• Follow us on Twitter
  • Join our Facebook Group

University Survival

  • Student Success Skills
    • Picking a College
    • Financing Your Education
    • Choosing a Major
    • Preparing for College
    • Managing the Personal Side of the Transition to College
    • Developing Discipline to Do Well
    • Managing the Social Side of College
    • Being an Efficient Learner
    • Taking Tests
    • Ensuring You Receive The Grade You Want
    • Managing Group Projects
    • Becoming a Campus Leader
    • Student Athletes
    • Navigating College Practices
    • Succeeding on Internships and Co-ops
    • Making Critical Decisions
    • Overcoming Challenges for Specific Types of Students
    • Setting Goals
    • Being an International Student In The United States
    • Using Resources
    • Communication Skills for College Graduates
    • Building a Professional Network
    • Using LinkedIn to Develop Your Network
    • Preparing for a Career
    • Understanding Job Protocols
    • Developing Essential Career Skills
    • Becoming a Leader
    • Overcoming Career Challenges
    • Planning for your Financial Future
  • Parent Connections
    • Parent Topics
      • Being a Supportive Parent
      • Making Critical Decisions
      • Financing Your Student’s Education
    • Parent Emails
  • Teacher Resources
  • Resources
  • Community
  • About
You are here: Student Success Skills » Developing Essential Career Skills » Developing Problem Solving Skills

Student Success Skills

Developing Problem Solving Skills

by jennifer
August 8, 2012

When an employer asks one of your references about your problem solving skills, what skills do you think they are asking about?  In this case, problem solving skills don’t refer to math knowledge.

Problem solving skills are actually a collection of skills.

  • The ability to explore a situation and identify what the essential issue really is
  • The ability to sort through confusing and conflicting information to gain the critical insights needed to solve the problem
  • The ability to identify realistic outcomes that are possible from the situation
  • The ability to frame an analysis approach that can be used to test various alternative solutions
  • The ability to sort through the pros/cons of various alternative solutions to select the solution that best meets your desired outcome

Does this sound confusing?  Think about the process you used in deciding what to have for dinner.  You probably use most of these steps.

How do you improve your problem solving skills?

  1. When confronted with situations, no matter how significant, practice thinking about the five abilities listed above.  Over time you will start developing your own repertoire of problem solving skills.
  2. Think about tough issues that are in the public eye.  Pretend you are the decision maker in theses cases, work through what you would do.  Contrast your problem solving approach with those who do have the decision authority.
  3. Examine your own personal barriers in being an effective problem solver.  What barriers do you need to overcome?
  • Denying there is a problem until it’s too late
  • Always selecting the alternative with the least risk
  • Unwillingness to honestly consider some alternatives
  • Not challenging the information given you
  • Not knowing how to reach a desired outcome
  • Accepting the first alternative that seems like it may work
  1. Talk with experienced persons about their problem solving approaches.  While they may not have thought a lot about their own problem solving approach, you can gain a lot of insight from them in just listening to them discuss their thought process.
  2. Read biographies of people who have been called upon to resolve major situations.  Leaders of social movements, businesses, and the military are good sources of biographies.

 

Problem solving is one of those skills that will only come with experience.  You can learn a lot from others, but you eventually need to develop your own problem solving approach..

← Developing Communication Skills
Having a Strong Work Ethic →

Suggest a Topic

Looking for a topic and can't find it? Why not submit one...

Suggest a Topic

Share This

Rate This Topic

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

Testimonials

  • This semester I have made a number of improvements that have helped me in class. In my opinion, the biggest improvement I made was going to class more often. This has obviously helped in the classes I’m taking. Another improvement I’ve made is my note taking skills. I take more thorough notes than I did before and that has led to me understanding things much better. This semester I’ve kept track of my time way better. Using a wall calendar helped this cause tremendously while setting multiple alarms helped as well. Another improvement would be using my time between classes for better purposes. This helped give me time to study for tests and get a head start on homework. These are just a few of the improvements that have helped me this semester..

Sign Up For Student Emails

Enter your email below to get weekly student emails.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Suggest a Topic

Looking for a topic and can't find it? Why not submit one...

Suggest a Topic

Share This

Sign Up For Parent Emails

Enter your email below to get weekly parent emails.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Suggest a Topic

Looking for a topic and can't find it? Why not submit one...

Suggest a Topic
© Copyright - University Survival