How Do You Solve a Problem Like…?
Tools to help strengthen your problem-solving skills that can benefit you in life.
How do you solve a problem like…Maria?
Who’s Maria?
She’s my favorite character from my all time favorite movie — The Sound of Music.
Maria was a loveable character. She was always far too outspoken, getting herself into trouble with her sisters, but she was very good at one thing — problem solving!
Growing up watching Maria, she taught me to be firm but kind and also what it means to be good at problem-solving.
So, how can improving our problem-solving skills benefit you and me?
Well, I believe it can lead to:
- Approaching our problems with greater confidence
- Enhancing our critical thinking skills
- Refining our organizational skills
- Honing in our time management skills
- Enriching our communication skills
Tools To Help Build Problem-Solving Skills
In school and in life, individuals will see that improving their problem-solving skills helps with the results we seek because we work smarter, not harder.
But how?
I look at problem solving as a three—step approach.
I. Recognize the Details of the Problem
In recognizing the problem, we should determine which of the ‘W’ questions (who, what, when, where, why) and how are impacted.
II. Know What You Are Looking For
In short, we are looking for the desired outcome that creates a win-win situation for everyone affected.
III. Use the Best Way to Get to the Solution
Using the most effective and time-saving approach is the best way to get the solution means we have an organized, well thought-out, and well communicated approach to handling the problem.
Benefits To Improving Your Problem-Solving Skills
Let’s now look at the five benefits of improving your problem-solving skills when it comes to learning and beyond.
I. Builds Confidence
In improving your problem-solving skills, you also build your confidence in being able to handle problems yourself or in helping others.
II. Strengthen Critical Thinking Skills
With problem-solving, it’s important to learn to ask the questions that will help you understand what you are looking for in the shortest time possible.
III. Helps Build Organizational Skills
Organizing our time is time well spent. This means we plan our time so that we don’t waste any of it.
IV. Helps Improve Time Management Skills
Using our time wisely can help to reduce problems or avoid them altogether.
V. Helps Enhance Communication Skills
When we gain confidence in our problem-solving skills, we can learn to communicate the answers we find that help us to help others solve their problems.
Build Problem-Solving Skills from Kitchen to Classroom
Problem-solving in the kitchen can mean anything from replacing missing ingredients, changing the recipe to meet dietary restrictions, or making improvements to a dish that takes it from a great to a WOW dish that has been the talk of the kitchen table for years to come!
Get a sneak peek at how I see the kitchen as a great place for children to start developing their problem-solving skills!
If you enjoyed this video, please like it and subscribe to my channel — The ETI Academy!
Final Thoughts…
I hope you enjoyed reading this article and found it useful for building good problem-solving skills that will help your or someone you care about reach goals in learning and life for years to come!
Please consider reading my other articles connecting the kitchen to the classroom and how the kitchen can help in building skills useful in the classroom.