PROBLEM SOLVING SKILL

... and why it’s one of the most important survival skills in the workplace.

Imagine being stranded on an empty island, how would you survive? Do we ever really think about the answer? Probably not, because we know we're not going to go to an inhabited island nor joining such a reality show.

Yet, how many times do we, as managers or directors, gets frustrated when our team members are caught up in a chaotic mayhem just because of one of the process isn’t being done right? Or how many times do we lose a customer just because our customer service officer isn’t giving a satisfactory answer to settle the issue with the customer and they walk away angrily?

Don’t we wish that everyone in the team would have gotten a good problem solving skill, so issues don’t need to get escalated to manager or even director level?

Well, ideally so.

Most people think that this particular skill, can only be obtained thru years of experience, or personal bad experiences dealing with problems. The answer is yes and no. 

So, look at it the other way around. Would you hire a fresh grad? Considering he or she might not have the experience to handle the risks of the job? I would and I have.

One of the reasons is that I really enjoy solving problems, challenges or issues. For me it’s a mind exercise. (except Sudoku, I don’t want to spend my hours solving Sudoku)

I was a first-jobber at the age of 20 years old. I was in a sales-customer service field, assisting potential students. One of my learning (most complicated at that time) was to solve an issue with a parent whom kid skipped class, and she claim to get a replacement schedule. As she was quite tough & refusing to understand our operational policy, I ended up saying “sorry we cannot replace the class because you missed it” so there goes one angry parent.

Later then my boss said “you should have said it differently, and offer a solution for her because if she comes to you for a complaint, she has the need and the want to study here”. It got me thinking, why was I so caught up in defending our operational policy and not stepping into her shoes and try to put it differently so she was not so upset? (anyway, at the end matters resolved and she was our happy loyal customer once again).

After that one incident, I started to develop a habit of questioning and looking at things from multiple perspectives. Years forward, whenever I am having a meeting with my team, I would always be asking “why, how and what if” questions to my team members. For them who’re not used to getting so many questions, it could be pretty annoying at first :) yet after a few sessions, then they would get used to the idea.

People start to develop openness about other people’s ideas, they challenge themselves & share their ideas and opinions - making discussions more productive. They are now getting used to look at things from a different perspective, see the challenge as a riddle to be solved, in order to find the best solutions.

For example when we have a sales or product meeting the discussion would be “if we tried this and it doesn’t work, what should change?” .... Should we change the sales pitch? Or should we add more description to the product? Are they price sensitive? Do they need to try the product first?. They do not settle for the ordinary solution. They look for things out of the box - and that's when innovation starts to happen.

Meetings should be the place where everyone contributes and saying their opinions, giving out ideas and solutions, and improving the product or business. It’s not about someone talking about their ideas, and the others just say “yes”. 

So, not long after these sessions, the team would became more prepared in meetings – so when the client ask “how about this” – we would say “we have the answer/solution in slide # ... ”. This could turn stressful meetings into pretty fun sessions, and made everyone in the team felt good about themselves because they don’t feel like they’re being put under the spotlight without being able to answer.

This particular skill or habit will get you to places, it could take one incident or multiple chaotic situations, but it’s up to you how you want to learn from it. Someone with no bad experience, could always develop this habit, and can prepare themselves for multiple tests – projects – presentations - life challenges etc.

The only formula is that you don’t settle for the ordinary, keep asking yourself “what could happen, what would be the solution, is there another way to do this, how would someone else do this more efficiently?” once you get this thing going in your brain, then you’re good to go.

Never stop learning. There is no such thing as perfection. Evolve.

Otherwise you'll be lost.