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A guide to problem-solving techniques, steps, and skills

You might associate problem-solving with the math exercises that a seven-year-old would do at school. But problem-solving isn’t just about math — it’s a crucial skill that helps everyone make better decisions in everyday life or work.

A guide to problem-solving techniques, steps, and skills

Problem-solving involves finding effective solutions to address complex challenges, in any context they may arise.

Unfortunately, structured and systematic problem-solving methods aren’t commonly taught. Instead, when solving a problem, PMs tend to rely heavily on intuition. While for simple issues this might work well, solving a complex problem with a straightforward solution is often ineffective and can even create more problems.

In this article, you’ll learn a framework for approaching problem-solving, alongside how you can improve your problem-solving skills.

The 7 steps to problem-solving

When it comes to problem-solving there are seven key steps that you should follow: define the problem, disaggregate, prioritize problem branches, create an analysis plan, conduct analysis, synthesis, and communication.

1. Define the problem

Problem-solving begins with a clear understanding of the issue at hand. Without a well-defined problem statement, confusion and misunderstandings can hinder progress. It’s crucial to ensure that the problem statement is outcome-focused, specific, measurable whenever possible, and time-bound.

Additionally, aligning the problem definition with relevant stakeholders and decision-makers is essential to ensure efforts are directed towards addressing the actual problem rather than side issues.

2. Disaggregate

Complex issues often require deeper analysis. Instead of tackling the entire problem at once, the next step is to break it down into smaller, more manageable components.

Various types of logic trees (also known as issue trees or decision trees) can be used to break down the problem. At each stage where new branches are created, it’s important for them to be “MECE” – mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive. This process of breaking down continues until manageable components are identified, allowing for individual examination.

The decomposition of the problem demands looking at the problem from various perspectives. That is why collaboration within a team often yields more valuable results, as diverse viewpoints lead to a richer pool of ideas and solutions.

3. Prioritize problem branches

The next step involves prioritization. Not all branches of the problem tree have the same impact, so it’s important to understand the significance of each and focus attention on the most impactful areas. Prioritizing helps streamline efforts and minimize the time required to solve the problem.

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4. Create an analysis plan

For prioritized components, you may need to conduct in-depth analysis. Before proceeding, a work plan is created for data gathering and analysis. If work is conducted within a team, having a plan provides guidance on what needs to be achieved, who is responsible for which tasks, and the timelines involved.

5. Conduct analysis

Data gathering and analysis are central to the problem-solving process. It’s a good practice to set time limits for this phase to prevent excessive time spent on perfecting details. You can employ heuristics and rule-of-thumb reasoning to improve efficiency and direct efforts towards the most impactful work.

6. Synthesis

After each individual branch component has been researched, the problem isn’t solved yet. The next step is synthesizing the data logically to address the initial question. The synthesis process and the logical relationship between the individual branch results depend on the logic tree used.

7. Communication

The last step is communicating the story and the solution of the problem to the stakeholders and decision-makers. Clear effective communication is necessary to build trust in the solution and facilitates understanding among all parties involved. It ensures that stakeholders grasp the intricacies of the problem and the proposed solution, leading to informed decision-making.

Exploring problem-solving in various contexts

While problem-solving has traditionally been associated with fields like engineering and science, today it has become a fundamental skill for individuals across all professions. In fact, problem-solving consistently ranks as one of the top skills required by employers.

Problem-solving techniques can be applied in diverse contexts:

Individuals — What career path should I choose? Where should I live? These are examples of simple and common personal challenges that require effective problem-solving skills
Organizations — Businesses also face many decisions that are not trivial to answer. Should we expand into new markets this year? How can we enhance the quality of our product development? Will our office accommodate the upcoming year’s growth in terms of capacity?
Societal issues — The biggest world challenges are also complex problems that can be addressed with the same technique. How can we minimize the impact of climate change? How do we fight cancer?

Despite the variation in domains and contexts, the fundamental approach to solving these questions remains the same. It starts with gaining a clear understanding of the problem, followed by decomposition, conducting analysis of the decomposed branches, and synthesizing it into a result that answers the initial problem.

Real-world examples of problem-solving

Let’s now explore some examples where we can apply the problem solving framework.

Problem: In the production of electronic devices, you observe an increasing number of defects. How can you reduce the error rate and improve the quality?

Before delving into analysis, you can deprioritize branches that you already have information for or ones you deem less important. For instance, while transportation delays may occur, the resulting material degradation is likely negligible. For other branches, additional research and data gathering may be necessary.

Once results are obtained, synthesis is crucial to address the core question: How can you decrease the defect rate?

While all factors listed may play a role, their significance varies. Your task is to prioritize effectively. Through data analysis, you may discover that altering the equipment would bring the most substantial positive outcome. However, executing a solution isn’t always straightforward. In prioritizing, you should consider both the potential impact and the level of effort needed for implementation.

By evaluating impact and effort, you can systematically prioritize areas for improvement, focusing on those with high impact and requiring minimal effort to address. This approach ensures efficient allocation of resources towards improvements that offer the greatest return on investment.

Problem : What should be my next job role?

When breaking down this problem, you need to consider various factors that are important for your future happiness in the role. This includes aspects like the company culture, our interest in the work itself, and the lifestyle that you can afford with the role.

However, not all factors carry the same weight for us. To make sense of the results, we can assign a weight factor to each branch. For instance, passion for the job role may have a weight factor of 1, while interest in the industry may have a weight factor of 0.5, because that is less important for you.

By applying these weights to a specific role and summing the values, you can have an estimate of how suitable that role is for you. Moreover, you can compare two roles and make an informed decision based on these weighted indicators.

Key problem-solving skills

This framework provides the foundation and guidance needed to effectively solve problems. However, successfully applying this framework requires the following:

Creativity — During the decomposition phase, it’s essential to approach the problem from various perspectives and think outside the box to generate innovative ideas for breaking down the problem tree
Decision-making — Throughout the process, decisions must be made, even when full confidence is lacking. Employing rules of thumb to simplify analysis or selecting one tree cut over another requires decisiveness and comfort with choices made
Analytical skills — Analytical and research skills are necessary for the phase following decomposition, involving data gathering and analysis on selected tree branches
Teamwork — Collaboration and teamwork are crucial when working within a team setting. Solving problems effectively often requires collective effort and shared responsibility
Communication — Clear and structured communication is essential to convey the problem solution to stakeholders and decision-makers and build trust

How to enhance your problem-solving skills

Problem-solving requires practice and a certain mindset. The more you practice, the easier it becomes. Here are some strategies to enhance your skills:

Practice structured thinking in your daily life — Break down problems or questions into manageable parts. You don’t need to go through the entire problem-solving process and conduct detailed analysis. When conveying a message, simplify the conversation by breaking the message into smaller, more understandable segments
Regularly challenging yourself with games and puzzles — Solving puzzles, riddles, or strategy games can boost your problem-solving skills and cognitive agility.
Engage with individuals from diverse backgrounds and viewpoints — Conversing with people who offer different perspectives provides fresh insights and alternative solutions to problems. This boosts creativity and helps in approaching challenges from new angles

Final thoughts

Problem-solving extends far beyond mathematics or scientific fields; it’s a critical skill for making informed decisions in every area of life and work. The seven-step framework presented here provides a systematic approach to problem-solving, relevant across various domains.

Now, consider this: What’s one question currently on your mind? Grab a piece of paper and try to apply the problem-solving framework. You might uncover fresh insights you hadn’t considered before.

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How to Improve Problem Solving Skills

Last Updated: January 27, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Erin Conlon, PCC, JD . Erin Conlon is an Executive Life Coach, the Founder of Erin Conlon Coaching, and the host of the podcast "This is Not Advice." She specializes in aiding leaders and executives to thrive in their career and personal lives. In addition to her private coaching practice, she teaches and trains coaches and develops and revises training materials to be more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. She holds a BA in Communications and History and a JD from The University of Michigan. Erin is a Professional Certified Coach with The International Coaching Federation. There are 13 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 235,381 times.

The ability to solve problems applies to more than just mathematics homework. Analytical thinking and problem-solving skills are a part of many jobs, ranging from accounting and computer programming to detective work and even creative occupations like art, acting, and writing. While individual problems vary, there are certain general approaches to problem-solving like the one first proposed by mathematician George Polya in 1945. [1] X Research source By following his principles of understanding the problem, devising a plan, carrying out the plan, and looking back, you can improve your problem-solving and tackle any issue systematically.

Define the problem clearly.

This is an outwardly simple but vital step.

Try to formulate questions. Say that as a student you have very little money and want to find an effective solution. What is at issue? Is it one of income – are you not making enough money? Is it one of over-spending? Or perhaps you have run into unexpected expenses or your financial situation has changed?

State your objective.

This is another means to reach the nature of the problem.

Say that your problem is still money. What is your goal? Perhaps you never have enough to go out on the weekend and have fun at the movies or a club. You decide that your goal is to have more spending cash. Good! With a clear goal, you have better defined the problem.

Gather information systematically.

Gathering facts helps you get a clear picture of your problem and goal.

To solve your money shortage, for example, you would want to get as detailed a picture of your financial situation as possible. Collect data through your latest bank statements and to talk to a bank teller. Track your earnings and spending habits in a notebook, and then create a spreadsheet or chart to show your income alongside your expenditures.

Analyze information.

Looking for links and relationships in your data can help you better understand your situation.

Say you have now collected all your bank statements. Look at them. When, how, and from where is your money coming? Where, when, and how are you spending it? What is the overall pattern of your finances? Do you have a net surplus or deficit? Are there any unexplained items?

Generate possible solutions.

This is a great time to consider all of your options.

Your problem is a lack of money. Your goal is to have more spending cash. What are your options? Without evaluating them, come up with possible options. Perhaps you can acquire more money by getting a part-time job or by taking out a student loan. On the other hand, you might try to save by cutting your spending or by lowering other costs.
Divide and conquer. Break the problem into smaller problems and brainstorm solutions for them separately, one by one.
Use analogies and similarities. Try to find a resemblance with a previously solved or common problem. If you can find commonalities between your situation and one you've dealt with before, you may be able to adapt some of the solutions for use now.

Evaluate the solutions and choose.

A thorough analysis helps you make the best possible choice.

How can you raise money? Look at expenditures – you aren’t spending much outside of basic needs like tuition, food, and housing. Can you cut costs in other ways like finding a roommate to split rent? Can you afford to take a student loan just to have fun on the weekend? Can you spare time from your studies to work part-time?
Each solution will produce its own set of circumstances that need evaluation. Run projections. Your money problem will require you to draw up budgets. But it will also take personal consideration. For example, can you cut back on basic things like food or housing? Are you willing to prioritize money over school or to take on debt?

Implement a solution.

This gives you a chance to see how effective your solution really is.

You decide to cut costs, because you were unwilling to take on debt, to divert time away from school, or to live with a roommate. You draw up a detailed budget, cutting a few dollars here and there, and commit to a month-long trial.

Review and evaluate the outcome.

Ask yourself if the solution is working, or if it needs to be adjusted.

The results of your trial are mixed. On one hand, you have saved enough during the month for fun weekend activities. But there are new problems. You find that you must choose between spending cash and buying basics like food. You also need a new pair of shoes but can’t afford it, according to your budget. You may need to a different solution.

Adjust if necessary.

It’s okay if your first solution doesn’t work out.

After a month, you decide to abandon your first budget and to look for part-time work. You find a work-study job on campus. Making a new budget, you now have extra money without taking too much time away from your studies. You may have an effective solution.

Do regular mental exercises.

Like a muscle in your body, you will need to work on problem solving regularly.

Word games work great. In a game like “Split Words,” for example, you have to match word fragments to form words under a given theme like “philosophy.” In the game, “Tower of Babel,” you will need to memorize and then match words in a foreign language to the proper picture.
Mathematical games will also put your problem solving to the test. Whether it be number or word problems, you will have to activate the parts of your brain that analyze information. For instance: “James is half as old now as he will be when he is 60 years older than he was six years before he was half as old as he is now. How old will James be when his age is twice what it was 10 years after he was half his current age?”

Play video games.

New research shows that playing video games can improve parts of your thinking.

Play something that will force you to think strategically or analytically. Try a puzzle game like Tetris. Or, perhaps you would rather prefer a role-playing or strategy game. In that case, something like “Civilization” or “Sim-City” might suit you better.

Take up a hobby.

A hobby is another way that you can continue to improve your problem solving skills.

Web design, software programming, jigsaw puzzles, Sudoku, and chess are also hobbies that will force you to think strategically and systematically. Any of these will help you improve your overall problem solving.

Expert Q&A

↑ https://math.berkeley.edu/~gmelvin/polya.pdf
↑ https://www.healthywa.wa.gov.au/Articles/N_R/Problem-solving
↑ https://asq.org/quality-resources/problem-solving
↑ https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/evaluate/evaluate-community-interventions/collect-analyze-data/main
↑ https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_96.htm
↑ https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/problem-solving.html
↑ Erin Conlon, PCC, JD. Executive Life Coach. Expert Interview. 31 August 2021.
↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5930973/
↑ https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/oct/13/mental-exercises-to-keep-your-brain-sharp
↑ https://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/02/video-game
↑ https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05449-7

About This Article

To improve your problem-solving skills, start by clearly defining the problem and your objective or goal. Next, gather as much information as you can about the problem and organize the data by rewording, condensing, or summarizing it. Then, analyze the information you've gathered, looking for important links, patterns, and relationships in the data. Finally, brainstorm possible solutions, evaluate the solutions, and choose one to implement. For tips on implementing solutions successfully, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Build Your Problem-Solving Skills

Get curious, think big, and get outside of your comfort zone..

Posted March 4, 2022 | Reviewed by Tyler Woods

What Is a Career
Find a career counsellor near me
Get curious to alternative perspectives and viewpoints.
Daydream without restrictions to break thought patterns.
Think of alternative ways to do things should you need to be flexible.

People say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. I prefer the expression "it takes more effort to teach an old dog new tricks." Any time you want to learn something new it takes your brain a great amount of energy to build new neural pathways. If you are trying to change something you've already learned, it takes extra effort to build pathways that override the previous ones.

There are many ways to help build new skills, particularly problem-solving skills; they start with getting curious, thinking big, and then trying new things.

Get Curious

It will be hard to learn anything unless you are genuinely interested in it. So find ways to get curious. You can align the new topic to something that already motivates you—this can be a passion, a value, an attribute you like about yourself, or a goal you have. For example, you may want to be that go-to expert or may want to develop deeper relationships with others. Choose whatever will keep you engaged in the learning and build upon that. From there, here are some tips on how to get curious:

Block out time in your calendar to get curious, either in isolation or with others
Ponder and expose yourself to how people from an opposing viewpoint see a topic
Ask others their opinion or their input before making a choice
Ask people to walk you through how they made previous decisions
Reflect back on successes and failures: were there themes?
Have coffee with colleagues once-removed to understand what they do and figure out how your roles may intertwine
Find connections between others or the bigger picture. For example, how do the other department's objectives impact your day-to-day? How do your customers' actions impact your role?
Read the news and determine how events/laws/policies impact you or your organization

To see if you are building on your knowledge from someone else's viewpoint, say summary statements of what you have heard and whether you have heard them correctly.

Once you have had time to get curious and gather information, it's time to dream big. What would you do with unlimited time, money, and resources? What would you do if there were no office politics or bureaucracy? "Blue sky" thinking can help you get outside existing processes and thought patterns to find new solutions. Some tips on how to build daydreaming into your routine are:

Schedule time for daydreaming and block out distractions (either individually or as part of a team)
Break the adrenaline rush of firefighting the small problems. The quick checklist items feel good in the moment but don't contribute to your sense of meaning or purpose in your work
Think one step ahead, about how others may react to your moves
Become a student of the competitor. Act as if you are an employee of the competitor and try to understand why they are choosing their strategy
Consider how your daydreams could become reality. How much effort and resources are needed and compare it to the potential payoff

To check yourself on this is to see whether you are actually spending the time daydreaming. Whether it's weekly/monthly/quarterly, hold yourself accountable for achieving this goal.

Work outside your comfort zone

It's one thing to have a well-thought-out plan, but it's another to be able to flex that plan at a moment's notice. If you have done your due diligence in getting curious and daydreaming, you will know the pros/cons of contingency plans by understanding the drivers, the downstream implications, and who needs to be looped in. Here are some ideas and tips on how to try different solutions:

Make "what if" plans for likely risks/bumps in the process
Take on a task that is ambiguous or has a high likelihood of failing
Do a feasibility study to determine potential risks/rewards of a new idea
If and when resources are limited, look for alternatives (e.g., what tasks can be done with tightened budgets)
Offer to do the budget or forecast
Get out of perfectionist thinking and recognize when 80 percent is good enough

You will know your problem-solving skills are developing when you begin to get excited about change and ambiguity rather than anxious .

As learning and trying new things becomes more exciting and second nature, you will find that this energy transfers across your whole life. You are more likely to gain empathy for others , you can build resilience during stressful times , and you gain confidence and self-esteem to take on bigger challenges.

Lauren Florko has a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. She also owns her own company, Triple Threat Consulting, based out of Vancouver, British Columbia.

