BEST STEPS TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

-by Ma. Aurora Sicat

Some of the following suggestions, which are based on research on creativity, may help you solve problems at work and your daily life.

1. Take time to understand a problem before you begin to try to solve it.

2. Get all the facts clearly in mind.

3. Identify the facts that seem to be the most important before you try to work out a detailed solution.

How can you do it?

1. Set aside a sizable block of time to focus on a particular problem, rather than attending to it in scattered sessions.

2. Work out a plan for attacking the problem.

3. Establish subgoals: solve part of the problem and go on from there. You don’t have to do everything at once.

4. Write out your thoughts. This allows you to capture important points and to come back to them later. It also allows you to look for patterns.

5. Think of a similar problem you’ve solved in the past and build on the strategy you used then.

6. Use analogies whenever possible. See whether you can generalize from a situation similar to your current problem.

7. Trust your intuition. Take a guess and see whether you can back it up.

8. Play with ideas and possible approaches. Try looking at the same situation in a number of different ways.

How can you do it better?

1. Don’t worry about looking foolish if you say or suggest something unusual or if you come up with the wrong answer.

2. Eliminate cultural taboos in your thinking (such as gender stereotyping) that might interfere with your ability to come up with a novel solution.

3. Try to explore as many alternatives as you need to.

4. Keep an open mind. If your initial approach doesn’t work, ask whether you made assumptions that might not be true.

5. Be alert to odd or puzzling facts. If you can explain them, your solution may be at hand.

6. Think of unconventional ways to use objects and the environment. Look at familiar things as if you’ve never seen them before.

7. Do some brainstorming with one or more other people. This involves trying to produce as many new and original ideas as possible, without evaluating any of them until the end of the session.

8. Strive for objectivity. Evaluate your own ideas as you would those of a stranger’s.