Problems are a part of life. Whether it's running out of milk for your morning coffee or breaking down on the highway en route to work, we all experience obstacles at one point or another. While some issues might seem like the end of the world in that moment, there's generally a solution for most things, if you think hard enough.
Sometimes this means calling in an expert, other times it entails doing what we can with whatever we have available. When it comes to the latter, you might need to think outside the box - or even destroy that box completely.
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As the Harvard Business School's site notes: "One of the biggest hindrances to innovation is complacency—it can be more comfortable to do what you know than venture into the unknown."
And that's where creative problem-solving comes into play. The university's experts explain that this type of problem-solving is less structured than other innovation processes, adding that it encourages exploring open-ended solutions.
As we know, different problems will have different solutions, and you might need to experiment with several strategies before something finally fits.
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The first step is to identify the problem.
"It might seem obvious, but if you’ve faced similar problems in the past, look back to what worked then. See if any of the solutions could apply to your current situation and, if so, replicate them," suggests BetterUp.
Another option is to work backwards. This means imagining your problem has already been solved, and making that the starting point. Aka reverse engineering. In such scenarios, you'd retrace your steps back to where you are now.
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Of course, you could always call a friend. Or a few...
"The more people you enlist to help solve the problem, the more potential solutions you can come up with," BetterUp's team says. "Use different brainstorming techniques to workshop potential solutions with your team. They’ll likely bring something you haven’t thought of to the table."
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There's also something known as the Kipling Method when it comes to problem-solving. It's based on Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “I Keep Six Honest Serving Men,” and encourages you to ask six specific questions when faced with a challenge:
- What is the problem?
- Why is the problem important?
- When did the problem arise, and when does it need to be solved?
- How did the problem happen?
- Where is the problem occurring?
- Who does the problem affect?
Hopefully, the answers will lead to a possible solution.
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