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7 Problem-Solving Skills That Can Help You Be a More Successful Manager

Discover what problem-solving is, and why it's important for managers. Understand the steps of the process and learn about seven problem-solving skills.

[Featured Image]: A manager wearing a black suit is talking to a team member, handling an issue utilizing the process of problem-solving

1Managers oversee the day-to-day operations of a particular department, and sometimes a whole company, using their problem-solving skills regularly. Managers with good problem-solving skills can help ensure companies run smoothly and prosper.

If you're a current manager or are striving to become one, read this guide to discover what problem-solving skills are and why it's important for managers to have them. Learn the steps of the problem-solving process, and explore seven skills that can help make problem-solving easier and more effective.

What is problem-solving?

Problem-solving is both an ability and a process. As an ability, problem-solving can aid in resolving issues faced in different environments like home, school, abroad, and social situations, among others. As a process, problem-solving involves a series of steps for finding solutions to questions or concerns that arise throughout life.

The importance of problem-solving for managers

Managers deal with problems regularly, whether supervising a staff of two or 100. When people solve problems quickly and effectively, workplaces can benefit in a number of ways. These include:

Greater creativity

Higher productivity

Increased job fulfillment

Satisfied clients or customers

Better cooperation and cohesion

Improved environments for employees and customers

7 skills that make problem-solving easier

Companies depend on managers who can solve problems adeptly. Although problem-solving is a skill in its own right, a subset of seven skills can help make the process of problem-solving easier. These include analysis, communication, emotional intelligence, resilience, creativity, adaptability, and teamwork.

1. Analysis

As a manager , you'll solve each problem by assessing the situation first. Then, you’ll use analytical skills to distinguish between ineffective and effective solutions.

2. Communication

Effective communication plays a significant role in problem-solving, particularly when others are involved. Some skills that can help enhance communication at work include active listening, speaking with an even tone and volume, and supporting verbal information with written communication.

3. Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize and manage emotions in any situation. People with emotional intelligence usually solve problems calmly and systematically, which often yields better results.

4. Resilience

Emotional intelligence and resilience are closely related traits. Resiliency is the ability to cope with and bounce back quickly from difficult situations. Those who possess resilience are often capable of accurately interpreting people and situations, which can be incredibly advantageous when difficulties arise.

5. Creativity

When brainstorming solutions to problems, creativity can help you to think outside the box. Problem-solving strategies can be enhanced with the application of creative techniques. You can use creativity to:

Approach problems from different angles

Improve your problem-solving process

Spark creativity in your employees and peers

6. Adaptability

Adaptability is the capacity to adjust to change. When a particular solution to an issue doesn't work, an adaptable person can revisit the concern to think up another one without getting frustrated.

7. Teamwork

Finding a solution to a problem regularly involves working in a team. Good teamwork requires being comfortable working with others and collaborating with them, which can result in better problem-solving overall.

Steps of the problem-solving process

Effective problem-solving involves five essential steps. One way to remember them is through the IDEAL model created in 1984 by psychology professors John D. Bransford and Barry S. Stein [ 1 ]. The steps to solving problems in this model include: identifying that there is a problem, defining the goals you hope to achieve, exploring potential solutions, choosing a solution and acting on it, and looking at (or evaluating) the outcome.

1. Identify that there is a problem and root out its cause.

To solve a problem, you must first admit that one exists to then find its root cause. Finding the cause of the problem may involve asking questions like:

Can the problem be solved?

How big of a problem is it?

Why do I think the problem is occurring?

What are some things I know about the situation?

What are some things I don't know about the situation?

Are there any people who contributed to the problem?

Are there materials or processes that contributed to the problem?

Are there any patterns I can identify?

2. Define the goals you hope to achieve.

Every problem is different. The goals you hope to achieve when problem-solving depend on the scope of the problem. Some examples of goals you might set include:

Gather as much factual information as possible.

Brainstorm many different strategies to come up with the best one.

Be flexible when considering other viewpoints.

Articulate clearly and encourage questions, so everyone involved is on the same page.

Be open to other strategies if the chosen strategy doesn't work.

Stay positive throughout the process.

3. Explore potential solutions.

Once you've defined the goals you hope to achieve when problem-solving , it's time to start the process. This involves steps that often include fact-finding, brainstorming, prioritizing solutions, and assessing the cost of top solutions in terms of time, labor, and money.

4. Choose a solution and act on it.

Evaluate the pros and cons of each potential solution, and choose the one most likely to solve the problem within your given budget, abilities, and resources. Once you choose a solution, it's important to make a commitment and see it through. Draw up a plan of action for implementation, and share it with all involved parties clearly and effectively, both verbally and in writing. Make sure everyone understands their role for a successful conclusion.

5. Look at (or evaluate) the outcome.

Evaluation offers insights into your current situation and future problem-solving. When evaluating the outcome, ask yourself questions like:

Did the solution work?

Will this solution work for other problems?

Were there any changes you would have made?

Would another solution have worked better?

As a current or future manager looking to build your problem-solving skills, it is often helpful to take a professional course. Consider Improving Communication Skills offered by the University of Pennsylvania on Coursera. You'll learn how to boost your ability to persuade, ask questions, negotiate, apologize, and more.

You might also consider taking Emotional Intelligence: Cultivating Immensely Human Interactions , offered by the University of Michigan on Coursera. You'll explore the interpersonal and intrapersonal skills common to people with emotional intelligence, and you'll learn how emotional intelligence is connected to team success and leadership.

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Article sources

Tennessee Tech. “ The Ideal Problem Solver (2nd ed.) , https://www.tntech.edu/cat/pdf/useful_links/idealproblemsolver.pdf.” Accessed December 6, 2022.

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How to build your critical thinking ski ...

How to build your critical thinking skills in 7 steps (with examples)

Critical thinking is, well, critical. By building these skills, you improve your ability to analyze information and come to the best decision possible. In this article, we cover the basics of critical thinking, as well as the seven steps you can use to implement the full critical thinking process.

Critical thinking comes from asking the right questions to come to the best conclusion possible. Strong critical thinkers analyze information from a variety of viewpoints in order to identify the best course of action.

Don’t worry if you don’t think you have strong critical thinking abilities. In this article, we’ll help you build a foundation for critical thinking so you can absorb, analyze, and make informed decisions.

What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is the ability to collect and analyze information to come to a conclusion. Being able to think critically is important in virtually every industry and applicable across a wide range of positions. That’s because critical thinking isn’t subject-specific—rather, it’s your ability to parse through information, data, statistics, and other details in order to identify a satisfactory solution.

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Top 8 critical thinking skills

Like most soft skills, critical thinking isn’t something you can take a class to learn. Rather, this skill consists of a variety of interpersonal and analytical skills. Developing critical thinking is more about learning to embrace open-mindedness and bringing analytical thinking to your problem framing process.

In no particular order, the eight most important critical thinking skills are:

Analytical thinking: Part of critical thinking is evaluating data from multiple sources in order to come to the best conclusions. Analytical thinking allows people to reject bias and strive to gather and consume information to come to the best conclusion.

Open-mindedness: This critical thinking skill helps you analyze and process information to come to an unbiased conclusion. Part of the critical thinking process is letting your personal biases go and coming to a conclusion based on all of the information.

Problem solving : Because critical thinking emphasizes coming to the best conclusion based on all of the available information, it’s a key part of problem solving. When used correctly, critical thinking helps you solve any problem—from a workplace challenge to difficulties in everyday life.

Self-regulation: Self-regulation refers to the ability to regulate your thoughts and set aside any personal biases to come to the best conclusion. In order to be an effective critical thinker, you need to question the information you have and the decisions you favor—only then can you come to the best conclusion.

Observation: Observation skills help critical thinkers look for things beyond face value. To be a critical thinker you need to embrace multiple points of view, and you can use observation skills to identify potential problems.

Interpretation: Not all data is made equal—and critical thinkers know this. In addition to gathering information, it’s important to evaluate which information is important and relevant to your situation. That way, you can draw the best conclusions from the data you’ve collected.

Evaluation: When you attempt to answer a hard question, there is rarely an obvious answer. Even though critical thinking emphasizes putting your biases aside, you need to be able to confidently make a decision based on the data you have available.

Communication: Once a decision has been made, you also need to share this decision with other stakeholders. Effective workplace communication includes presenting evidence and supporting your conclusion—especially if there are a variety of different possible solutions.

7 steps to critical thinking

Critical thinking is a skill that you can build by following these seven steps. The seven steps to critical thinking help you ensure you’re approaching a problem from the right angle, considering every alternative, and coming to an unbiased conclusion.

First things first: When to use the 7 step critical thinking process

There’s a lot that goes into the full critical thinking process, and not every decision needs to be this thought out. Sometimes, it’s enough to put aside bias and approach a process logically. In other, more complex cases, the best way to identify the ideal outcome is to go through the entire critical thinking process.

The seven-step critical thinking process is useful for complex decisions in areas you are less familiar with. Alternatively, the seven critical thinking steps can help you look at a problem you’re familiar with from a different angle, without any bias.

If you need to make a less complex decision, consider another problem solving strategy instead. Decision matrices are a great way to identify the best option between different choices. Check out our article on 7 steps to creating a decision matrix .

1. Identify the problem

Before you put those critical thinking skills to work, you first need to identify the problem you’re solving. This step includes taking a look at the problem from a few different perspectives and asking questions like:

What’s happening?

Why is this happening?

What assumptions am I making?

At first glance, how do I think we can solve this problem?

A big part of developing your critical thinking skills is learning how to come to unbiased conclusions. In order to do that, you first need to acknowledge the biases that you currently have. Does someone on your team think they know the answer? Are you making assumptions that aren’t necessarily true? Identifying these details helps you later on in the process.

2. Research

At this point, you likely have a general idea of the problem—but in order to come up with the best solution, you need to dig deeper.

During the research process, collect information relating to the problem, including data, statistics, historical project information, team input, and more. Make sure you gather information from a variety of sources, especially if those sources go against your personal ideas about what the problem is or how to solve it.

Gathering varied information is essential for your ability to apply the critical thinking process. If you don’t get enough information, your ability to make a final decision will be skewed. Remember that critical thinking is about helping you identify the objective best conclusion. You aren’t going with your gut—you’re doing research to find the best option

3. Determine data relevance

Just as it’s important to gather a variety of information, it is also important to determine how relevant the different information sources are. After all, just because there is data doesn’t mean it’s relevant.

Once you’ve gathered all of the information, sift through the noise and identify what information is relevant and what information isn’t. Synthesizing all of this information and establishing significance helps you weigh different data sources and come to the best conclusion later on in the critical thinking process.

To determine data relevance, ask yourself:

How reliable is this information?

How significant is this information?

Is this information outdated? Is it specialized in a specific field?

4. Ask questions

One of the most useful parts of the critical thinking process is coming to a decision without bias. In order to do so, you need to take a step back from the process and challenge the assumptions you’re making.

We all have bias—and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Unconscious biases (also known as cognitive biases) often serve as mental shortcuts to simplify problem solving and aid decision making. But even when biases aren’t inherently bad, you must be aware of your biases in order to put them aside when necessary.

Before coming to a solution, ask yourself:

Am I making any assumptions about this information?

Are there additional variables I haven’t considered?

Have I evaluated the information from every perspective?

Are there any viewpoints I missed?

5. Identify the best solution

Finally, you’re ready to come to a conclusion. To identify the best solution, draw connections between causes and effects. Use the facts you’ve gathered to evaluate the most objective conclusion.

Keep in mind that there may be more than one solution. Often, the problems you’re facing are complex and intricate. The critical thinking process doesn’t necessarily lead to a cut-and-dry solution—instead, the process helps you understand the different variables at play so you can make an informed decision.

6. Present your solution

Communication is a key skill for critical thinkers. It isn’t enough to think for yourself—you also need to share your conclusion with other project stakeholders. If there are multiple solutions, present them all. There may be a case where you implement one solution, then test to see if it works before implementing another solution.

7. Analyze your decision

The seven-step critical thinking process yields a result—and you then need to put that solution into place. After you’ve implemented your decision, evaluate whether or not it was effective. Did it solve the initial problem? What lessons—whether positive or negative—can you learn from this experience to improve your critical thinking for next time?

Depending on how your team shares information, consider documenting lessons learned in a central source of truth. That way, team members that are making similar or related decisions in the future can understand why you made the decision you made and what the outcome was.

Example of critical thinking in the workplace

Imagine you work in user experience design (UX). Your team is focused on pricing and packaging and ensuring customers have a clear understanding of the different services your company offers. Here’s how to apply the critical thinking process in the workplace in seven steps:

Start by identifying the problem

Your current pricing page isn’t performing as well as you want. You’ve heard from customers that your services aren’t clear, and that the page doesn’t answer the questions they have. This page is really important for your company, since it’s where your customers sign up for your service. You and your team have a few theories about why your current page isn’t performing well, but you decide to apply the critical thinking process to ensure you come to the best decision for the page.

Gather information about how the problem started

Part of identifying the problem includes understanding how the problem started. The pricing and packaging page is important—so when your team initially designed the page, they certainly put a lot of thought into it. Before you begin researching how to improve the page, ask yourself:

Why did you design the pricing page the way you did?

Which stakeholders need to be involved in the decision making process?

Where are users getting stuck on the page?

Are any features currently working?

Then, you research

In addition to understanding the history of the pricing and packaging page, it’s important to understand what works well. Part of this research means taking a look at what your competitor’s pricing pages look like.

Ask yourself:

How have our competitors set up their pricing pages?

Are there any pricing page best practices?

How does color, positioning, and animation impact navigation?

Are there any standard page layouts customers expect to see?

Organize and analyze information

You’ve gathered all of the information you need—now you need to organize and analyze it. What trends, if any, are you noticing? Is there any particularly relevant or important information that you have to consider?

Ask open-ended questions to reduce bias

In the case of critical thinking, it’s important to address and set bias aside as much as possible. Ask yourself:

Is there anything I’m missing?

Have I connected with the right stakeholders?

Are there any other viewpoints I should consider?

Determine the best solution for your team

You now have all of the information you need to design the best pricing page. Depending on the complexity of the design, you may want to design a few options to present to a small group of customers or A/B test on the live website.

Present your solution to stakeholders

Critical thinking can help you in every element of your life, but in the workplace, you must also involve key project stakeholders . Stakeholders help you determine next steps, like whether you’ll A/B test the page first. Depending on the complexity of the issue, consider hosting a meeting or sharing a status report to get everyone on the same page.

Analyze the results

No process is complete without evaluating the results. Once the new page has been live for some time, evaluate whether it did better than the previous page. What worked? What didn’t? This also helps you make better critical decisions later on.

Critically successful

Critical thinking takes time to build, but with effort and patience you can apply an unbiased, analytical mind to any situation. Critical thinking makes up one of many soft skills that makes you an effective team member, manager, and worker. If you’re looking to hone your skills further, read our article on the 25 project management skills you need to succeed .

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Self-Assessment • 20 min read

How Good Is Your Problem Solving?

Use a systematic approach..

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Good problem solving skills are fundamentally important if you're going to be successful in your career.

But problems are something that we don't particularly like.

They're time-consuming.

They muscle their way into already packed schedules.

They force us to think about an uncertain future.

And they never seem to go away!

That's why, when faced with problems, most of us try to eliminate them as quickly as possible. But have you ever chosen the easiest or most obvious solution – and then realized that you have entirely missed a much better solution? Or have you found yourself fixing just the symptoms of a problem, only for the situation to get much worse?

To be an effective problem-solver, you need to be systematic and logical in your approach. This quiz helps you assess your current approach to problem solving. By improving this, you'll make better overall decisions. And as you increase your confidence with solving problems, you'll be less likely to rush to the first solution – which may not necessarily be the best one.

Once you've completed the quiz, we'll direct you to tools and resources that can help you make the most of your problem-solving skills.

How Good Are You at Solving Problems?

Instructions.

For each statement, click the button in the column that best describes you. Please answer questions as you actually are (rather than how you think you should be), and don't worry if some questions seem to score in the 'wrong direction'. When you are finished, please click the 'Calculate My Total' button at the bottom of the test.

Answering these questions should have helped you recognize the key steps associated with effective problem solving.

This quiz is based on Dr Min Basadur's Simplexity Thinking problem-solving model. This eight-step process follows the circular pattern shown below, within which current problems are solved and new problems are identified on an ongoing basis. This assessment has not been validated and is intended for illustrative purposes only.

Below, we outline the tools and strategies you can use for each stage of the problem-solving process. Enjoy exploring these stages!

Step 1: Find the Problem (Questions 7, 12)

Some problems are very obvious, however others are not so easily identified. As part of an effective problem-solving process, you need to look actively for problems – even when things seem to be running fine. Proactive problem solving helps you avoid emergencies and allows you to be calm and in control when issues arise.

These techniques can help you do this:

PEST Analysis helps you pick up changes to your environment that you should be paying attention to. Make sure too that you're watching changes in customer needs and market dynamics, and that you're monitoring trends that are relevant to your industry.

Risk Analysis helps you identify significant business risks.

