4 types of problem classification and how to solve them
Good problem solving and the ability to make rational and effective decisions are the heart and soul of good career management. It is your latent ability to solve problems and make unbiased decisions and choose between one thing and another, instead of being carried away by blind instinct, which is the defining characteristic of how you feel about your human nature.
Whether you work in or with an organization, the quality of your work depends on your ability to effectively solve problems and make decisions. Here, I’d like to share with you some strategies you can use to hone your ability to become an excellent problem solver. Keep in mind that problem solving is not about how smart you are or what set of knowledge you have. Problem solving is about your ability to think clearly and keep relevant data and facts in the right perspective and have done that to get the process right.
To be an effective problem solver, the first thing you should try to do is fine tune your stroke of identifying and classifying the type of problem you are facing.
Problems can be classified into four types. They are: “Question-Based Problems”, “Situation-Based Problems”, “Conviction-Based Problems” and “Solving-Based Problems”. Each of these types of problems requires a unique approach to address and overcome. Let’s review each of them.
Question based problems
These types of problems involve a question that needs an answer. Sometimes it’s hard to get the answer, as you may not have access to all the relevant data and facts to make an informed decision. An example: Should the government help people who are laid off?
Obviously, this question requires more data, such as how many people have been laid off? Is it a problem that the government should handle? Why and how should they help them?
Question-based problems usually involve a long-term plan of action and one that requires you to seek out more information and data to help you solve it. It also gives you the opportunity to dig into the status quo you’re in and see how you could improve your current state to the ideal state you want.
If you are faced with this type of problem, you should work to get as much facts and data as possible so that you can at least try to minimize the problem and make an informed decision.
Situation-based problems
This type of problem as the word suggests is based on a situation that is currently causing you a dilemma. For example, his boss has asked him to work over the weekend to finish a million-dollar project for the company. However, he promised to take his family out to dinner to celebrate his spouse’s birthday. He now has a ‘situation’ here. Such problems can sometimes cause you to avoid the problem or try to ignore it. The question you need to ask yourself is how are you going to deal with the dilemma?
This is when you need to keep thinking about how you could satisfy these two contrasting situations. Or to make a decision about what is most important to you. Once this is done, you need to convey your presence of mind to both parties. Situation-based problems can wait for you to choose. In doing so, you must weigh the consequences of your decision and, as the saying goes, try to choose “the lesser of two evils.”
Conviction-based problems
This type of problem puts you in a situation where you may have information that others don’t and the need to convince others that they should see things your way. For example, how do you convince your colleagues that they shouldn’t always be late for appointments and meetings?
There can be a certain amount of sensitivity to issues such as the status quo you’re in is not an ideal state and can lead to other issues if you don’t handle it well enough. Persuasion-based problems require you to be empathetic to the feelings of others and to exercise a certain degree of emotional connectivity with others in order to be able to convince them.
solve problems based
Last in the category are resolution-based issues, which basically means you have a problem that needs to be resolved. Example: The copier machine has broken down. You have a lot of photocopying to do. There is only one solution here and that is to solve the problem. The solution option you choose can be effective in the short, medium or long term. For the short-term perspective, because you have a lot of photocopying to do, you may decide to outsource this. As a medium-term remedy, you may need to repair the copier. However, this may not guarantee that it won’t break down again, in which case you may need to think of a long-term solution to replace the entire machine.
Resolution-based problem solving will generally involve you being in a current undesirable state and needing to move to an ideal state where the problem is resolved or, if that is not possible, at least a state in which the problem can be minimized. .
Go ahead
Becoming a good problem solver will also put you in a good position to be a rational decision maker. It all depends on your calm and calm approach to the problems you face. So the next time you run into a problem, be sure to classify the problem into one of the above categories, and then see what you can do about it.
