Problem Solving Skill: Why is it important? - Simple Explanation

Problem solving is a part of our daily life, both at home or in the workplace. For that very reason we can say that problem solving skills are important in our life.

From the very first day of your life till the last day, you will face challenges or problems in life. You can’t overcome each and every problem by just googling the answer. Your problem solving skills will decide whether you can solve the problem or not. If you can, how fast!

You need problem solving skills at workplaces too. Employers hire people with problem solving skills so that they can face both dynamic and google-able problems. This is why you need problem solving skills to survive in a workplace.

What are problem solving skills?

Problem solving is a basic life skill. The ability to solve a problem by using the resources one has is called problem solving. More formally, it is the steps we take to understand what is happening around us, to identify what is wrong, to think of what we want to change and lastly implement everything that needs to be done to create the desired result. We solve problems everyday without really thinking about them and many of us have been doing it since birth.

For example: Imagine as a kid, you got 30 marks on your maths exam and you know your parents will be angry with you. You will be grounded for months and all your video games will be taken from you. You are in trouble; How can you solve this problem? Well, you can not just google “How to make parents less angry after failing a maths exam?”. What to do? You will think of a way to talk and negotiate with parents. Maybe, you will promise to do better in the upcoming exams and be a nice kid for the next couple of weeks. Boom! Your parents won’t be angry with you. This is just an example, you don’t have to solve your problem on my way. Everybody has their own method of problem solving.

How to solve a Problem?

There are too many articles on the net where you will find “7, 8, or 5 steps to solve a problem”. It depends on the problem solver on how many steps he will take to solve a problem. But there are some basic steps that everyone needs to follow to solve problems.

1. Identifying the Problem: Before solving any kind of problem, at first you need to understand what is the problem or where the problem is. You need to look carefully and be clear about what the problem is.

2. Look at your goals and generate possible solutions: You need to be clear about what your goal is and what you would like to happen. After that, brainstorm all the possible solutions. Be creative and look for unique and better solutions. Think out of the box. Silly to silliest, write it down. List out everything that comes to your mind. At first an idea might seem impossible and boring but it can turn out to be the greatest idea you ever had.

3. Evaluate the solutions: Rule out the obvious poor solutions. Calculate what are the pluses and minuses of each possible solution. Check the feasibility. See solutions from different points of view and decide whether to keep the solution in mind or just say bye-bye!

4. Decision Making: Identify the best of the best solutions and decide which one to work with. If you did all the steps correctly, there might be one obvious solution. If not, go through all the steps again.

5. Implement the solution you have: You did all the hard work and found a perfect solution. Now, implement the idea and see how it goes. If it doesn’t work, move on to the next solution. Remember, confidence is the key and you need to have faith in yourself.

Remember, these steps will not give a surety that you can solve a problem by just following. You will need to work hard, identify and implement everything with proper care and research to solve a problem.

What to do when I can’t solve a problem?

It is very much common that you may not be able to solve a problem after trying a lot of time. If you are in this type of situation, you need to think thoroughly and find the corner case of your problem and question yourself why it is not working. Let’s say you’re exhausted and one more try you might burst your head off. For this kind of case, you can seek professional help.

What I mean by professional help is that you can ask a teacher, senior, friend, parents, classmates etc. Sometimes, discussing with others might lead you to the key of an impossible door.

Buttom line

Problem solving skills help you to face and tackle any type of challenges in your life. It is normal not to be able to solve a problem right away. You need to keep patience and work on the daily self-development procedure to sharpen your problem solving and decision making skills. If you are a parent, you need to start teaching or guiding your child to solve problems more and more. Solving problem not only brings confidence to one but also helps his/her mind to think quicker, sharper and desire results in a shorter period. So, learning these skills from a very early age helps anyone to grow. Read this beautiful article from Marlborough to know more about why problem solving skills are important for children.

Solving an equation in math, buying some food in your tight budget, solving your love-life problems, self-development etc. can be called problem solving. You don’t need to program yourself and learn techniques to dodge bullets to be called a problem solver. We all are solving various problems in our life on a daily basis. So, anybody can be a problem solver.

Author: H.M. Sazzad Quadir - a SEO specialist, problem solver and competitive coder. Currently studying Information and Communication Engineering at University of Rajshahi.