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis helps you identify possible points of failure in your business process, so that you can fix these before problems arise.

After Action Reviews help you scan recent performance to identify things that can be done better in the future.

Where you have several problems to solve, our articles on Prioritization and Pareto Analysis help you think about which ones you should focus on first.

Step 2: Find the Facts (Questions 10, 14)

After identifying a potential problem, you need information. What factors contribute to the problem? Who is involved with it? What solutions have been tried before? What do others think about the problem?

If you move forward to find a solution too quickly, you risk relying on imperfect information that's based on assumptions and limited perspectives, so make sure that you research the problem thoroughly.

Step 3: Define the Problem (Questions 3, 9)

Now that you understand the problem, define it clearly and completely. Writing a clear problem definition forces you to establish specific boundaries for the problem. This keeps the scope from growing too large, and it helps you stay focused on the main issues.

A great tool to use at this stage is CATWOE . With this process, you analyze potential problems by looking at them from six perspectives, those of its Customers; Actors (people within the organization); the Transformation, or business process; the World-view, or top-down view of what's going on; the Owner; and the wider organizational Environment. By looking at a situation from these perspectives, you can open your mind and come to a much sharper and more comprehensive definition of the problem.

Cause and Effect Analysis is another good tool to use here, as it helps you think about the many different factors that can contribute to a problem. This helps you separate the symptoms of a problem from its fundamental causes.

Step 4: Find Ideas (Questions 4, 13)

With a clear problem definition, start generating ideas for a solution. The key here is to be flexible in the way you approach a problem. You want to be able to see it from as many perspectives as possible. Looking for patterns or common elements in different parts of the problem can sometimes help. You can also use metaphors and analogies to help analyze the problem, discover similarities to other issues, and think of solutions based on those similarities.

Traditional brainstorming and reverse brainstorming are very useful here. By taking the time to generate a range of creative solutions to the problem, you'll significantly increase the likelihood that you'll find the best possible solution, not just a semi-adequate one. Where appropriate, involve people with different viewpoints to expand the volume of ideas generated.

Tip: Don't evaluate your ideas until step 5. If you do, this will limit your creativity at too early a stage.

Step 5: Select and Evaluate (Questions 6, 15)

After finding ideas, you'll have many options that must be evaluated. It's tempting at this stage to charge in and start discarding ideas immediately. However, if you do this without first determining the criteria for a good solution, you risk rejecting an alternative that has real potential.

Decide what elements are needed for a realistic and practical solution, and think about the criteria you'll use to choose between potential solutions.

Paired Comparison Analysis , Decision Matrix Analysis and Risk Analysis are useful techniques here, as are many of the specialist resources available within our Decision-Making section . Enjoy exploring these!

Step 6: Plan (Questions 1, 16)

You might think that choosing a solution is the end of a problem-solving process. In fact, it's simply the start of the next phase in problem solving: implementation. This involves lots of planning and preparation. If you haven't already developed a full Risk Analysis in the evaluation phase, do so now. It's important to know what to be prepared for as you begin to roll out your proposed solution.

The type of planning that you need to do depends on the size of the implementation project that you need to set up. For small projects, all you'll often need are Action Plans that outline who will do what, when, and how. Larger projects need more sophisticated approaches – you'll find out more about these in the article What is Project Management? And for projects that affect many other people, you'll need to think about Change Management as well.

Here, it can be useful to conduct an Impact Analysis to help you identify potential resistance as well as alert you to problems you may not have anticipated. Force Field Analysis will also help you uncover the various pressures for and against your proposed solution. Once you've done the detailed planning, it can also be useful at this stage to make a final Go/No-Go Decision , making sure that it's actually worth going ahead with the selected option.

Step 7: Sell the Idea (Questions 5, 8)

As part of the planning process, you must convince other stakeholders that your solution is the best one. You'll likely meet with resistance, so before you try to “sell” your idea, make sure you've considered all the consequences.

As you begin communicating your plan, listen to what people say, and make changes as necessary. The better the overall solution meets everyone's needs, the greater its positive impact will be! For more tips on selling your idea, read our article on Creating a Value Proposition and use our Sell Your Idea Skillbook.

Step 8: Act (Questions 2, 11)

Finally, once you've convinced your key stakeholders that your proposed solution is worth running with, you can move on to the implementation stage. This is the exciting and rewarding part of problem solving, which makes the whole process seem worthwhile.

This action stage is an end, but it's also a beginning: once you've completed your implementation, it's time to move into the next cycle of problem solving by returning to the scanning stage. By doing this, you'll continue improving your organization as you move into the future.

Problem solving is an exceptionally important workplace skill.

Being a competent and confident problem solver will create many opportunities for you. By using a well-developed model like Simplexity Thinking for solving problems, you can approach the process systematically, and be comfortable that the decisions you make are solid.

Given the unpredictable nature of problems, it's very reassuring to know that, by following a structured plan, you've done everything you can to resolve the problem to the best of your ability.

This assessment has not been validated and is intended for illustrative purposes only. It is just one of many Mind Tool quizzes that can help you to evaluate your abilities in a wide range of important career skills.

If you want to reproduce this quiz, you can purchase downloadable copies in our Store .

You've accessed 1 of your 2 free resources.

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What is a problem solving process?

What are the problem solving steps I need to follow?

Problem solving strategies

What skills do i need to be an effective problem solver, how can i improve my problem solving skills.

Solving problems is like baking a cake. You can go straight into the kitchen without a recipe or the right ingredients and do your best, but the end result is unlikely to be very tasty!

Using a process to bake a cake allows you to use the best ingredients without waste, collect the right tools, account for allergies, decide whether it is a birthday or wedding cake, and then bake efficiently and on time. The result is a better cake that is fit for purpose, tastes better and has created less mess in the kitchen. Also, it should have chocolate sprinkles. Having a step by step process to solve organizational problems allows you to go through each stage methodically and ensure you are trying to solve the right problems and select the most appropriate, effective solutions.

What are the problem solving steps I need to follow?

All problem solving processes go through a number of steps in order to move from identifying a problem to resolving it.

Depending on your problem solving model and who you ask, there can be anything between four and nine problem solving steps you should follow in order to find the right solution. Whatever framework you and your group use, there are some key items that should be addressed in order to have an effective process.

We’ve looked at problem solving processes from sources such as the American Society for Quality and their four step approach , and Mediate ‘s six step process. By reflecting on those and our own problem solving processes, we’ve come up with a sequence of seven problem solving steps we feel best covers everything you need in order to effectively solve problems.

1. Problem identification

The first stage of any problem solving process is to identify the problem or problems you might want to solve. Effective problem solving strategies always begin by allowing a group scope to articulate what they believe the problem to be and then coming to some consensus over which problem they approach first. Problem solving activities used at this stage often have a focus on creating frank, open discussion so that potential problems can be brought to the surface.

2. Problem analysis

Though this step is not a million miles from problem identification, problem analysis deserves to be considered separately. It can often be an overlooked part of the process and is instrumental when it comes to developing effective solutions.

The process of problem analysis means ensuring that the problem you are seeking to solve is the right problem . As part of this stage, you may look deeper and try to find the root cause of a specific problem at a team or organizational level.

Remember that problem solving strategies should not only be focused on putting out fires in the short term but developing long term solutions that deal with the root cause of organizational challenges.

Whatever your approach, analyzing a problem is crucial in being able to select an appropriate solution and the problem solving skills deployed in this stage are beneficial for the rest of the process and ensuring the solutions you create are fit for purpose.

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 problem solving activities 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 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 likely to be 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 frontrunning 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

Nearly there! Once your group has reached consensus and selected a solution that applies to the problem at hand you have some decisions to make. You will 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.

The decision making stage is a part of the problem solving process that can get missed or taken as for granted. Fail to properly allocate roles and plan out how a solution will actually be implemented and it less likely to be successful in solving the problem.

Have clear accountabilities, actions, timeframes, and follow-ups. 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 strategies have the end goal of implementing a solution and solving a problem in mind.

Remember that in order for any solution to be successful, you need to help your group through all of the previous problem solving steps thoughtfully. Only then can you ensure that you are solving the right problem but also that you have developed the correct solution and can then successfully implement and measure the impact of that solution.

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.

7. Solution evaluation

So you and your team developed a great solution to a problem and have a gut feeling its 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 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. Data and insight is invaluable at every stage of the problem solving process and this one is no different.

Problem solving workshops made easy

Problem solving strategies are methods of approaching and facilitating the process of problem-solving with a set of techniques , actions, and processes. Different strategies are more effective if you are trying to solve broad problems such as achieving higher growth versus more focused problems like, how do we improve our customer onboarding process?

Broadly, the problem solving steps outlined above should be included in any problem solving strategy though choosing where to focus your time and what approaches should be taken is where they begin to differ. You might find that some strategies ask for the problem identification to be done prior to the session or that everything happens in the course of a one day workshop.

The key similarity is that all good problem solving strategies are structured and designed. Four hours of open discussion is never going to be as productive as a four-hour workshop designed to lead a group through a problem solving process.

Good problem solving strategies are tailored to the team, organization and problem you will be attempting to solve. Here are some example problem solving strategies you can learn from or use to get started.

Use a workshop to lead a team through a group process

Often, the first step to solving problems or organizational challenges is bringing a group together effectively. Most teams have the tools, knowledge, and expertise necessary to solve their challenges – they just need some guidance in how to use leverage those skills and a structure and format that allows people to focus their energies.

Facilitated workshops are one of the most effective ways of solving problems of any scale. By designing and planning your workshop carefully, you can tailor the approach and scope to best fit the needs of your team and organization.

Problem solving workshop

Creating a bespoke, tailored process
Tackling problems of any size
Building in-house workshop ability and encouraging their use

Workshops are an effective strategy for solving problems. By using tried and test facilitation techniques and methods, you can design and deliver a workshop that is perfectly suited to the unique variables of your organization. You may only have the capacity for a half-day workshop and so need a problem solving process to match.

By using our session planner tool and importing methods from our library of 700+ facilitation techniques, you can create the right problem solving workshop for your team. It might be that you want to encourage creative thinking or look at things from a new angle to unblock your groups approach to problem solving. By tailoring your workshop design to the purpose, you can help ensure great results.

One of the main benefits of a workshop is the structured approach to problem solving. Not only does this mean that the workshop itself will be successful, but many of the methods and techniques will help your team improve their working processes outside of the workshop.

We believe that workshops are one of the best tools you can use to improve the way your team works together. Start with a problem solving workshop and then see what team building, culture or design workshops can do for your organization!

Run a design sprint

Great for:

aligning large, multi-discipline teams
quickly designing and testing solutions
tackling large, complex organizational challenges and breaking them down into smaller tasks

By using design thinking principles and methods, a design sprint is a great way of identifying, prioritizing and prototyping solutions to long term challenges that can help solve major organizational problems with quick action and measurable results.

Some familiarity with design thinking is useful, though not integral, and this strategy can really help a team align if there is some discussion around which problems should be approached first.

The stage-based structure of the design sprint is also very useful for teams new to design thinking. The inspiration phase, where you look to competitors that have solved your problem, and the rapid prototyping and testing phases are great for introducing new concepts that will benefit a team in all their future work.

It can be common for teams to look inward for solutions and so looking to the market for solutions you can iterate on can be very productive. Instilling an agile prototyping and testing mindset can also be great when helping teams move forwards – generating and testing solutions quickly can help save time in the long run and is also pretty exciting!

Break problems down into smaller issues

Organizational challenges and problems are often complicated and large scale in nature. Sometimes, trying to resolve such an issue in one swoop is simply unachievable or overwhelming. Try breaking down such problems into smaller issues that you can work on step by step. You may not be able to solve the problem of churning customers off the bat, but you can work with your team to identify smaller effort but high impact elements and work on those first.

This problem solving strategy can help a team generate momentum, prioritize and get some easy wins. It’s also a great strategy to employ with teams who are just beginning to learn how to approach the problem solving process. If you want some insight into a way to employ this strategy, we recommend looking at our design sprint template below!

Use guiding frameworks or try new methodologies

Some problems are best solved by introducing a major shift in perspective or by using new methodologies that encourage your team to think differently.

Props and tools such as Methodkit , which uses a card-based toolkit for facilitation, or Lego Serious Play can be great ways to engage your team and find an inclusive, democratic problem solving strategy. Remember that play and creativity are great tools for achieving change and whatever the challenge, engaging your participants can be very effective where other strategies may have failed.

LEGO Serious Play

Improving core problem solving skills
Thinking outside of the box
Encouraging creative solutions

LEGO Serious Play is a problem solving methodology designed to get participants thinking differently by using 3D models and kinesthetic learning styles. By physically building LEGO models based on questions and exercises, participants are encouraged to think outside of the box and create their own responses.

Collaborate LEGO Serious Play exercises are also used to encourage communication and build problem solving skills in a group. By using this problem solving process, you can often help different kinds of learners and personality types contribute and unblock organizational problems with creative thinking.

Problem solving strategies like LEGO Serious Play are super effective at helping a team solve more skills-based problems such as communication between teams or a lack of creative thinking. Some problems are not suited to LEGO Serious Play and require a different problem solving strategy.

Card Decks and Method Kits

New facilitators or non-facilitators
Approaching difficult subjects with a simple, creative framework
Engaging those with varied learning styles

Card decks and method kids are great tools for those new to facilitation or for whom facilitation is not the primary role. Card decks such as the emotional culture deck can be used for complete workshops and in many cases, can be used right out of the box. Methodkit has a variety of kits designed for scenarios ranging from personal development through to personas and global challenges so you can find the right deck for your particular needs.

Having an easy to use framework that encourages creativity or a new approach can take some of the friction or planning difficulties out of the workshop process and energize a team in any setting. Simplicity is the key with these methods. By ensuring everyone on your team can get involved and engage with the process as quickly as possible can really contribute to the success of your problem solving strategy.

Source external advice

Looking to peers, experts and external facilitators can be a great way of approaching the problem solving process. Your team may not have the necessary expertise, insights of experience to tackle some issues, or you might simply benefit from a fresh perspective. Some problems may require bringing together an entire team, and coaching managers or team members individually might be the right approach. Remember that not all problems are best resolved in the same manner.

If you’re a solo entrepreneur, peer groups, coaches and mentors can also be invaluable at not only solving specific business problems, but in providing a support network for resolving future challenges. One great approach is to join a Mastermind Group and link up with like-minded individuals and all grow together. Remember that however you approach the sourcing of external advice, do so thoughtfully, respectfully and honestly. Reciprocate where you can and prepare to be surprised by just how kind and helpful your peers can be!

Mastermind Group

Solo entrepreneurs or small teams with low capacity
Peer learning and gaining outside expertise
Getting multiple external points of view quickly

Problem solving in large organizations with lots of skilled team members is one thing, but how about if you work for yourself or in a very small team without the capacity to get the most from a design sprint or LEGO Serious Play session?

A mastermind group – sometimes known as a peer advisory board – is where a group of people come together to support one another in their own goals, challenges, and businesses. Each participant comes to the group with their own purpose and the other members of the group will help them create solutions, brainstorm ideas, and support one another.

Mastermind groups are very effective in creating an energized, supportive atmosphere that can deliver meaningful results. Learning from peers from outside of your organization or industry can really help unlock new ways of thinking and drive growth. Access to the experience and skills of your peers can be invaluable in helping fill the gaps in your own ability, particularly in young companies.

A mastermind group is a great solution for solo entrepreneurs, small teams, or for organizations that feel that external expertise or fresh perspectives will be beneficial for them. It is worth noting that Mastermind groups are often only as good as the participants and what they can bring to the group. Participants need to be committed, engaged and understand how to work in this context.

Coaching and mentoring

Focused learning and development
Filling skills gaps
Working on a range of challenges over time

Receiving advice from a business coach or building a mentor/mentee relationship can be an effective way of resolving certain challenges. The one-to-one format of most coaching and mentor relationships can really help solve the challenges those individuals are having and benefit the organization as a result.

A great mentor can be invaluable when it comes to spotting potential problems before they arise and coming to understand a mentee very well has a host of other business benefits. You might run an internal mentorship program to help develop your team’s problem solving skills and strategies or as part of a large learning and development program. External coaches can also be an important part of your problem solving strategy, filling skills gaps for your management team or helping with specific business issues.

Now we’ve explored the problem solving process and the steps you will want to go through in order to have an effective session, let’s look at the skills you and your team need to be more effective problem solvers.

Problem solving skills are highly sought after, whatever industry or team you work in. Organizations are keen to employ people who are able to approach problems thoughtfully and find strong, realistic solutions. Whether you are a facilitator , a team leader or a developer, being an effective problem solver is a skill you’ll want to develop.

Problem solving skills form a whole suite of techniques and approaches that an individual uses to not only identify problems but to discuss them productively before then developing appropriate solutions.

Here are some of the most important problem solving skills everyone from executives to junior staff members should learn. We’ve also included an activity or exercise from the SessionLab library that can help you and your team develop that skill.

If you’re running a workshop or training session to try and improve problem solving skills in your team, try using these methods to supercharge your process!

