situation: During a major product launch, the development team encountered unexpected technical issues.

Task: As a Project Manager, you need to ensure the launch stays on schedule.

Action: Coordinate with cross-functional teams to quickly address the issues, adjust project timelines, and communicate transparently with stakeholders.

Result: Launched the product ahead of time though cross functional coordination and managing roadblocks on each stage of the project.

Incorporate Industry-Specific Problem-Solving Skills

Tailor your examples to the industry you’re applying for. Highlighting problem-solving skills relevant to the specific field can make your resume stand out.

Situation: In a competitive tech industry, our company faced challenges in maintaining a leading edge with product innovation.

Task: As a Software Engineer, the role is to contribute to innovative solutions.

Action: Develop a new feature that leverages emerging technologies. A user research is conducted to align the feature with market needs.

Result: Launched a new feature successfully upon research and development. Drove a 50% increase in user engagement and earning industry recognition.

Final Words…

Highlighting your problem-solving skills on your resume is crucial for demonstrating your ability to add value to potential employers. By providing specific examples, quantifying your achievements, showcasing relevant skills and tools, and tailoring your examples to the industry, you can effectively communicate your problem-solving abilities. Remember, the goal is to show how you can turn challenges into opportunities and contribute positively to an organization’s success. As Peter Drucker says, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

Ready to make your resume shine with your problem-solving skills? Start by revisiting your achievements and crafting compelling examples that highlight your unique abilities. Let your resume reflect not just what you’ve done, but how you’ve tackled challenges and created impactful solutions.

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