Imagine a daunting assignment: You need to create an employee development training course on problem-solving skills. Sounds easy, right?
It should be easy. After all, you have been solving problems your entire life. Maybe you have a Masters of Business Administration and excel at managing employees. Maybe you have made some great decisions and consider yourself successful. Or, maybe (like me) you have actually completed multiple analytical courses or the intelligence community advanced analyst program. Whatever your journey, there is no doubt you have developed a problem solving process.
How do you do it? Is it different from the way I solve problems?
I have always thought problem solving skills have an individual-specific component. We all don’t see the world the same way, so why would we all solve problems the same way? While I still believe this to be the case to a degree, I have had to concede that there exist universal analytical steps that can make problem solving easier.
A Tradecraft Primer, page 38
The Sherman Kent School is the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) analyst training, development, and proving ground. One of their textbooks is available online: A Tradecraft Primer: Structure Analytic Techniques for Improving Intelligence Analysis.
While my daily problem solving is usually used to decide when is the best time to get groceries, CIA analysts have to provide recommendations for decision makers on national security topics. A mistake in my problem solving means I wait in heavy traffic; a mistake for them often means people’s lives are disrupted. These analysts solve problems by following a step-by-step analytical process as shown above (from A Tradecraft Primer, page 38). If you have some time (say, like a few days off for a holiday, perhaps), this is a quick and easy read.
When someone follows this guide, they would go from defining a problem, identifying assumptions, and brainstorming to red-teaming, devil’s advocate, and analysis of competing hypotheses (ACH). The analytical tool chosen depends partially on the problem. But, there are inherent challenges with these techniques in everyday life. Most of these techniques work best in group settings, require hours to complete, and need information that is often unavailable.
While this is all great, is this how we solve real world, private sector problems? I would say “yes”. I would argue that we all utilize elements of these steps in our daily lives. We may not always title the steps the same, but I believe we are generally involved in these processes to a certain degree. It is only when we face larger problems that we try more structured techniques. (Think about a young person deciding between colleges or a person evaluating which car to purchase.)
Back to my original question: How do you train people to solve problems better?
I’m still working on the details, but I have settled on developing curriculum with these deliverables:
- (A person, after completing this training, will be able to…) Explain the identifying characteristics of a problem that will require greater concentration and effort to solve;
- Demonstrate performing a “self-check” in which they 1) clearly articulate the problem and restate it if necessary, 2) brainstorm potential solutions, 3) identify their own assumptions regarding the problem, and 4) critique any implicit biases they may have regarding the problem, the people, or the potential solutions;
- Describe the benefits and challenges to using a structured analytical technique like red-teaming or ACH; and,
- Role-play using devil’s advocacy to find a solution for a simulated client problem.
This potential curriculum is still in the creation stage, but I am actually quite excited to give this a try in the near future. However, I am open to suggestions. Does anyone have other thoughts on how to teach people to problem solve better?