Problem Solving

“It’s not that I’m so smart,

it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

Albert Einstein

In just about any industry or any role, we are almost constantly involved in solving problem. It is what makes humanity progress forward by constantly searching for better solutions to common problems or new solutions to new problems as our societies become more complex.

As the problems have become more complex, the need to solve problems in a group has increased. Groups now contain a variety of experts looking at a problem in relation to their own respective domains. This course is ideal for groups of people who aim to solve problems collectively together. Solving problems as a group has its own unique issues. For example, some people like to dominate a meeting with their ideas at the expense of other less talkative members. This could be because of their character or a political agenda. This can lead to suboptimal solutions. Without a good thinking system a group may never come across novel ideas and even if it does, the idea might quickly be put aside, criticised or ridiculed.

Today, there are many powerful group-based problem solving and brainstorming techniques that can be used to increase creativity and productivity.

The aim of this exercise-driven course is to get the delegate practice these techniques in a simulated environment working on smaller problems. This allows them to learn how these techniques work. If the delegates are from the same organisation, you can also run it as a team building course where delegates go through a shared experience while solving problems. They will learn how to work together and improve their communication skills.

The course is also effective if delegates are from different organisations as they can focus on the details of the techniques and learn from each other’s approaches or how various techniques might be used in different industries.

The course contains many exercises. Optional exercises are also provided so the content of the course can be biased based on the requirements of the delegates.

A series of extra problem solving techniques are also discussed briefly at the end of the workbook. These can be explored by those interested to know more about this topic after the course.

In this highly practical course participants will learn:

What is Problem Solving?

• Why people fail in solving problems?
• What are the helpful attitudes that can help to solve problems more efficiently?
• What are the ideal roles in a productive meeting?
• What techniques help to improve problem solving?

Defining the Problem

• What techniques are helpful in systematically exploring a problem domain?
• How to search for root causes of problems and visualise this using a powerful technique

Generating Ideas

• How to generate lots of ideas as a group and methodically organise them as they are generated
• How to use a powerful visual technique to increase the creativity of a group in coming up with new ideas
• How to avoid killing new ideas before they can be given a chance
• How to get a group to cooperate with each other when solving a problem rather than competing with each other

Brainstorming

• What should you do to improve your brainstorming sessions?
• What are good questions to ask in a meeting or when someone suggests an idea?
• What are bad questions?
• What are commonly used brainstorming techniques?
• What are their strengths and limitations?

Decision Making

• How to take advantage of a number of powerful qualitative decision making techniques to decide on a course of action
• How to use a system that helps to look at making a decision from many angles

Planning

• What is a Work Breakdown Structure?
• How can you use Gantt charts to plan?
• How to analyse work package dependencies to find out how late a work can finish without affecting the overall schedule
• How to analyse requirements to make sure you only focus on those that matter the most and can prioritise your plan

Audience: Anyone

Prerequisites: None

Course Duration: 1 Day

Course Level: Beginners & Intermediate 

By the end of this course the delegates will be able to:

• Avoid attitudes that hinder problem solving and adopt those that increase your chances of success
• Explore and define the problem systematically by viewing it from different angles and search for root causes
• Methodically generate ideas and use visual techniques to organise them into meaningful logical categories
• Use a number of established brainstorming techniques to search for solutions by maximising idea generation, participation and creativity
• Make qualitative decisions by evaluating various aspects of potential solutions using a systematic method
• Plan to implement your solution by scheduling, analysing critical parts of the plan, managing resources and carrying out a requirements analysis
• Use problem solving techniques to address issues as a group

This is a course on problem solving and creativity which introduces delegates to effective and efficient problem solving techniques that can be used is groups.

The course is structured around various problem solving techniques and the exercises to practice those methods. The training content aims to increase the awareness of delegates about best practices and guidelines that will increase team productivity.

Instructions are also provided on the pacing of the course so depending on the number of participating delegates you can adjust the content to ensure the course runs smoothly and on time. 

Affinity Diagrams used in Brainstorming and Problem Solving