Active listening

Active listening is one of the most important skills anyone who works with people can possess. In short, active listening is a technique used to not only better understand what is being said by an individual, but also to be more aware of the underlying message the speaker is trying to convey. When it comes to problem solving, active listening is integral for understanding the position of every participant and to clarify the challenges, ideas and solutions they bring to the table.

Some active listening skills include:

Paying complete attention to the speaker.
Removing distractions.
Avoid interruption.
Taking the time to fully understand before preparing a rebuttal.
Responding respectfully and appropriately.
Demonstrate attentiveness and positivity with an open posture, making eye contact with the speaker, smiling and nodding if appropriate. Show that you are listening and encourage them to continue.
Be aware of and respectful of feelings. Judge the situation and respond appropriately. You can disagree without being disrespectful.
Observe body language.
Paraphrase what was said in your own words, either mentally or verbally.
Remain neutral.
Reflect and take a moment before responding.
Ask deeper questions based on what is said and clarify points where necessary.

Active Listening #hyperisland #skills #active listening #remote-friendly This activity supports participants to reflect on a question and generate their own solutions using simple principles of active listening and peer coaching. It’s an excellent introduction to active listening but can also be used with groups that are already familiar with it. Participants work in groups of three and take turns being: “the subject”, the listener, and the observer.

Analytical skills

All problem solving models require strong analytical skills, particularly during the beginning of the process and when it comes to analyzing how solutions have performed.

Analytical skills are primarily focused on performing an effective analysis by collecting, studying and parsing data related to a problem or opportunity.

It often involves spotting patterns, being able to see things from different perspectives and using observable facts and data to make suggestions or produce insight.

Analytical skills are also important at every stage of the problem solving process and by having these skills, you can ensure that any ideas or solutions you create or backed up analytically and have been sufficiently thought out.

Nine Whys #innovation #issue analysis #liberating structures With breathtaking simplicity, you can rapidly clarify for individuals and a group what is essentially important in their work. You can quickly reveal when a compelling purpose is missing in a gathering and avoid moving forward without clarity. When a group discovers an unambiguous shared purpose, more freedom and more responsibility are unleashed. You have laid the foundation for spreading and scaling innovations with fidelity.

Collaboration

Trying to solve problems on your own is difficult. Being able to collaborate effectively, with a free exchange of ideas, to delegate and be a productive member of a team is hugely important to all problem solving strategies.

Remember that whatever your role, collaboration is integral, and in a problem solving process, you are all working together to find the best solution for everyone.

Marshmallow challenge with debriefing #teamwork #team #leadership #collaboration In eighteen minutes, teams must build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. The marshmallow needs to be on top. The Marshmallow Challenge was developed by Tom Wujec, who has done the activity with hundreds of groups around the world. Visit the Marshmallow Challenge website for more information. This version has an extra debriefing question added with sample questions focusing on roles within the team.

Communication

Being an effective communicator means being empathetic, clear and succinct, asking the right questions, and demonstrating active listening skills throughout any discussion or meeting.

In a problem solving setting, you need to communicate well in order to progress through each stage of the process effectively. As a team leader, it may also fall to you to facilitate communication between parties who may not see eye to eye. Effective communication also means helping others to express themselves and be heard in a group.

Bus Trip #feedback #communication #appreciation #closing #thiagi #team This is one of my favourite feedback games. I use Bus Trip at the end of a training session or a meeting, and I use it all the time. The game creates a massive amount of energy with lots of smiles, laughs, and sometimes even a teardrop or two.

Creative problem solving skills can be some of the best tools in your arsenal. Thinking creatively, being able to generate lots of ideas and come up with out of the box solutions is useful at every step of the process.

The kinds of problems you will likely discuss in a problem solving workshop are often difficult to solve, and by approaching things in a fresh, creative manner, you can often create more innovative solutions.

Having practical creative skills is also a boon when it comes to problem solving. If you can help create quality design sketches and prototypes in record time, it can help bring a team to alignment more quickly or provide a base for further iteration.

The paper clip method #sharing #creativity #warm up #idea generation #brainstorming The power of brainstorming. A training for project leaders, creativity training, and to catalyse getting new solutions.

Critical thinking

Critical thinking is one of the fundamental problem solving skills you’ll want to develop when working on developing solutions. Critical thinking is the ability to analyze, rationalize and evaluate while being aware of personal bias, outlying factors and remaining open-minded.

Defining and analyzing problems without deploying critical thinking skills can mean you and your team go down the wrong path. Developing solutions to complex issues requires critical thinking too – ensuring your team considers all possibilities and rationally evaluating them.

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.

Data analysis

Though it shares lots of space with general analytical skills, data analysis skills are something you want to cultivate in their own right in order to be an effective problem solver.

Being good at data analysis doesn’t just mean being able to find insights from data, but also selecting the appropriate data for a given issue, interpreting it effectively and knowing how to model and present that data. Depending on the problem at hand, it might also include a working knowledge of specific data analysis tools and procedures.

Having a solid grasp of data analysis techniques is useful if you’re leading a problem solving workshop but if you’re not an expert, don’t worry. Bring people into the group who has this skill set and help your team be more effective as a result.

Decision making

All problems need a solution and all solutions require that someone make the decision to implement them. Without strong decision making skills, teams can become bogged down in discussion and less effective as a result.

Making decisions is a key part of the problem solving process. It’s important to remember that decision making is not restricted to the leadership team. Every staff member makes decisions every day and developing these skills ensures that your team is able to solve problems at any scale. Remember that making decisions does not mean leaping to the first solution but weighing up the options and coming to an informed, well thought out solution to any given problem that works for the whole team.

Lightning Decision Jam (LDJ) #action #decision making #problem solving #issue analysis #innovation #design #remote-friendly The problem with anything that requires creative thinking is that it’s easy to get lost—lose focus and fall into the trap of having useless, open-ended, unstructured discussions. Here’s the most effective solution I’ve found: Replace all open, unstructured discussion with a clear process. What to use this exercise for: Anything which requires a group of people to make decisions, solve problems or discuss challenges. It’s always good to frame an LDJ session with a broad topic, here are some examples: The conversion flow of our checkout Our internal design process How we organise events Keeping up with our competition Improving sales flow

Dependability

Most complex organizational problems require multiple people to be involved in delivering the solution. Ensuring that the team and organization can depend on you to take the necessary actions and communicate where necessary is key to ensuring problems are solved effectively.

Being dependable also means working to deadlines and to brief. It is often a matter of creating trust in a team so that everyone can depend on one another to complete the agreed actions in the agreed time frame so that the team can move forward together. Being undependable can create problems of friction and can limit the effectiveness of your solutions so be sure to bear this in mind throughout a project.

Team Purpose & Culture #team #hyperisland #culture #remote-friendly This is an essential process designed to help teams define their purpose (why they exist) and their culture (how they work together to achieve that purpose). Defining these two things will help any team to be more focused and aligned. With support of tangible examples from other companies, the team members work as individuals and a group to codify the way they work together. The goal is a visual manifestation of both the purpose and culture that can be put up in the team’s work space.

Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is an important skill for any successful team member, whether communicating internally or with clients or users. In the problem solving process, emotional intelligence means being attuned to how people are feeling and thinking, communicating effectively and being self-aware of what you bring to a room.

There are often differences of opinion when working through problem solving processes, and it can be easy to let things become impassioned or combative. Developing your emotional intelligence means being empathetic to your colleagues and managing your own emotions throughout the problem and solution process. Be kind, be thoughtful and put your points across care and attention.

Being emotionally intelligent is a skill for life and by deploying it at work, you can not only work efficiently but empathetically. Check out the emotional culture workshop template for more!

Facilitation

As we’ve clarified in our facilitation skills post, facilitation is the art of leading people through processes towards agreed-upon objectives in a manner that encourages participation, ownership, and creativity by all those involved. While facilitation is a set of interrelated skills in itself, the broad definition of facilitation can be invaluable when it comes to problem solving. Leading a team through a problem solving process is made more effective if you improve and utilize facilitation skills – whether you’re a manager, team leader or external stakeholder.

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.

Flexibility

Being flexible is a vital skill when it comes to problem solving. This does not mean immediately bowing to pressure or changing your opinion quickly: instead, being flexible is all about seeing things from new perspectives, receiving new information and factoring it into your thought process.

Flexibility is also important when it comes to rolling out solutions. It might be that other organizational projects have greater priority or require the same resources as your chosen solution. Being flexible means understanding needs and challenges across the team and being open to shifting or arranging your own schedule as necessary. Again, this does not mean immediately making way for other projects. It’s about articulating your own needs, understanding the needs of others and being able to come to a meaningful compromise.

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.

Working in any group can lead to unconscious elements of groupthink or situations in which you may not wish to be entirely honest. Disagreeing with the opinions of the executive team or wishing to save the feelings of a coworker can be tricky to navigate, but being honest is absolutely vital when to comes to developing effective solutions and ensuring your voice is heard.

Remember that being honest does not mean being brutally candid. You can deliver your honest feedback and opinions thoughtfully and without creating friction by using other skills such as emotional intelligence.

Explore your Values #hyperisland #skills #values #remote-friendly Your Values is an exercise for participants to explore what their most important values are. It’s done in an intuitive and rapid way to encourage participants to follow their intuitive feeling rather than over-thinking and finding the “correct” values. It is a good exercise to use to initiate reflection and dialogue around personal values.

Initiative

The problem solving process is multi-faceted and requires different approaches at certain points of the process. Taking initiative to bring problems to the attention of the team, collect data or lead the solution creating process is always valuable. You might even roadtest your own small scale solutions or brainstorm before a session. Taking initiative is particularly effective if you have good deal of knowledge in that area or have ownership of a particular project and want to get things kickstarted.

That said, be sure to remember to honor the process and work in service of the team. If you are asked to own one part of the problem solving process and you don’t complete that task because your initiative leads you to work on something else, that’s not an effective method of solving business challenges.

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.

Impartiality

A particularly useful problem solving skill for product owners or managers is the ability to remain impartial throughout much of the process. In practice, this means treating all points of view and ideas brought forward in a meeting equally and ensuring that your own areas of interest or ownership are not favored over others.

There may be a stage in the process where a decision maker has to weigh the cost and ROI of possible solutions against the company roadmap though even then, ensuring that the decision made is based on merit and not personal opinion.

Empathy map #frame insights #create #design #issue analysis An empathy map is a tool to help a design team to empathize with the people they are designing for. You can make an empathy map for a group of people or for a persona. To be used after doing personas when more insights are needed.

Being a good leader means getting a team aligned, energized and focused around a common goal. In the problem solving process, strong leadership helps ensure that the process is efficient, that any conflicts are resolved and that a team is managed in the direction of success.

It’s common for managers or executives to assume this role in a problem solving workshop, though it’s important that the leader maintains impartiality and does not bulldoze the group in a particular direction. Remember that good leadership means working in service of the purpose and team and ensuring the workshop is a safe space for employees of any level to contribute. Take a look at our leadership games and activities post for more exercises and methods to help improve leadership in your organization.

Leadership Pizza #leadership #team #remote-friendly This leadership development activity offers a self-assessment framework for people to first identify what skills, attributes and attitudes they find important for effective leadership, and then assess their own development and initiate goal setting.

In the context of problem solving, mediation is important in keeping a team engaged, happy and free of conflict. When leading or facilitating a problem solving workshop, you are likely to run into differences of opinion. Depending on the nature of the problem, certain issues may be brought up that are emotive in nature.

Being an effective mediator means helping those people on either side of such a divide are heard, listen to one another and encouraged to find common ground and a resolution. Mediating skills are useful for leaders and managers in many situations and the problem solving process is no different.

Conflict Responses #hyperisland #team #issue resolution A workshop for a team to reflect on past conflicts, and use them to generate guidelines for effective conflict handling. The workshop uses the Thomas-Killman model of conflict responses to frame a reflective discussion. Use it to open up a discussion around conflict with a team.

Planning

Solving organizational problems is much more effective when following a process or problem solving model. Planning skills are vital in order to structure, deliver and follow-through on a problem solving workshop and ensure your solutions are intelligently deployed.

Planning skills include the ability to organize tasks and a team, plan and design the process and take into account any potential challenges. Taking the time to plan carefully can save time and frustration later in the process and is valuable for ensuring a team is positioned for success.

3 Action Steps #hyperisland #action #remote-friendly This is a small-scale strategic planning session that helps groups and individuals to take action toward a desired change. It is often used at the end of a workshop or programme. The group discusses and agrees on a vision, then creates some action steps that will lead them towards that vision. The scope of the challenge is also defined, through discussion of the helpful and harmful factors influencing the group.

Prioritization

As organisations grow, the scale and variation of problems they face multiplies. Your team or is likely to face numerous challenges in different areas and so having the skills to analyze and prioritize becomes very important, particularly for those in leadership roles.

A thorough problem solving process is likely to deliver multiple solutions and you may have several different problems you wish to solve simultaneously. Prioritization is the ability to measure the importance, value, and effectiveness of those possible solutions and choose which to enact and in what order. The process of prioritization is integral in ensuring the biggest challenges are addressed with the most impactful solutions.

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.

Project management

Some problem solving skills are utilized in a workshop or ideation phases, while others come in useful when it comes to decision making. Overseeing an entire problem solving process and ensuring its success requires strong project management skills.

While project management incorporates many of the other skills listed here, it is important to note the distinction of considering all of the factors of a project and managing them successfully. Being able to negotiate with stakeholders, manage tasks, time and people, consider costs and ROI, and tie everything together is massively helpful when going through the problem solving process.

Record keeping

Working out meaningful solutions to organizational challenges is only one part of the process. Thoughtfully documenting and keeping records of each problem solving step for future consultation is important in ensuring efficiency and meaningful change.

For example, some problems may be lower priority than others but can be revisited in the future. If the team has ideated on solutions and found some are not up to the task, record those so you can rule them out and avoiding repeating work. Keeping records of the process also helps you improve and refine your problem solving model next time around!

Personal Kanban #gamestorming #action #agile #project planning Personal Kanban is a tool for organizing your work to be more efficient and productive. It is based on agile methods and principles.

Research skills

Conducting research to support both the identification of problems and the development of appropriate solutions is important for an effective process. Knowing where to go to collect research, how to conduct research efficiently, and identifying pieces of research are relevant are all things a good researcher can do well.

In larger groups, not everyone has to demonstrate this ability in order for a problem solving workshop to be effective. That said, having people with research skills involved in the process, particularly if they have existing area knowledge, can help ensure the solutions that are developed with data that supports their intention. Remember that being able to deliver the results of research efficiently and in a way the team can easily understand is also important. The best data in the world is only as effective as how it is delivered and interpreted.

Customer experience map #ideation #concepts #research #design #issue analysis #remote-friendly Customer experience mapping is a method of documenting and visualizing the experience a customer has as they use the product or service. It also maps out their responses to their experiences. To be used when there is a solution (even in a conceptual stage) that can be analyzed.

Risk management

Managing risk is an often overlooked part of the problem solving process. Solutions are often developed with the intention of reducing exposure to risk or solving issues that create risk but sometimes, great solutions are more experimental in nature and as such, deploying them needs to be carefully considered.

Managing risk means acknowledging that there may be risks associated with more out of the box solutions or trying new things, but that this must be measured against the possible benefits and other organizational factors.

Be informed, get the right data and stakeholders in the room and you can appropriately factor risk into your decision making process.

Decisions, Decisions… #communication #decision making #thiagi #action #issue analysis When it comes to decision-making, why are some of us more prone to take risks while others are risk-averse? One explanation might be the way the decision and options were presented. This exercise, based on Kahneman and Tversky’s classic study , illustrates how the framing effect influences our judgement and our ability to make decisions . The participants are divided into two groups. Both groups are presented with the same problem and two alternative programs for solving them. The two programs both have the same consequences but are presented differently. The debriefing discussion examines how the framing of the program impacted the participant’s decision.

Team-building

No single person is as good at problem solving as a team. Building an effective team and helping them come together around a common purpose is one of the most important problem solving skills, doubly so for leaders. By bringing a team together and helping them work efficiently, you pave the way for team ownership of a problem and the development of effective solutions.

In a problem solving workshop, it can be tempting to jump right into the deep end, though taking the time to break the ice, energize the team and align them with a game or exercise will pay off over the course of the day.

Remember that you will likely go through the problem solving process multiple times over an organization’s lifespan and building a strong team culture will make future problem solving more effective. It’s also great to work with people you know, trust and have fun with. Working on team building in and out of the problem solving process is a hallmark of successful teams that can work together to solve business problems.

9 Dimensions Team Building Activity #ice breaker #teambuilding #team #remote-friendly 9 Dimensions is a powerful activity designed to build relationships and trust among team members. There are 2 variations of this icebreaker. The first version is for teams who want to get to know each other better. The second version is for teams who want to explore how they are working together as a team.

Time management

The problem solving process is designed to lead a team from identifying a problem through to delivering a solution and evaluating its effectiveness. Without effective time management skills or timeboxing of tasks, it can be easy for a team to get bogged down or be inefficient.

By using a problem solving model and carefully designing your workshop, you can allocate time efficiently and trust that the process will deliver the results you need in a good timeframe.

