Theme: “Solutions”

Theme: “Solutions”

Problem solving is one of the most essential skills in life. Regardless of who you are or what you do, you will face obstacles. How you deal with such challenges will often be a determining factor in how successful you are at life. While problems come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, this article will give you some tools to help find solutions. There are many ways to solve problems, and it will depend on your situation, your experience, your knowledge, your attitude, and your problem to determine the best approach. Use logic to arrive at a conclusion. To solve virtually any problem, you can use a process of elimination – dividing the issue down until all you have left is the problem. There are four basic steps to this process:

1.Define the problem.

2.Develop a plan.

3.Implement the plan.

4.Evaluate the results.

Until there’s an acceptable answer, you’ll repeat steps 2 through 4 until that answer has been reached. We’ll use a common problem to illustrate this scenario.

The easiest solution! A large cosmetics company had a problem that some of the soap boxes coming off the production lines were empty. The problem was quickly isolated to the assembly line, which transported the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department: some soap boxes went through the assembly line empty. The management asked its engineers to solve the problem. They spent much time and money in devising an X-ray machine with high-res monitors manned by staff to watch all the boxes on the line to make sure they weren’t empty. A workman hearing about this came up with another solution. He got a powerful industrial fan and pointed it at the assembly line. As each soap box passed the fan, the empty boxes were blown off the line. Moral: the simplest solution is usually the best!