After two weeks off – apologies, I too fall victim to hyper-paced schedules – I want to expand upon my last entry, in which I described Problem Solving as a process that can be taught. But I don’t believe teaching, by itself, is sufficient. Problem Solving must be learned.
Teaching places the emphasis on the instructor, Learning, on the student. Learning involves self-led exploration. It involves the application of key concepts and principles. It involves failure on the path to success. This is how great Problem Solvers are developed. For these reasons, when I run Problem Solving workshops, I view my job as not only to provide tools and processes, but relevant, real world examples and stimulating case exercises that motivate and inspire my clients to apply the concepts we address – long after the workshop is over. Becoming a great Problem Solver is a shared responsibility between instructor and student.
So, what are the common characteristics of great Problem Solvers? Can we predict those more likely to develop into exceptional analytical contributors?
In my mind, there are five common characteristics I look for, and seek to develop.
1. Curiosity. Above all else great Problem Solvers are naturally curious. They are more attentive observers of their surroundings and genuinely desire to know how things work, why things are as they are, how different variables relate to each other.
2. Creativity. Great Problem Solvers are less bounded by their pasts. Because they are curious, they try new things, and ponder issues foreign to them. This exercises the brain, building new neural pathways, enabling them to generate ideas that reach further than others.
3. Critical Thinking: Great Problem Solvers – again, perhaps because of their innate curiosity – don’t accept the simple, surface level answer. They don’t simply “check the box.” Instead, they look suspiciously at every finding. They evaluate it from multiple perspectives. They are patient thinkers who always ask: What else alternative explanation might exist?
4. Resourceful: Great Problem Solvers are intellectually persistent. They don’t accept ‘no’ for an answer. When the data doesn’t exist, they do field work to create the data themselves. Or they find the next best substitute, recognizing that some answer, even an imperfect one, is still enlightening and better than no answer at all.
5. Courageous: Problem Solving is a process of discovery, which inevitably involves false guesses and dead ends. It’s human nature to disdain failure. Great Problem Solvers must accept failure, recognizing it is, in fact, not failure at all, but one more positive step toward a solution. Great Problem Solvers must have the courage to ask the “dumb” question, to challenge conventional wisdom, and subject matter experts.
In my mind, these are the most important, defining characteristics of great Problem Solvers. They exist to different degrees within us, but just as the Process of Problem Solving can be taught, so can these characteristics be nurtured and advanced – in each and every one of us. You may not be born with the same ability as a world class sprinter, but with the help of a coach and effort on your part, you can dramatically improve your speed. So can you develop your Problem Solving skills. The impact you can make – within your work and your own career – is worth the effort.