Time management also comes into play when it comes to rolling out solutions, particularly those that are experimental in nature. Having a clear timeframe for implementing and evaluating solutions is vital for ensuring their success and being able to pivot if necessary.

Improving your skills at problem solving is often a career-long pursuit though there are methods you can use to make the learning process more efficient and to supercharge your problem solving skillset.

Remember that the skills you need to be a great problem solver have a large overlap with those skills you need to be effective in any role. Investing time and effort to develop your active listening or critical thinking skills is valuable in any context. Here are 7 ways to improve your problem solving skills.

Share best practices

Remember that your team is an excellent source of skills, wisdom, and techniques and that you should all take advantage of one another where possible. Best practices that one team has for solving problems, conducting research or making decisions should be shared across the organization. If you have in-house staff that have done active listening training or are data analysis pros, have them lead a training session.

Your team is one of your best resources. Create space and internal processes for the sharing of skills so that you can all grow together.

Ask for help and attend training

Once you’ve figured out you have a skills gap, the next step is to take action to fill that skills gap. That might be by asking your superior for training or coaching, or liaising with team members with that skill set. You might even attend specialized training for certain skills – active listening or critical thinking, for example, are business-critical skills that are regularly offered as part of a training scheme.

Whatever method you choose, remember that taking action of some description is necessary for growth. Whether that means practicing, getting help, attending training or doing some background reading, taking active steps to improve your skills is the way to go.

Learn a process

Problem solving can be complicated, particularly when attempting to solve large problems for the first time. Using a problem solving process helps give structure to your problem solving efforts and focus on creating outcomes, rather than worrying about the format.

Tools such as the seven-step problem solving process above are effective because not only do they feature steps that will help a team solve problems, they also develop skills along the way. Each step asks for people to engage with the process using different skills and in doing so, helps the team learn and grow together. Group processes of varying complexity and purpose can also be found in the SessionLab library of facilitation techniques . Using a tried and tested process and really help ease the learning curve for both those leading such a process, as well as those undergoing the purpose.

Effective teams make decisions about where they should and shouldn’t expend additional effort. By using a problem solving process, you can focus on the things that matter, rather than stumbling towards a solution haphazardly.

Create a feedback loop

Some skills gaps are more obvious than others. It’s possible that your perception of your active listening skills differs from those of your colleagues.

It’s valuable to create a system where team members can provide feedback in an ordered and friendly manner so they can all learn from one another. Only by identifying areas of improvement can you then work to improve them.

Remember that feedback systems require oversight and consideration so that they don’t turn into a place to complain about colleagues. Design the system intelligently so that you encourage the creation of learning opportunities, rather than encouraging people to list their pet peeves.

While practice might not make perfect, it does make the problem solving process easier. If you are having trouble with critical thinking, don’t shy away from doing it. Get involved where you can and stretch those muscles as regularly as possible.

Problem solving skills come more naturally to some than to others and that’s okay. Take opportunities to get involved and see where you can practice your skills in situations outside of a workshop context. Try collaborating in other circumstances at work or conduct data analysis on your own projects. You can often develop those skills you need for problem solving simply by doing them. Get involved!

Use expert exercises and methods

Learn from the best. Our library of 700+ facilitation techniques is full of activities and methods that help develop the skills you need to be an effective problem solver. Check out our templates to see how to approach problem solving and other organizational challenges in a structured and intelligent manner.

There is no single approach to improving problem solving skills, but by using the techniques employed by others you can learn from their example and develop processes that have seen proven results.

Try new ways of thinking and change your mindset

Using tried and tested exercises that you know well can help deliver results, but you do run the risk of missing out on the learning opportunities offered by new approaches. As with the problem solving process, changing your mindset can remove blockages and be used to develop your problem solving skills.

Most teams have members with mixed skill sets and specialties. Mix people from different teams and share skills and different points of view. Teach your customer support team how to use design thinking methods or help your developers with conflict resolution techniques. Try switching perspectives with facilitation techniques like Flip It! or by using new problem solving methodologies or models. Give design thinking, liberating structures or lego serious play a try if you want to try a new approach. You will find that framing problems in new ways and using existing skills in new contexts can be hugely useful for personal development and improving your skillset. It’s also a lot of fun to try new things. Give it a go!

Encountering business challenges and needing to find appropriate solutions is not unique to your organization. Lots of very smart people have developed methods, theories and approaches to help develop problem solving skills and create effective solutions. Learn from them!

Books like The Art of Thinking Clearly , Think Smarter, or Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow are great places to start, though it’s also worth looking at blogs related to organizations facing similar problems to yours, or browsing for success stories. Seeing how Dropbox massively increased growth and working backward can help you see the skills or approach you might be lacking to solve that same problem. Learning from others by reading their stories or approaches can be time-consuming but ultimately rewarding.

A tired, distracted mind is not in the best position to learn new skills. It can be tempted to burn the candle at both ends and develop problem solving skills outside of work. Absolutely use your time effectively and take opportunities for self-improvement, though remember that rest is hugely important and that without letting your brain rest, you cannot be at your most effective.

Creating distance between yourself and the problem you might be facing can also be useful. By letting an idea sit, you can find that a better one presents itself or you can develop it further. Take regular breaks when working and create a space for downtime. Remember that working smarter is preferable to working harder and that self-care is important for any effective learning or improvement process.

Want to design better group processes?

Over to you

Now we’ve explored some of the key problem solving skills and the problem solving steps necessary for an effective process, you’re ready to begin developing more effective solutions and leading problem solving workshops.

Need more inspiration? Check out our post on problem solving activities you can use when guiding a group towards a great solution in your next workshop or meeting. Have questions? Did you have a great problem solving technique you use with your team? Get in touch in the comments below. We’d love to chat!

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7 Problem Solving Skills That Aren’t Just Buzzwords (+ Resume Example)

Julia Mlcuchova ,
Updated April 8, 2024 9 min read

Problem-solving skills are something everybody should include on their resume, yet only a few seem to understand what these skills actually are. If you've always felt that the term "problem-solving skills" is rather vague and wanted to know more, you've come to the right place.

In this article, we're going to explain what problem-solving skills really mean. We'll talk about what makes up good problem-solving skills and give you tips on how to get better at them. You'll also find out how to make your problem-solving abilities look more impressive to those who might want to hire you.

Sounds good, right? Curious to learn more?

In this article we’ll show you:

What are problem solving skills;
Why are they important;
Specific problem solving skills examples;
How to develop your problem solving skills;
And, how to showcase them on your resume.

Click on a section to skip

What are problem solving skills?

Why are problem solving skills important, the best 7 problem solving skills examples, how to develop problem solving skills, problem solving skills resume example, key takeaways: problem solving skills.

First of all, they're more than just a buzzword!

Problem-solving skills are a set of specific abilities that allow you to deal with unexpected situations in the workplace, whether it be job related or team related.

It's a complex process that involves several “sub skills” or “sub steps,” namely:

Recognizing and identifying the issue at hand.
Breaking the problem down into smaller parts and analyzing how they relate to one another.
Creating potential solutions to the problem, evaluating them and picking the best one.
Applying the chosen solution and assessing its outcome.
Learning from the whole process to deal with future problems more effectively.

As you can see, it's not just about solving problems that are right in front of us, but also about predicting potential issues and being prepared to deal with them before they arise.

Despite what you may believe, problem-solving skills aren't just for managers .

Think about it this way: Why do employers hire employees in the first place? To solve problems for them!

And, as we all know, problems don't discriminate. In other words, it doesn't matter whether you're just an intern, an entry-level professional, or a seasoned veteran, you'll constantly face some kind of challenges. And the only difference is in how complex they will get.

This is also reflected in the way employers assess suitability of potential job candidates.

In fact, research shows that the ability to deal with unexpected complications is prioritized by an overwhelming 60% of employers across all industries, making it one of the most compelling skills on your resume.

So, regardless of your job description or your career level, you're always expected to find solutions for problems, either independently or as a part of a team.

And that's precisely what makes problem-solving skills so invaluable and universal !

Wondering how good is your resume?

Find out with our AI Resume Checker! Just upload your resume and see what can be improved.

As we've said before, problem-solving isn't really just one single skill.

Instead, your ability to handle workplace issues with composure depends on several different “sub-skills”.

So, which specific skills make an employee desirable even for the most demanding of recruiters?

In no particular order, you should focus on these 7 skills :

Analytical skills
Research skills
Critical thinking
Decision-making
Collaboration
Having a growth mindset

Let's have a look at each of them in greater detail!

#1 Analytical skills

Firstly, to truly understand complex problems, you need to break them down into more manageable parts . Then, you observe them closely and ask yourself: “ Which parts work and which don't,” How do these parts contribute to the problem as a whole,” and "What exactly needs to be fixed?” In other words, you gather data , you study it, and compare it - all to pinpoint the cause of the issue as closely as possible.

#2 Research skills

Another priceless tool is your research skills (sometimes relying on just one source of information isn't enough). Besides, to make a truly informed decision , you'll have to dig a little deeper. Being a good researcher means looking for potential solutions to a problem in a wider context. For example: going through team reports, customer feedback, quarterly sales or current market trends.

#3 Critical thinking

Every employer wants to hire people who can think critically. Yet, the ability to evaluate situations objectively and from different perspectives , is actually pretty hard to come by. But as long as you stay open-minded, inquisitive, and with a healthy dose of skepticism, you'll be able to assess situations based on facts and evidence more successfully. Plus, critical thinking comes in especially handy when you need to examine your own actions and processes.

#4 Creativity

Instead of following the old established processes that don't work anymore, you should feel comfortable thinking outside the box. The thing is, problems have a nasty habit of popping up unexpectedly and rapidly. And sometimes, you have to get creative in order to solve them fast. Especially those that have no precedence. But this requires a blend of intuition, industry knowledge, and quick thinking - a truly rare combination.

#5 Decision-making

The analysis, research, and brainstorming are done. Now, you need to look at the possible solutions, and make the final decision (informed, of course). And not only that, you also have to stand by it ! Because once the train gets moving, there's no room for second guessing. Also, keep in mind that you need to be prepared to take responsibility for all decisions you make. That's no small feat!

#6 Collaboration

Not every problem you encounter can be solved by yourself alone. And this is especially true when it comes to complex projects. So, being able to actively listen to your colleagues, take their ideas into account, and being respectful of their opinions enables you to solve problems together. Because every individual can offer a unique perspective and skill set. Yes, democracy is hard, but at the end of the day, it's teamwork that makes the corporate world go round.

#7 Having a growth mindset

Let's be honest, no one wants their work to be riddled with problems. But facing constant challenges and changes is inevitable. And that can be scary! However, when you're able to see these situations as opportunities to grow instead of issues that hold you back, your problem solving skills reach new heights. And the employers know that too!

Now that we've shown you the value problem-solving skills can add to your resume, let's ask the all-important question: “How can I learn them?”

Well…you can't. At least not in the traditional sense of the word.

Let us explain: Since problem-solving skills fall under the umbrella of soft skills , they can't be taught through formal education, unlike computer skills for example. There's no university course that you can take and graduate as a professional problem solver.

But, just like other interpersonal skills, they can be nurtured and refined over time through practice and experience.

Unfortunately, there's no one-size-fits-all approach, but the following tips can offer you inspiration on how to improve your problem solving skills:

Cultivate a growth mindset. Remember what we've said before? Your attitude towards obstacles is the first step to unlocking your problem-solving potential.
Gain further knowledge in your specialized field. Secondly, it's a good idea to delve a little deeper into your chosen profession. Because the more you read on a subject, the easier it becomes to spot certain patterns and relations.
Start with small steps. Don't attack the big questions straight away — you'll only set yourself up for failure. Instead, start with more straightforward tasks and work your way up to more complex problems.
Break problems down into more digestible pieces. Complex issues are made up of smaller problems. And those can be further divided into even smaller problems, and so on. Until you're left with only the basics.
Don't settle for a single solution. Instead, keep on exploring other possible answers.
Accept failure as a part of the learning process. Finally, don't let your failures discourage you. After all, you're bound to misstep a couple of times before you find your footing. Just keep on practicing.

How to improve problem solving skills with online courses

While it’s true that formal education won’t turn you into a master problem solver, you can still hone your skills with courses and certifications offered by online learning platforms :

Analytical skills. You can sharpen your analytical skills with Data Analytics Basics for Everyone from IBM provided by edX (Free); or Decision Making and Analytical Thinking: Fortune 500 provided by Udemy (＄21,74).
Creativity. And, to unlock your inner creative mind, you can try Creative Thinking: Techniques and Tools for Success from the Imperial College London provided by Coursera (Free).
Critical thinking. Try Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking Specialization from Duke University provided by Coursera (Free); or Logical and Critical Thinking offered by The University of Auckland via FutureLearn.
Decision-making. Or, you can learn how to become more confident when it's time to make a decision with Decision-Making Strategies and Executive Decision-Making both offered by LinkedIn Learning (1 month free trial).
Communication skills . Lastly, to improve your collaborative skills, check out Communicating for Influence and Impact online at University of Cambridge.

The fact that everybody and their grandmothers put “ problem-solving skills ” on their CVs has turned the phrase into a cliche.

But there's a way to incorporate these skills into your resume without sounding pretentious and empty. Below, we've prepared a mock-up resume that manages to do just that.

FYI, if you like this design, you can use the template to create your very own resume. Just click the red button and fill in your information (or let the AI do it for you).

Problem solving skills on resume example

This resume was written by our experienced resume writers specifically for this profession.

Why this example works?

Firstly, the job description itself is neatly organized into bullet points .
Instead of simply listing soft skills in a skills section , you can incorporate them into the description of your work experience entry.
Also, the language here isn't vague . This resume puts each problem-solving skill into a real-life context by detailing specific situations and obstacles.
And, to highlight the impact of each skill on your previous job position, we recommend quantifying your results whenever possible.
Finally, starting each bullet point with an action verb (in bold) makes you look more dynamic and proactive.

To sum it all up, problem-solving skills continue gaining popularity among employers and employees alike. And for a good reason!

Because of them, you can overcome any obstacles that stand in the way of your professional life more efficiently and systematically.

In essence, problem-solving skills refer to the ability to recognize a challenge, identify its root cause, think of possible solutions , and then implement the most effective one.

Believing that these skills are all the same would be a serious misconception. In reality, this term encompasses a variety of different abilities , including:

In short, understanding, developing, and showcasing these skills, can greatly boost your chances at getting noticed by the hiring managers. So, don't hesitate and start working on your problem-solving skills right now!

Julia has recently joined Kickresume as a career writer. From helping people with their English to get admitted to the uni of their dreams to advising them on how to succeed in the job market. It would seem that her career is on a steadfast trajectory. Julia holds a degree in Anglophone studies from Metropolitan University in Prague, where she also resides. Apart from creative writing and languages, she takes a keen interest in literature and theatre.

How to make a resume for first job in 6 steps (+ examples).

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How to Train Your Problem-Solving Skills

From the hiccups that disrupt your morning routines to the hurdles that define your professional paths, there is always a problem to be solved.

The good news is that every obstacle is an opportunity to develop problem-solving skills and become the best version of yourself. That’s right: It turns out you can get better at problem-solving, which will help you increase success in daily life and long-term goals.

Read on to learn how to improve your problem-solving abilities through scientific research and practical strategies.

Understanding Problem-Solving Skills

You may be surprised to learn that your problem-solving skills go beyond just trying to find a solution. Problem-solving skills involve cognitive abilities such as analytical thinking, creativity, decision-making, logical reasoning, and memory.

Strong problem-solving skills boost critical thinking, spark creativity, and hone decision-making abilities. For you or anyone looking to improve their mental fitness , these skills are necessary for career advancement, personal growth, and positive interpersonal relationships.

Core Components of Problem-Solving Skills Training

To effectively train your problem-solving skills, it’s important to practice all of the steps required to solve the problem. Think of it this way: Before attempting to solve a problem, your brain has already been hard at work evaluating the situation and picking the best action plan. After you’ve worked hard preparing, you’ll need to implement your plan and assess the outcome by following these steps:

Identify and define problems: Recognizing and clearly articulating issues is the foundational step in solving them.
Generate solutions: Employing brainstorming techniques helps you develop multiple potential solutions.
Evaluate and select solutions: Using specific criteria to assess solutions helps you choose the most effective one.
Implement solutions: Developing and executing action plans, including preparing for potential obstacles, guides you to positive outcomes.
Review and learn from outcomes: Assessing the success of solutions and learning from the results for future improvement facilitates future success.

Strategies for Developing Problem-Solving Skills

There are many practical exercises and activities that can improve problem-solving abilities.

Cultivate a Problem-Solving Mindset

Adopt a growth mindset: A growth mindset involves transforming phrases like “I can’t” into “I can’t yet.” Believing in the capacity to improve your skills through effort and perseverance can lead to greater success in problem-solving.
Practice mindfulness: Mindfulness can enhance cognitive flexibility , allowing you to view problems from multiple perspectives and find creative solutions.

