The Problem Mindset: 5 Ways to Improve Your Approach

In today’s world, there’s a constant push for self improvement, professionally, technically, and personally. From the 10+ apps we all have on our phones to track our productivity, sleep, and activity(90% of which go unused if we’re honest with ourselves) to the mountains of self-help and business books that are recommended on every blog and article we read; the trend of self-improvement seems to be here to stay and that’s a great thing when approached holistically. 

Being a specialist is a great asset in many areas of our careers but when it comes to self-improvement, being a generalist is the way to go.

"A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one"

Mastery isn’t the goal as there is no hard and fast finish line that can be reached when we can kick back and say, “I’ve improved enough.” Taking a small step forward in every area of your professional life is much more useful than becoming a master in one and terrible at the others(what’s the point in being a great public speaker if you’re lack of organization has you presenting the wrong slides half the time)

Everyone knows to work on their time management, public speaking, and organizational skills to name a few; most don’t take the time to work on their thought process when approaching problems and favor improving the skills needed to solve them.

Common sense tells us, if you’re given a problem to solve: 

1. Assess the problem
2. Determine possible solutions
3. Pick one that works
4. Implement it
5. Problem solved

The standard problem solving methodology is a solution focused mentality that’s widely accepted, while precedence is given to improving our skills that solve the problems (technical skills, time management, etc.) but what if the standard way of thinking about problems is outdated? What if it breeds an ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’ mentality? What if by not changing the way we approach problems, we’re potentially stunting our own growth and also the growth of our teams?

In my own journey to improve the way I approach problems, I began writing down what I learned along the way and here’s what I found (in no particular order):

1. Approach from a problem-centric view- This isn’t to say that you should get hung up on the negatives or what’s wrong in a situation, but rather, look at the issue from every angle possible by asking yourself ‘what if’ questions. What if the circumstances of the problem change tomorrow? What if I don’t have the resources available to solve the problem? What if I lack the domain knowledge?
2. If you fudge the numbers, you’ll fudge the solution- Imagine it’s the night before you’re supposed to present your solution to your team at work, you’ve been stumped the whole week and don’t have a solution that really works (happens to literally everyone at some point). It becomes very tempting to skew your own analysis to fit the conclusion you want. By doing this, you’re not only doing yourself a disservice by accepting a sub-par solution, but are potentially putting your team at risk for issues to come up in the future.
3. Data First, Emotion Second- When approaching a problem, focus on the information you have to back up the need. The first step when a problem is identified needs to be asking yourself as an individual or as a team, “is this a real issue that needs to be addressed?” If the answer is yes, then it’s time to apply that same mentality to your solutions. It’s easy to become emotionally attached to a potential solution, especially if we’re the ones who pitched it, but at the end of the day, if the need isn’t met, it’s not a real solution.
4. Prioritize- We’re often hit with several problems to solve at the same time. Mix that in with constant emails and slack messages coming through, texts from your mom asking why you haven’t called, and the countless distractions that come with working remotely and you can quickly find yourself at the end of a week with little to show. Tackle each thing that comes up as it’s own issue with its own solution but first prioritize what’s the most pressing! If the emails/slack messages are urgent, respond. If they’re not, shift them down the list. Keep yourself organized and moving forward by knowing what you’re taking on at the moment and what you’ll be taking on in the next. Don’t multitask, it doesn’t work.
5. Review, Revise, Reiterate- Once a problem is solved, and a solution implemented, we often enter ‘set it and forget it’ mode. There is very rarely a perfect solution to any problem. There are ones that don’t work and ones that can be better. By continuously reviewing issues and problems solved in the past, we’re able to apply new experiences and knowledge to old problems to implement better solutions. Even if it’s once a quarter, looking back at old issues and seeking out areas of improvement is key in the problem solving mindset.

I’ve heard people as young as 25 say the cliché, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” and that’s ridiculous to me. If you’re willing to work on things, it’s never too late to improve- whether it be your technical skills, time management, organization, or my personal favorite, solving problems.

--

Himanshu Tandon is a co-founder and on the Operations/Growth Strategy team at Minos Labs, a Career Acceleration & Human Capital Management Platform providing students with a path to their first role in tech while streamlining the screening/onboarding process for Fortune 1000 Organizations to build a qualified pipeline of tech talent for years to come.