Most businesses want to hire interns who can think of new ways to solve problems. The IDEAL five-step method from project management would be the best way to teach them how to solve problems. The steps are naming, defining, researching, taking action, and measuring. How can you make the most of your time in university to improve your ability to think clearly and solve hard problems?
FIGURE out the problem.
I think problem-solving skills come down to three steps: spotting the problem, breaking it down into its parts, and coming up with a plan that will work. When kids have problems, many of them tend to shut down emotionally and only think about how big the issues are. But good problem-solvers always try to figure out where the problem came from and what details can be separated, fixed, and then solved. Saying that things are bad or out of control is not helpful because it is too unclear. The causes of these problems should be looked into more deeply.
I think that the first and most important step in learning to solve problems is to train yourself to identify problems wherever you find them. During the first round of thinking up ideas, the students naturally only thought of the bad things. But that wasn't detailed enough to solve the problem at hand. My suggestion was to write a paragraph-long description of the problem to try to figure out what caused it.
Define Key Components
The next step in handling problems. Getting good at it includes identifying the critical aspects of a problem and break it into smaller, easier-to-handle parts. It's a very important move. Knowing how to do it well is a key part of being a good boss and understanding yourself. You won't face a monster mountain that you can't get around. Instead, you'll have to figure out how to make small paths through the rocks and hills. Instead of being overcome by the fact that the problem seems impossible to solve, you can take it on step by step by breaking it down into its parts.
Think About Possible Solutions
Finding possible answers is hard, even when it seems like most of the work has been done and the goal is close. In reality, students shouldn't be satisfied with quick solutions that gloss over important parts of the problem. They have to figure out which methods work the best and then use those to their advantage. We need to find "an elegant, really beautiful solution that works."
Students should remember that they might face challenges that are hard to predict (but not impossible). Students can be more successful if they know how to use new ways to find answers, like a problem-solving tree. Students have to come up with more than one leaf (a answer) for each branch (one part of the problem). An important part is connecting different possible solutions logically to make them stronger.
Take Action to Implement Solutions
The last step in solving a problem is to make a thorough plan for how to do it. Then act in a way that is both effective and decisive. This is important because it doesn't matter how well students understand the problem, describe its parts, or think about possible solutions if they don't know how to put their ideas into action. As part of solving problems, students should learn how to successfully delegate tasks to each other or to external stakeholders. They should also learn how to monitor and evaluate the whole implementation process.
Reflect and Learn from the Experience
Once the problem has been solved, students can sit down with all plans, either alone or with a partner, based on the nature of the assignment. It's time to look at what's been done so far and decide if anything needs to be changed. Spending some time thinking about the process as a whole and figuring out what can be learned from it is a great way to make problem-solving efforts in the future more productive and lead to more beautiful results.
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