Enhance Core Cognitive Skills

Strengthen your memory: Engage in activities that challenge your memory since accurately recalling information is crucial in problem-solving. Techniques such as mnemonic devices or memory palaces can be particularly effective.
Build your critical thinking: Regularly question assumptions, evaluate arguments, and engage in activities that require reasoning, such as strategy games or debates.

Apply Structured Problem-Solving Techniques

Use the STOP method: This stands for Stop , Think , Observe , and Plan . It's a simple yet effective way to approach any problem methodically, ensuring you consider all aspects before taking action.
Try reverse engineering: Start with the desired outcome and work backward to understand the steps needed to achieve that result. This approach can be particularly useful for complex problems with unclear starting points.

Incorporate Technology into Your Training

Engage with online courses and workshops: Many platforms offer courses specifically designed to enhance problem-solving skills, ranging from critical thinking to creative problem-solving techniques.
Use cognitive training apps: Apps like Elevate provide targeted, research-backed games and workouts to improve cognitive skills including attention, processing speed, and more.

Practice with Real-World Applications and Learn from Experience

Tackle daily challenges: Use everyday issues as opportunities to practice problem-solving. Whether figuring out a new recipe or managing a tight budget, applying your skills in real-world situations can reinforce learning.
Keep a problem-solving journal: Record the challenges you face, the strategies you employ, and the outcomes you achieve. Reflecting on your problem-solving process over time can provide insights into your strengths and areas for improvement.

Embracing Problem-Solving as a Lifelong Journey

Since problems arise daily, it’s important to feel confident in solving them.

And you can do just that by downloading the Elevate brain training app. Elevate offers 40+ games and activities designed to improve problem-solving, communication, and other cognitive skills in a personalized way that’s backed by science. Pretty cool, right?

Consider downloading the Elevate app on Android or iOS now—it’ll be the easiest problem you solve all day.

How Problem-Solving Games Can Boost Your Brain

Discover why problem-solving games are fun and effective ways to train your brain.

Improving Your Problem-Solving Skills

Discover how to improve your problem-solving skills and make logical, informed decisions.

Best Ways to Boost Your Mental Fitness

Mental fitness refers to your ability to sustain your overall well-being. Learn tips to improve yours.

How to think like a programmer — lessons in problem solving

by Richard Reis

If you’re interested in programming, you may well have seen this quote before:

“Everyone in this country should learn to program a computer, because it teaches you to think.” — Steve Jobs

You probably also wondered what does it mean, exactly, to think like a programmer? And how do you do it??

Essentially, it’s all about a more effective way for problem solving .

In this post, my goal is to teach you that way.

By the end of it, you’ll know exactly what steps to take to be a better problem-solver.

Why is this important?

Problem solving is the meta-skill.

We all have problems. Big and small. How we deal with them is sometimes, well…pretty random.

Unless you have a system, this is probably how you “solve” problems (which is what I did when I started coding):

Try a solution.
If that doesn’t work, try another one.
If that doesn’t work, repeat step 2 until you luck out.

Look, sometimes you luck out. But that is the worst way to solve problems! And it’s a huge, huge waste of time.

The best way involves a) having a framework and b) practicing it.

“Almost all employers prioritize problem-solving skills first.

Problem-solving skills are almost unanimously the most important qualification that employers look for….more than programming languages proficiency, debugging, and system design.

Demonstrating computational thinking or the ability to break down large, complex problems is just as valuable (if not more so) than the baseline technical skills required for a job.” — Hacker Rank ( 2018 Developer Skills Report )

Have a framework

To find the right framework, I followed the advice in Tim Ferriss’ book on learning, “ The 4-Hour Chef ”.

It led me to interview two really impressive people: C. Jordan Ball (ranked 1st or 2nd out of 65,000+ users on Coderbyte ), and V. Anton Spraul (author of the book “ Think Like a Programmer: An Introduction to Creative Problem Solving ”).

I asked them the same questions, and guess what? Their answers were pretty similar!

Soon, you too will know them.

Sidenote: this doesn’t mean they did everything the same way. Everyone is different. You’ll be different. But if you start with principles we all agree are good, you’ll get a lot further a lot quicker.

“The biggest mistake I see new programmers make is focusing on learning syntax instead of learning how to solve problems.” — V. Anton Spraul

So, what should you do when you encounter a new problem?

Here are the steps:

1. Understand

Know exactly what is being asked. Most hard problems are hard because you don’t understand them (hence why this is the first step).

How to know when you understand a problem? When you can explain it in plain English.

Do you remember being stuck on a problem, you start explaining it, and you instantly see holes in the logic you didn’t see before?

Most programmers know this feeling.

This is why you should write down your problem, doodle a diagram, or tell someone else about it (or thing… some people use a rubber duck ).

“If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it.” — Richard Feynman

Don’t dive right into solving without a plan (and somehow hope you can muddle your way through). Plan your solution!

Nothing can help you if you can’t write down the exact steps.

In programming, this means don’t start hacking straight away. Give your brain time to analyze the problem and process the information.

To get a good plan, answer this question:

“Given input X, what are the steps necessary to return output Y?”

Sidenote: Programmers have a great tool to help them with this… Comments!

Pay attention. This is the most important step of all.

Do not try to solve one big problem. You will cry.

Instead, break it into sub-problems. These sub-problems are much easier to solve.

Then, solve each sub-problem one by one. Begin with the simplest. Simplest means you know the answer (or are closer to that answer).

After that, simplest means this sub-problem being solved doesn’t depend on others being solved.

Once you solved every sub-problem, connect the dots.

Connecting all your “sub-solutions” will give you the solution to the original problem. Congratulations!

This technique is a cornerstone of problem-solving. Remember it (read this step again, if you must).

“If I could teach every beginning programmer one problem-solving skill, it would be the ‘reduce the problem technique.’

For example, suppose you’re a new programmer and you’re asked to write a program that reads ten numbers and figures out which number is the third highest. For a brand-new programmer, that can be a tough assignment, even though it only requires basic programming syntax.

If you’re stuck, you should reduce the problem to something simpler. Instead of the third-highest number, what about finding the highest overall? Still too tough? What about finding the largest of just three numbers? Or the larger of two?

Reduce the problem to the point where you know how to solve it and write the solution. Then expand the problem slightly and rewrite the solution to match, and keep going until you are back where you started.” — V. Anton Spraul

By now, you’re probably sitting there thinking “Hey Richard... That’s cool and all, but what if I’m stuck and can’t even solve a sub-problem??”

First off, take a deep breath. Second, that’s fair.

Don’t worry though, friend. This happens to everyone!

The difference is the best programmers/problem-solvers are more curious about bugs/errors than irritated.

In fact, here are three things to try when facing a whammy:

Debug: Go step by step through your solution trying to find where you went wrong. Programmers call this debugging (in fact, this is all a debugger does).

“The art of debugging is figuring out what you really told your program to do rather than what you thought you told it to do.”” — Andrew Singer

Reassess: Take a step back. Look at the problem from another perspective. Is there anything that can be abstracted to a more general approach?

“Sometimes we get so lost in the details of a problem that we overlook general principles that would solve the problem at a more general level. […]

The classic example of this, of course, is the summation of a long list of consecutive integers, 1 + 2 + 3 + … + n, which a very young Gauss quickly recognized was simply n(n+1)/2, thus avoiding the effort of having to do the addition.” — C. Jordan Ball

Sidenote: Another way of reassessing is starting anew. Delete everything and begin again with fresh eyes. I’m serious. You’ll be dumbfounded at how effective this is.

Research: Ahh, good ol’ Google. You read that right. No matter what problem you have, someone has probably solved it. Find that person/ solution. In fact, do this even if you solved the problem! (You can learn a lot from other people’s solutions).

Caveat: Don’t look for a solution to the big problem. Only look for solutions to sub-problems. Why? Because unless you struggle (even a little bit), you won’t learn anything. If you don’t learn anything, you wasted your time.

Don’t expect to be great after just one week. If you want to be a good problem-solver, solve a lot of problems!

Practice. Practice. Practice. It’ll only be a matter of time before you recognize that “this problem could easily be solved with <insert concept here>.”

How to practice? There are options out the wazoo!

Chess puzzles, math problems, Sudoku, Go, Monopoly, video-games, cryptokitties, bla… bla… bla….

In fact, a common pattern amongst successful people is their habit of practicing “micro problem-solving.” For example, Peter Thiel plays chess, and Elon Musk plays video-games.

“Byron Reeves said ‘If you want to see what business leadership may look like in three to five years, look at what’s happening in online games.’

Fast-forward to today. Elon [Musk], Reid [Hoffman], Mark Zuckerberg and many others say that games have been foundational to their success in building their companies.” — Mary Meeker ( 2017 internet trends report )

Does this mean you should just play video-games? Not at all.

But what are video-games all about? That’s right, problem-solving!

So, what you should do is find an outlet to practice. Something that allows you to solve many micro-problems (ideally, something you enjoy).

For example, I enjoy coding challenges. Every day, I try to solve at least one challenge (usually on Coderbyte ).

Like I said, all problems share similar patterns.

That’s all folks!

Now, you know better what it means to “think like a programmer.”

You also know that problem-solving is an incredible skill to cultivate (the meta-skill).

As if that wasn’t enough, notice how you also know what to do to practice your problem-solving skills!

Phew… Pretty cool right?

Finally, I wish you encounter many problems.

You read that right. At least now you know how to solve them! (also, you’ll learn that with every solution, you improve).

“Just when you think you’ve successfully navigated one obstacle, another emerges. But that’s what keeps life interesting.[…]

Life is a process of breaking through these impediments — a series of fortified lines that we must break through.

Each time, you’ll learn something.

Each time, you’ll develop strength, wisdom, and perspective.

Each time, a little more of the competition falls away. Until all that is left is you: the best version of you.” — Ryan Holiday ( The Obstacle is the Way )

Now, go solve some problems!

And best of luck ?

Special thanks to C. Jordan Ball and V. Anton Spraul . All the good advice here came from them.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed it, test how many times can you hit in 5 seconds. It’s great cardio for your fingers AND will help other people see the story.

If this article was helpful, share it .

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5 Ways to Build Math Problem Solving Skills (based on brain research)

Whether talking about state tests or meeting with your team to plan the next math unit, the conversation inevitably turns to word problems. But knowing how to build math problem-solving skills without resorting to pages of boring story problem practice can be hard.

These days word problems aren’t the basic one-step wonders that many of us dealt with as students. Instead, multi-step story problems that require students to apply multiple concepts and skills are incorporated into instruction and state assessments.

Understanding brain research can help simply the process of teaching this challenging format of math problem-solving to students, including those who struggle.

step-by-step math problem-solving for word problems

What research says about building master problem solvers in math

Have you seen how many math skills we must teach these days? No teacher has enough time to build critical math skills AND effectively teach problem-solving…or do they?

Research would argue we are going about these tasks all wrong. They say there are many reasons students struggle with math word problems , but one big one is that we aren’t doing what’s best for the brain. Instead, here’s what the brain research says about the must-have elements for building step-by-step math problem-solving mastery.

Finding #1: Becoming a master problem solver requires repetition.

Duh, right? Any good teacher knows this…but what’s the best recipe for repetition if you want students to master math word problems? How much practice? How often?

Let’s start with the concept of mastery.

How do you develop math problem solving skills?

In the 1990’s, Anders Ericsson studied experts to explore what made some people excel. Findings showed a positive correlation between the amount of deliberate practice (activities that require a high level of concentration and aren’t necessarily inherently fun) and skill level.

In other words, the more practice someone gets, the more they improve. This became the basis of Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hour rule, which stated that it takes 10,000 hours to make you an expert in a field.

But what should that practice look like for students who struggle with word problems? Is it better to have a deep dive into story problems, or do short bursts of practice do more for long-term understanding?

Designing Better Word Problem Activities: Building Step-by-step Math Problem-Solving Practice

We can look at Ebbinghaus’ work on memory & retention to answer that. He found spacing practice over time decreased the number of exposures needed. In other words, small amounts of practice over several days, weeks, or even months actually means you need LESS practice than if you try to cram it all in at once.

For over 80 years, this finding has stood the test of time. While research has shown that students who engage in mass practice (lots of practice all at once) might do better on an assessment that takes place tomorrow, students who engage in repeated practice over a period of time retain more skills long-term (Bloom & Shuell, 1981; Rea & Modigliani, 1985).

And how long does the research say you should spend reviewing?

How long should should students be practicing with story problems to build math problem solving skills ?

How long should problem-solving practice really be?

Shorter is better. As discussed earlier, peak attention required for deliberate practice can only be maintained for so long. And the majority of research supports 8-10 minutes as the ideal lesson length (Robertson, 2010).

This means practice needs to be focused so that during those minutes of discussion, you can dive deep – breaking down the word problem and discussing methods to solve it.

Teacher Tip: Applying this finding to your classroom

Less is actually more as long as you plan to practice regularly. While students who struggle with word problems may need a great deal of practice to master word problems, ideally, this practice should be provided in short, regular intervals with no more than 8-10 minutes spent in whole group discussion.

Here are a few simple steps to apply these findings to your math classroom:

Find 8-12 minutes in your daily schedule to focus on problem-solving – consider this time sacred & only for problem-solving.
Select only 1-2 word problems per day. Target step-by-step math problem-solving to build math problem-solving skills through a less-is-more approach using Problem of the Day .

Finding #2: Students who are challenged & supported have better outcomes.

Productive struggle, as it is called in the research, focuses on the effortful practice that builds long-term understanding.

Important to this process are opportunities for choice, collaboration, and the use of materials or topics of interest (which will be discussed later).

This productive struggle also helps students build flexible thinking so that they can apply previously learned skills to new or unfamiliar tasks (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000).

“Meaningful learning tasks need to challenge ever student in some way. It is crucial that no student be able to coast to success time after time; this experience can create the belief that you are smart only if you can succeed without effort.” -Carol Dweck

It is also critical to provide support and feedback during the challenging task (Cimpian, Arce, Markman, & Dweck, 2007). This prevents frustration and fear of failure when the goal seems out of reach or when a particularly challenging task arises.

Simple ways to build productive struggle into your math classroom

Giving students who struggle with word problems a chance to struggle with challenging word problems is critical to building confidence and skills. However, this challenge must be reasonable, or the learner’s self-esteem will falter, and students need support and regular feedback to achieve their potential.

Here are a few simple things to try:

Select problems that are just at the edge of students’ Zone of Proximal Development.
Scaffold or model with more challenging problems to support risk-taking.
Give regular feedback & support – go over the work and discuss daily.

Finding #3: Novelty & variation are keys to engagement.

When it comes to standardized testing (and life in general), problems that arise aren’t labeled with the skills and strategies required to solve them.

This makes it important to provide mixed practice opportunities so students are focused on asking themselves questions about what the problem is asking and what they are trying to find.

This type of variation not only supports a deeper level of engagement, it also supports the metacognitive strategies needed to analyze and develop a strategy to solve (Rohrer & Taylor, 2014).

The benefits of novelty in learning

A 2013 study also supports the importance of novelty in supporting reinforcement learning (aka review). The findings suggested that when task variation was provided for an already familiar skill, it offered the following benefits:

reduced errors due to lack of focus
helped learners maintain attention to task
motivated and engaged student

Using variety to build connections & deepen understanding

In addition, by providing variations in practice, we can also help learners understand the skills and strategies they are using on a deeper level.

When students who struggle with word problems are forced to apply their toolbox of strategies to novel problem formats, they begin to analyze and observe patterns in how problems are structured and the meaning they bring.

This requires much more engagement than being handed a sheet full of multiplication story problems, where students can pull the numbers and compute with little focus on understanding.

Designing word problems that incorporate variety & novelty

Don’t be afraid to shake things up!

Giving students practice opportunities with different skills or problem formats mixed in is a great way to boost engagement and develop meta-cognitive skills.

Here are a few tips for trying it out in the classroom:

Change it up! Word problem practice doesn’t have to match the day’s math lesson.
Give opportunities to practice the same skill or strategy in via different formats.
Adjust the wording and/or topic in word problems to help students generalize skills.

Finding #4: Interest and emotion increase retention and skill development.

Attention and emotion are huge for learning. We’ve all seen it in our classroom.

Those magical lessons that hook learners are the ones that stick with them for years to come, but what does the research say?

build problem solving for students who struggle with word problems

The Science Behind Emotion & Learning

Neuroscientists have shown that emotions create connections among different sections of the brain (Immordino-Yang, 2016) . This supports long-term retrieval of the skills taught and a deeper connection to the learning.

This means if you can connect problem-solving with a scenario or a feeling, your students will be more likely to internalize the skills being practiced. Whether this is by “wowing” them with a little-known fact or solving real-world problems, the emotional trigger can be huge for learning.

What about incorporating student interests?

As for student interests, a long line of research supports the benefits of using these to increase educational outcomes and student motivation, including for students who struggle with word problems (Chen, 2001; Chen & Ennis, 2004; Solomon, 1996).

Connecting classwork with student interests has increased students’ intentions to participate in future learning endeavors (Chen, 2001).

And interests don’t just mean that love of Pokemon!

It means allowing social butterflies to work collaboratively. Providing students with opportunities to manipulate real objects or create models. Allowing kids to be authentic while digging in and developing the skills they need to master their learning objectives.

What this looks like in a math class

Evoke emotion and use student interests to engage the brain in deep, long-lasting learning whenever possible.

This will help with today’s learning and promote long-term engagement, even when later practice might not be as interesting for students who struggle with word problems.

Here’s how to start applying this research today:

Find word problems that match student interests.
Connect real-life situations and emotions to story problem practice.
Consider a weekly theme to connect practice throughout the week.

Finding #5: Student autonomy builds confidence & independence.

Autonomy is a student’s ability to be in control of their learning. In other words, it is their ability to take ownership over the learning process and how they demonstrate mastery.

Why students need to control their learning

Research shows that providing students a sense of control and supporting their choices is way to help engage learners and build independent thinking. It also increased intrinsic motivation (Reeve, Nix, & Hamm, 2003).

However, this doesn’t mean we just let kids learn independently. Clearly, some things require repeated guidance and modeling. Finding small ways that students can take control of the learning process is much better in these instances.

We know that giving at least partial autonomy has been linked to numerous positive student learning outcomes (Wielenga-Meijer, Taris, Widboldus, & Kompier, 2011).

But how can we foster this independence and autonomy, especially with those students who struggle to self-regulate behavior?

Fostering independence in students who struggle to stay on task

Well, the research says several conditions support building toward independence.

The first (and often neglected) is to explain unappealing choices and why they are one of the options.

When it comes to word problems, this might include explaining the rationale behind one of the strategies that appears to be a lot more work than the others.

It is also important to acknowledge students’ negative feelings about a task or their ability to complete it. While we want them to be able to build independence, we don’t want them to drown in overwhelm.

By providing emotional support, we can help determine whether a student is stuck with the learning or with the emotions from the cognitive challenge.

Finally, giving choices is recommended. Identifying choices you and your students who struggle with word problems can live with is an important step.

Whether this is working in partners, trying an alternative method, or skipping a problem and coming back, students need to feel like they have some ownership over the challenge they are working through.

By building in opportunities for autonomy, and choice, teachers help students build a sense of self-efficacy and confidence in their ability to be successful learners across various contexts (McCombs, 2002,2006).

We know this leads to numerous positive outcomes and has even been linked to drop-out prevention (Christenson & Thurlow, 2004).

Fostering autonomy in your classroom

You’re not going to be able to hold their hands forever.

Giving opportunities to work through challenges independently and to feel ownership for their choices will help build both confidence and skills.

Here’s how to get started letting go:

Give students time to tackle the problem independently (or in partners).
Don’t get hyper-focused on a single method to solve – give opportunities to share & learn together.
Provide appropriate support (where needed) to build autonomy for all learners – like reading the problem orally.

Finding #6: Students need to be taught how to fail & recover from it.

Despite Ericsson’s findings discussed early on in this post, talent does matter, and it is important to teach students to recover from failure because those are the moments when they learn the most.

A 2014 study by Brooke Macnamara analyzed 88 studies to determine how talent factored into deliberate practice.

Her findings show what we (as teachers) already know, students may require different amounts of practice to reach the same skill level…but how do we keep those struggling students from keeping up?

Failure Quote 1 build math problem solving skills

Growth mindset research gives us insight into ways to support students who struggle with word problems, encourage all students in math problem-solving, and harness the power of failure through “yet.”

You might not be able to do something yet, but if you keep trying, you will. This opens the door for multiple practice opportunities where students learn from each other.

And what about the advanced students?

Many of these students have not experienced failure, but they may have met their match when it comes to complex word problems.

To support these students, who may be experiencing their first true challenge, we need to have high standards and provide constructive, supportive feedback on how to grow.

Then we need to give them space to try again.

There is great power in allowing students to revise and try again, but our grading system often discourages being comfortable with failure.

Building the confidence to fail in your classroom

Many students feel the pressure always to have the right answer. Allowing students to fail safely means you can help them learn from these failures so they don’t make the same mistake twice.

Here’s how you can safely foster growth and build math problem solving skills through failure in your classroom:

Build in time to analyze errors & reflect.
Reward effort & growth as much as, if not more than, accuracy.
At least initially, skip the grading so students aren’t afraid to be wrong.

Getting started with brain-based problem solving

The brain research is clear.

Spending 45 minutes focused on a sheet of word problems following the same format isn’t the answer.

By implementing this research, you can save yourself time and the frustration from a disengaged class.

Based on this research, I’ve created Daily Problem Solving bundles to save you time and build math problem-solving skills. You can get each month separately or buy the full-year bundle at a major discount.

Currently, I offer these bundles for several grade levels, including:

Try Daily Problem Solving with your Learners

Of course, you do! Start working to build step-by-step math problem-solving skills today by clicking the button below to sign up for a free set of Daily Problem Solving.

15 Tips to Improve Logic Building Skills in Programming

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“In some ways, programming is like a painting. You start with a blank canvas and certain basic raw materials. You use a combination of science, art, and craft to determine what to do with them.” – Andrew Hunt

Yes, programming in itself is a very beautiful art. Sometimes we may face some problems while trying to program, but we can definitely overcome them. So, in this article, we will be sharing the top 15 tips and techniques that can help you to make your programming skills more strong, and rectify some common programming problems and this will also help you in the logic-building process.

Improve Logic Building Skills in Programming

How to Improve Your Logic-Building Skills in Programming?

Here are the ways in which you can improve your logic-building skills in programming. So let’s get started!!!

1. Concepts are Building Blocks for Programming

While trying to crack the logic of any coding problem, many of us think that we never came across such algorithms or theorems while studying and therefore are not able to solve the problem. In order to solve any problem, we should know the concepts of that topic, then only we would be able to apply them and solve the problem. Theoretical knowledge and concepts can be gained by reading articles, blogs, documentation, and watching videos based on that topic. You can also refer to the articles on GeeksforGeeks for building your concepts. We should also know the application of concepts and practice some important problems based on that topic.

2. Be Consistent

Many times it happens that we take up a challenge to solve a question for some number of days and then discontinue in the middle after some days!! It is a popular saying that practice makes a man perfect!! The same is the case with building programming logic. Make it a point to revise, or read an article or solve a question daily despite being very busy with remaining activities. Practicing consistently will help a lot in the overall logic-building process. In order to motivate yourself, you should always contemplate the reason why you started, reward yourself, and make programming fun by solving some quizzes and experimenting with the programs to see different outputs.

3. Pen and Paper Approach

After seeing any problem, we generally start coding the same on our IDE. So, when we are asked to write code on paper in interviews, we fail to do so. Always try to write the pseudo code or algorithm of the code before implementing them. It will help you in writing the code and the next time whenever you approach a similar problem you will be able to recollect more easily. It will also help you in getting syntactically strong.

4. Revision is Very Important

Many of you might be facing this issue that you learn a particular concept but after a few days or months when another question with the same logic or concept appears, you are unable to solve it. This is because you haven’t revised the concepts. Always make it a point to write down the important concepts and logic of questions that are important and keep them revised again and again. This will help you in recollecting the concepts easily.

5. Do as Many Questions as You Can

It happens with most of us that there comes a single question and most of us get stuck there for 4 to 5 days and still are not able to crack it. Always try to practice lots of questions in order to develop your programming logic skills. This will help you in improving your logic building. If you are stuck on a single question, don’t spend a lot of time after a single question instead look for the concepts hidden behind the question.

6. Puzzle Solving

In many coding competitions, problems are not directly asked based on a concept. Instead, it generally involves a story woven around it, and we have to figure out the logic for solving the program. In such cases, sometimes we are unable to solve the problem. Try solving puzzles such as Sudoku to develop your logic and thinking ability because programming is nothing but solving complex problems with the help of good logic.

7. Follow Step-by-Step Approach

We don’t start running since the day we are born. Similar logic applies to coding also. We should not directly jump to difficult questions. We should go from Basic to Advance questions. You can take the ratio of questions such while choosing 10 questions you can divide them into 5 easy, 3 medium, and 2 hard questions. You can find these questions on many good websites. Sometimes, people solve a lot of easy questions from all the sites, but they are not able to solve medium-level questions. Instead, make a balance of all the levels. This will help in clearing the coding tests while placements as most of the questions are from easy to medium level.

8. Find a Programmer’s Community

Sometimes we get bored while solving problems by ourselves with no one to teach or guide us. In such cases, you can always try discussing solutions or complex questions with fellow programmers and friends. This will always help you in finding new logic for the same problem and will help you in optimizing your code. This will also improve your confidence and communication skills!!

9. Go through the Editorials

It happens a lot of times that we are not able to solve some questions, so we just leave the question or understand the editorial and move forward without implementing it. After programming any question, go through the editorial section and the top submissions of the code. Here you will be able to find optimized and different logic for the same code. Try to implement the solutions in the editorial section after understanding them, so that the next time you find such a question you will be able to solve it.

10. Take Part in Coding Challenges

Most people are aware of coding challenges and if you want to build your logical skills then you must keep taking part in the same. Taking part regularly in coding challenges is very useful as it makes you familiar with the logical mindset. In a coding challenge, there are numerous types of questions that provide you with a lot of exposure. Also, taking part in such challenges allows you to see solutions of various codes provided by different coders and helps you if stuck at some point.

11. Learn New Things Regularly

Programmers should never stop learning or being stuck on one topic. They must keep on solving multiple topics as it will help them to expand their area of knowledge by building technical skills. The aim should be solving new problems daily and not being stuck to the old pattern or algorithm in order to achieve success. However, at times some topics are a bit tough and take numerous attempts to solve, in that case, stop solving that and go on to the next one as sometimes new problems are helpful in solving the old ones.

12. Understand Mathematical Concepts

Mathematics is an important aspect of programming and understanding properly will help you in making numerous visuals or graphs, coding in applications, simulation, problem-solving applications, design of algorithms, etc.

13. Build Projects

Project building is another task that will enhance your logical building skills in programming. It challenges your ability to tackling with new things by using different methods and tactics. It is recommended that you must build one project in order to get a proper clarity of the subject and assess yourself in order to work ahead efficiently.

14. Notes Preparation

Notes are saviors and if one does that regularly then nothing can beat them from achieving their goal. While making notes you must write down every trick, concept, and algorithm so that if you need it again it is easily available. So if you are solving any problem then make sure to note down the library functions it will also be helpful for your future interviews. Noting down basic algorithms such as merge sort, binary search, etc. will help you if you are stuck somewhere.

15. Patience is the Key

Most of the time we leave programming after some days just because we are unable to solve the questions. Let’s always motivate ourselves by saying let’s just try one more time differently, before we decide to quit!!!

If you’ll patiently work on your programming logic skills and follow the tips which we have shared with you, no one can stop you from being a good programmer and you will surely crack all the coding tests and interviews!!!

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Improve your Coding Skills with Practice

What kind of Experience do you want to share?

Atcoder ABC #351 Short Solution Discussion

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SuperJ6's blog

How to Effectively Practice CP + Problem Solving Guide

This is a slight tweak of a practice guide I wrote a while ago on USACO reddit since I thought it could be helpful to people here. Some USACO specific sections or extra clutter I left out here that aren't needed for a general audience. This should cover all general cp advice I have so I never have to retype.

Introduction

This is a post on how I believe is the best method to practice modern day competitive programming based on my experiences. I assume you already have some knowledge and know simple things like binary search and dfs/bfs, but read the footnote if you are complete beginner (never code, solved <50 problems, div2 A/B too difficult, grey or stuck low pupil).

First, a quick tl;dr of the practice strategy before a bunch of specifics and explanation:

In short, mostly you only need to use codeforces (no matter what contest you're training for), find a rating range where you can solve around ~30-40% of the time on your own, and just grind down the problem set tab in reverse order of id (the default sorting). Also take part in every live contest you can, and virtual any live contests you miss. Also, if your primary goal is some goal outside of codeforces (let's say USACO, but could replace with any OI or if ICPC replace instance of OI with ICPC) Approximately once per week (probably on each weekend), I recommend you virtual an OI contest then upsolve the ones you understand the editorial for after. This should be old USACO contests until you finish all in the past 5 or so years, then use OI checklist to find new contests. Make sure you go for subtasks just as you would in real contests when doing so.

Some parts of this method may seem strange to you, so I'll explain in more detail and comment on why I believe it is the best method, and give some proof. If you're too lazy to read all of it, the most important parts of this article are bolded . Also, I am assuming you are able to practice somewhat regularly (at least a few days of practice done each week for multiple months), and this practice is unlikely to work if you don't. However if you really want to improve fast, ideally practice should be daily, no breaks.

Goal of Practice

First off, what is the main goal in practicing efficiently? I would argue you want to come across as many subtle ideas and concepts as quickly as possible and learn to intuitively realize when to apply them. This is what my practice method is centered around.

Another important goal is you should also feel discomfort in effort of trying to think new ideas as much as possible, but don't mistake this as time being confused with discomfort having no idea what to do. Actively making new insights as fast as possible is the state you should be in a lot during live contests and need to endure actively thinking new ideas while trying to not repeat same ideas in your mind. But when you have no clue how to approach/understand a solution to a problem, you are more likely to lose focus and are not helping yourself, so you want to minimize this.

Why Codeforces?

So, why only codeforces? Well, recent codeforces problems do a decently good job of introducing a large variety of concepts, particularly in the 2000+ rating range. Thanks to the large standards of wanting non-standard problems each contests, many small math tricks and greedy techniques are introduced, along with standard algorithms and data structure appearing decently enough. This is why I think they are the best collection of problems, as opposed to many other judges that are more standard and less diverse or innovative. Recent codeforces contests are by far better than old contests however, so that is why you should grind down the problems from most to least recent in the problem set tab. If you have done all contests later than contest 450, you should probably start using another judge and start doing more virtual contests, but at that point you probably don't need this guide.

How to Approach Problems in Practice

Alright, so codeforces seems good. Why only a rating range where you can solve ~30-40% of the time? Shouldn't you be practicing coming up with solutions on your own? Well, like I said earlier, you want to come across as many concepts as quickly as possible. If you're able to solve ~80%+ of the problems you're doing on your own, even if it takes a while, or in fact especially if it takes a while, you are not using your time most effectively, as you were already able to come up with the concept on your own. It is OK to read editorials often , that is where you actually learn new things. Binary search on the problem set tab to find a rating range of problems that fits the ~30-40% specification, and I recommend the rating range to a few hundred points wide. You can just shift range upward whenever lower end feels easier and you're solving more.

Well, the next natural question is how long should you take before reading editorials? I will argue only spend 15m thinking, after that if you're still having ideas keep thinking, but if you're just stuck read the editorial. However, if reading the editorial gives you new ideas continue thinking again. Sure, you may discover a trick you came up with yourself you can use later after a long time thinking, but was it worth spending 3h coming up with the solution on your own when you could've gone through 2 or 3 more problems if you read the editorial instead. However, going through too hard problems is just as bad is going through too easy problems. It is not worth spending 4h understanding a 3000 rated problem when you could learn much more concepts from 4 2300 rated problems in the same amount of time (if that's good for your skill level). That's why I say ~30-40%, this is usually the point where you can understand the editorial relatively quickly but aren't able to see the concepts on your own. Also, this is another reason to use codeforces instead of other sources, the problems are shorter so you can get through more faster and it is easier to find many problems of similar skill level .

Some important notes, however, are to take the 15m of thinking very seriously and implement every problem . This is extremely important!!! you should only be looking at editorial when you are really out of ideas and trying to think longer will just make you unfocused or reiterate old ideas. In other words you should feel mentally exhausted!! (or you're not working thinking hard enough). Don't be lazier than you would be in a contest, don't give up because you don't want to think harder on details, don't think/implement leisurely. It is important to practice making observations on your own, and you should be solving problems in the range more and more often as you go down the problem list, that's how you know you're improving. If you're not improving, you are likely not exhausting yourself thoroughly. You may think you can get through more concepts earlier without implement too, and this would fit the main goal of practice better, however, it's important to always implement every problem that isn't completely trivial, even if you mind solve it on your own, as you will remember it better and often you will realize you didn't understand the details as well as you thought before implementing. Always implement before reading editorial if you think you have idea, even when not sure, and don't look at others implementation before you solve even if you read editorial except for last resort.

I also recommend timing yourself when doing problems, at least while implementing. This will help you stay focused and improve your implement speed (which is important so you don't waste time implementing in contest). If you record your times you should hopefully see yourself getting faster for a fixed problem difficulty :).

When you finish a problem, make sure you reflect on techniques and mindset used and how you could generalize thought process to solve other problems more efficiently (imagine you were teaching someone else best way to approach similar problems). Similarly do this when you learn new algorithms or tricks and imagine how you would come up with on your own. Try to come up with your own list similar to one I have in "extra advice how to think" section. Similarly reflect on what can go wrong and how to consciously avoid mental traps. Also, it can be good to look at others solutions after you finish a problem quickly to see if there are any implementation tricks you don't know, and similarly reflect how you could make your code more concise.

When to Learn Algorithms/Data structures

Next thing to come up is when in this am I supposed to learn new standard algorithms and data structures? I advise when you come across an algorithm or any other concept (maybe math idea) in an editorial you don't know about to immediately find and read an article about it, implement in the context of this problem, and then continue just moving down the problem set tab. You can usually find an article on USACO guide, cp-algorithms, or a codeforces blog. The idea behind this is that algorithms should come up at a rate according to their relevance, so if the algorithm really is important you should see it in more problems soon, and you don't need to go looking for more problems with the topic. Similarly, it is important to see algorithms in context, which is why you should not practice by topic , as you will likely miss out on many more subtle techniques and tricks not in a topics list and get too used to knowing the algorithm used ahead time when you should be trying to figure that out in the 15m thinking time.

However, if you want a break or have other extra time when you can't do problems, reading through random algorithm articles in the locations listed above is a good way to expose you to some new ideas. But it is still more important to be actively solving problems when you can.

Live Contests

The number one thing that probably looks wrong with this practice method, despite the reasonings I gave earlier, is that you seem like you are not practicing solving problems on your own often enough. This is where live contests come in. It is important to take part in as many live contests as possible from every judge you can (except ones where every problem feels too easy) . This is where you practice thinking on your own, and if you look enough there are tons of contests all the time, particularly high quality ones from atcoder and codeforces. You should also upsolve the hardest problem you didn't solve during the contest, however, after that you should just go back to the codeforces problem set grind unless there are more problems from the contest within your practice rating range on codeforces. Lastly, to make sure you're taking enough contest, take every codeforces contest you miss that would be rated for you as a virtual contest.

Also, if your primary objective is some other contest (say USACO/OI but can replace with ICPC), you should do OI virtual about once per week as subtasks are becoming more important in USACO plus probably good to have more extended focus practice anyway. You also want to shift practice to doing mostly OI virtuals the week before a USACO contest begins. Make sure for these virtuals you are going for maximum points like in a real contest which may mean implementing subtasks, not just implementing full solves (or whatever other contest specific traits that differ from codeforces). If you aren't practicing a ton or you feel virtuals are taking too much time away from doing codeforces practice maybe do every other week instead of every week.

Scheduling Practice

This is less important but more just some pointers on scheduling time to practice consistently. I think it is obviously best to practice daily, and it isn't as hard as you may think it is if you build up good habits. I think it is good to have a regularly scheduled time where you can practice each day , as this makes it more of a consistent habit. Similarly, if you can set aside a specific location to practice as well that would be good , as this can give your mindset the habit that a specific time and place is for practicing only, and you build focus**.** Try to practice at least 90m for your scheduled time , but preferably longer. And get off discord!!! when you're practicing in the designated time :clown:.

Besides scheduled practice time, you can probably fit in more practice time in some or many days in different ways as well if you are serious. For example, I think it is good to memorize some problems at the beginning of each day, maybe a bit harder than you'd normally practice, and think about them all day during school, shower, eating, etc., or maybe the same problems for a few days. This helps you practice thinking more on your own. Also, when you have free time in class or while in car and someone else is driving or something, this is a good time to read algorithm articles. When I went to public school I also bought a portable keyboard to practice in class and spent most school lunch days in the library doing problems, but this might be overkill. Point is find all times of day to practice any way possible when you can, but most import is the scheduled practice time.

Adjustments Closer to Big Contest

If you are training for some main goal (hopefully for the past several months at least, following above methods), when you are within a few weeks away of big contest, start spending more practice time on vc's for that contest, and look over the syllabus/relevant ideas for that contest if list exists . Also consider if you are in these pitfalls:

You are too slow at working out ideas or implementation => do more fast-paced contest vc's, time yourself in other practice.

You are bad at allocating time in OI/ICPC style => focus on more relevant vc's and practice subtask allocation, figuring out which problems to work on, and when to move on like in real contest.

Still not able to make big insights that seem to come out of nowhere => try more guessing and some atcoder lol.

Hopefully this was somewhat useful to some of you, and gives you a comprehensive guide on how to practice for USACO and competitive programming in general. Please share this with others if you think it is useful.

For any more experienced people, let me know if there is anything you strongly disagree with what I said, I'd be interested to hear your viewpoint, though you're unlikely to change my mind :).

**I recommend the beginning of the usaco training page to complete beginners . I think it is a good way to start out as it guides you on the basics, and you should be able to start as soon as you know the very basics to a programming language, preferably c++ (you can use codeacademy to learn basics, it should take only a couple days max. you learn other parts about the language as you solve more problems and googling as needed). However, as soon as you finish chapter 1 or the problems feel easy (or if codeforces is still too intimidating maybe hard max finish chapter 2), that is when I recommend you start using this practice method, and perhaps also try some problems from the cses sorting and searching section. However most people reading this should already have some experience.

Sources mentioned: USACO — http://www.usaco.org Codeforces — https://codeforces.com Atcoder — https://atcoder.jp CSES — https://cses.fi/problemset/ Training gate — https://usaco.training OI Checklist — https://oichecklist.pythonanywhere.com Cp-Algorithms — https://cp-algorithms.com USACO Guide — https://usaco.guide Codeacademy — https://www.codecademy.com/catalog/language/c-plus-plus

Extra Advice How to Think to Solve Problems

Overall, just make sure you are always thinking new ideas and repeatedly combining old observations to make new ones. Don't worry about solving all at once, just think one small step at a time! Usually this means think what do you know for sure, then use to guess ideas on properties and direction and check if you can prove, combine your previous observations, then repeat. When really stuck, guess more extreme (it is another thing people who aren't improving don't do enough). Actually write down you're observations and make sure you're writing new things as fast as possible, even when seems small or irrelevant. But for some more direct tips, try going through the following checklist when approaching a problem:

look at everything from perspective of binary (both bit representation and splitting things in halves) and graph (pairs in input), or sometimes as geometry coordinates
think how information you have can be reused (like dp but more general, eg 2ptr or extending construction, sweepline, split query into reusable known parts), ask what is dependent and how, order by dependency. also try making one choice then and get same problem then induct (eg greedy, mst, dp, decision tree like trie, ask "what do i know for sure"), or combine smaller problems to get answer (eg range dp, d&q, mitm), so can reuse info of smaller problem.
reduce things to as simple as possible, compact representation of info, get rid of redundant transitions/states/etc. what is minimum needed for condition to be true? when something changes or decision made what is minimum that actually matters? sometimes combine operations into simpler one (eg try turning operation into something can binary exponentiate). bound everything as tight as possible and use to reduce states to consider. is answer/construction equivalent to bounds/minimum conditions (guess when stuck)?
make formulas out of everything, expand/rewrite as many ways possible (even simple like |x| -> +-x). think about related formulas to transform (eg combo) and other representations (don't forget matrix/polynomial).
visualize everything, draw things out
look for structures like montonicity, concavity, etc. (eg bsearch/dp opt) along with new conditions/constraints implied (eg sqrtn distinct of n total), and do this for every part of problem, whether specific part or entire structure of solution
go through testcases by hand (both initially with brute force and with your current best ideas), maybe also make generator/brute force checker if stuck to further look for patterns.
don't think same things over and over, write down everything you think and try to always write down new ideas, every small new observation is progress and may be able to be combined with other ideas eventually, but rethinking same things will not help
think of simplified cases then extend/reduce to them (reduce a[i] = 0/1, array->tree->graph, 2^x->k) or imagine assuming something you wish exists already exists (like data structure often range query, constraint eg for bsearch, previous knowledge, etc.) and solving from there, chances are thing then does exist if helps
reverse/change ordering of process (eg change order to simpler like change general add/delete to add/[delete most recent op] offline) or look at inverse (especially for counting) or just view problem in different way in general, restate problem/conditions in as many different ways as you can to get new perspectives. nice transformation usually means right direction (eg difference array).
if something reminds you of standard algorithm, or you find too slow solution for some part, think of every way you know how to do that standard thing and see if any modification relates to what you are doing, and think deeply what parts can be changed for specific problem
if something seems random in statement like any abnormal constraint or is similar to known problem but different in some way, is probably key to solving so consider why it is put in statement
don't forget sometimes can brute force small choices or if too many choices can pick random one or something that stands out (like max/min, only closest on left/right, etc.), extremals is often key. think carefully and guess what not matter if problem seems too hard initially. in constructive/interactive with many options can likely solve with only small subset of options.
don't overcomplicate. try multiple directions, if too many steps or edge cases probably not right direction. almost always a nice easily provable solution. guess nice things (eg simplest greedy/construction), hope they work, then check but don't get stuck forcing path. take step back when clowning on small details even if you know it is right general direction
try focusing on answer for one element at time instead of entire process (like in counting or creating bsearch condition, local easier to update for queries), or sometimes opposite (eg graph out all solutions, know ahead of time offline). in general change scope of thinking
believe you can solve every problem, but also treat every problem as a challenge that you take one step at a time. even most standard ideas you can learn on your own if you treat same way as any other problem
if something you remember very vaguely seems similar but you don't remember source and barely remember details, don't waste time trying to remember old thing, just start resolving from scratch
as stated by Perpetually_Purple in comment below, sometimes can try to cheese with random/heuristic if running out of time. especially true for OI contests with subtasks
sometimes can split problem into parts which can be solved differently based on constraints (eg sqrt decomp, small to large, upd and qry compute different parts, even/odd).
also break into independent problems (eg intervals that don't affect each other, solve x and y coordinate separately). when dependent on multiple things, process in order that gets rid of thinking about one and only worry about others (eg sweep one dimension, query other).
map things to a canonical form (eg lexographically minimal) or map representations that are equivalent to help with counting or alternate way to view solution. (eg think of greedy idea to get specific configuration then have counting dp mimic the greedy method to not overcount, find simple idea for single query then speed up multiple queries by precomputing conditions when add during greedy to speed up).
imagine assuming you know solution ahead of time and analyze or fix choices ahead of time and solve rest, can use this to prove things equivalent, choices not to consider, or properties of optimal configuration.
try only computing minimum necessary at each point of time, especially for update/query. can sometimes use amortized/lazy arguments (eg keep track of covered intervals in set, lazy prop on segtree).
ask what stays the same and what changes. how does a single operation affect properties of a problem (sum/difference of elements, always progress towards goal, reversable, etc.)? when doing testcases by hand guess these types of things then prove/disprove. use these properties to prove things like which choices are optimal or what is bottleneck to bound on answer.
Similar to 3 and 10, try compressing groups of things and solve over those group when relations within them are irrelevant, and keep updating when you can simplify further throughout process (eg compress cycles, scc, biconnected components, directed mst).'
When guessing idea, make sure you are listing through all assumptions being made and that those assumptions you know for sure hold true and completely encompass the problem. Also make samples around idea of what you think could go wrong, and use that to help you prove or disprove idea. If you're taking too long disproving wrong ideas, you likely need to go more one step at a time, don't guess extreme until more stuck.
If stuck working out details when have main idea, work out more testcases by hand and/or write detailed pseudocode and find what steps you are not entirely sure what they work and think harder. Don't be lazy about writing details!

Also it is good to use problem constraints to guide your initial direction of thinking, but don't let it constrain you to specific ideas. And whatever you do don't misread the problem , better to spend slightly longer reading and understanding correctly than solve wrong thing.

Implementation Tips

First check briefly that you are not missing easier idea/method to implement. That will save most time.

Try to have clear idea of each segment of code you will write, then write as fast as possible. Sometimes you don't have clear idea of entire code you write and only general outline, and that's ok, but in your mind have different parts of code in small chunks and have each small chunk planned out clearly before you write then think if needed before writing next part. Try to keep plan your code to be as concise as possible while still easily readable and make it where you are not rewriting same thing multiple times. If you keep rewriting, you need to step back and plan out better, check your ideas.

Also for debugging, just make a bunch of print statements in code and look for problems. Try to binary search and figure out where in the code the outputs are first not what you'd expect. If you realize some part is not right, don't get stuck making small edits trying to fix, go back to planning and rewrite when clear. Also try working through some examples by hand following steps of code, and read through every single line of code. It is likely the mistake is somewhere where you were sure you couldn't mess up lol.

Also adding one sentence comment to code on main idea of every problem might be nice if you ever need to refer back.

Allocating Time in OI Contest

I'm assuming 3 problems in 4 hours (adjust scale as needed). I usually read all 3 problems in first 15 minutes, then spend about 15 minutes each to think about each problem and decide order of difficulty I find easiest. If I fully mind solve one in that time I immediately implement, otherwise I do as follows. I then try to divide the next three hours to be roughly even among the three problems, and try the problems in order from easiest to hardest.

While focusing on a problem, it is very important to stay focused on only that problem. For most of hour on problem should implement as soon as you full solve but only implement subtasks to test ideas, if you think it help you towards full solution, or you are completely out of new ideas (in which case move on after implementing subtask if u still don't have new ideas). However, if you already use up ~50min for that problem and still don't know full solution and won't reach in next 5min, even if you think you could make more progress, just implement what subtasks you know and move on. It is important to actually move on as you may have wrongly assessed which problem was easiest so you want to have time to try all the problems (this has been my downfall multiple times in past). This means once you move on don't have more lingering thoughts usually and fully focus on next problem.

Math + CS Practice

If you are practicing math olympiad and cs olympiad, or just want some reading material that might help you, try reading some of and doing some problems from this combo book . Overall it will be better for you to just do be actively solving more problems for cp practice, but if you have some other free time it is a pretty good read and cp is basically olympiad combo + data structures + implementation anyway.

Practicing for math olympiad in general will also help you with competitive programming, but if you are only focusing on cp it is better to just work on cp problems.

Extra Motivation

In everything in life, the key to success is learning to find fulfillment in every small step you make towards progress. Related to cp, every problem solved and every day of practice is one step closer to your competitive programming goals. When solving a problem every new observation is one step closer to finding the solution.

Also, make sure you know your priorities and what you really want out of life, don't have regrets. If you really want to be good in cp, stop wasting time, stop taking days off, start solving problems as much as you can and you will find success. Obsess over what you want most until you achieve it.

IMAGES

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COMMENTS

What are some good ways to improve your problem solving skills ...
8) Repeat. This is a muscle, not a way of thinking. The best way to solve is a bug is to have solved it previously. Coding isn't some big concept that clicks or it doesn't, its more like a thousand tiny riddles. Once you have the answer its so easy, but figuring it out for the first time is unintuitive and weird.
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On the other hand, you might try to save by cutting your spending or by lowering other costs. Use some strategies to help you come up with solutions: Divide and conquer. Break the problem into smaller problems and brainstorm solutions for them separately, one by one. Use analogies and similarities.
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Block out time in your calendar to get curious, either in isolation or with others. Ponder and expose yourself to how people from an opposing viewpoint see a topic. Ask others their opinion or ...
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Although problem-solving is a skill in its own right, a subset of seven skills can help make the process of problem-solving easier. These include analysis, communication, emotional intelligence, resilience, creativity, adaptability, and teamwork. 1. Analysis. As a manager, you'll solve each problem by assessing the situation first.
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Decision matrices are a great way to identify the best option between different choices. Check out our article on 7 steps to creating a decision matrix. 1. Identify the problem. Before you put those critical thinking skills to work, you first need to identify the problem you're solving.
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Enjoy exploring these stages! Step 1: Find the Problem (Questions 7, 12) Some problems are very obvious, however others are not so easily identified. As part of an effective problem-solving process, you need to look actively for problems - even when things seem to be running fine.
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6. Solution implementation. This is what we were waiting for! All problem solving strategies have the end goal of implementing a solution and solving a problem in mind. Remember that in order for any solution to be successful, you need to help your group through all of the previous problem solving steps thoughtfully.
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Collaboration. Having a growth mindset. In short, understanding, developing, and showcasing these skills, can greatly boost your chances at getting noticed by the hiring managers. So, don't hesitate and start working on your problem-solving skills right now! 0.
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Enhance Core Cognitive Skills. Strengthen your memory: Engage in activities that challenge your memory since accurately recalling information is crucial in problem-solving. Techniques such as mnemonic devices or memory palaces can be particularly effective. Build your critical thinking: Regularly question assumptions, evaluate arguments, and ...
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In this post, we've gone over the four-step problem-solving strategy for solving coding problems. Let's review them here: Step 1: understand the problem. Step 2: create a step-by-step plan for how you'll solve it. Step 3: carry out the plan and write the actual code.
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Simplest means you know the answer (or are closer to that answer). After that, simplest means this sub-problem being solved doesn't depend on others being solved. Once you solved every sub-problem, connect the dots. Connecting all your "sub-solutions" will give you the solution to the original problem. Congratulations!
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Find 8-12 minutes in your daily schedule to focus on problem-solving - consider this time sacred & only for problem-solving. Select only 1-2 word problems per day. Target step-by-step math problem-solving to build math problem-solving skills through a less-is-more approach using Problem of the Day.
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Always try to practice lots of questions in order to develop your programming logic skills. This will help you in improving your logic building. If you are stuck on a single question, don't spend a lot of time after a single question instead look for the concepts hidden behind the question. 6. Puzzle Solving.
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In everything in life, the key to success is learning to find fulfillment in every small step you make towards progress. Related to cp, every problem solved and every day of practice is one step closer to your competitive programming goals. When solving a problem every new observation is one step closer to finding the solution.
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