how to use problem solving skills in poverty

The Aspen Institute

©2024 The Aspen Institute. All Rights Reserved

• 0 Comments Add Your Comment

How to Target Intergenerational Poverty With a Basic Life Skill

September 12, 2016  • Stephanie M. Jones , Rebecca Bailey & Ann Partee

A growing body of research suggests that executive function (EF) and self-regulation are essential skills that enable children and adults to be successful in their daily lives. EF and self-regulation are tied to numerous positive outcomes across the life span – including children’s academic achievement and positive behavior in school; and adults’ success in the workplace, income and savings, and general health and well-being [1] [2] .

EF skills are important because they enable children to focus, remember and follow directions, and exercise self-control. In adults, these skills support more complex behaviors such as planning, multi-tasking, and weighing multiple options in light of long-terms goals, all of which promote effective decision-making [3] . EF and self-regulation may even buffer low-income youth from some of the harmful effects of poverty, by enabling coping skills such as emotion regulation and flexible problem-solving [4] [5] .

Yet the conditions associated with poverty often undermine the development of these critical skills. Low-income children are more likely to have lower levels of EF [6] [7] ; and chronic exposure to poverty may make it especially challenging for adults to marshal the cognitive resources necessary to plan, prioritize, and access the supports and services that are available to them [8] .

Despite the overwhelming evidence that EF and self-regulation are promising targets for programs that support low-income families, few if any programs exist that are designed to simultaneously build both child and parent EF-related skills in a coherent system of supports. SECURe Families was designed to fill this gap.

Three Big Ideas

SECURe Families is built on three big ideas. The first idea: use the science of EF to design skill-building strategies for both children and adults. Our goal is to provide supports to children, parents, and teachers that are along a common theme, and do it in a way that resonates with what children and adults each face in their own settings. At the core of the SECURe approach is a set of concrete, age-appropriate strategies for building EF and self-regulation skills in both children and adults.

The second idea: align strategies across home and school. Aligning experiences across settings is likely to generate bigger impacts than focusing in only one place or on one target. SECURe Families was developed to work in parallel with an existing school-based intervention that has been shown to improve children’s EF-related behaviors and academic skills [9] .

The third idea: provide direct support for the everyday challenges of parenting. We can’t make the difference we want with children if we don’t think carefully about adults [10] . While there are many challenges facing low-income parents – including limited access to education, health, employment, and housing – one area of stress and strain that is common to all parents is managing the often difficult behaviors of young children. SECURe Families is designed to give parents concrete strategies for handling everyday “pressure points” – universal challenges of parenting that are exacerbated under conditions of stress, in particular stress associated with poverty.

Using the Science of EF to Interrupt Cycles of Stress

A key finding from recent research is that the prefrontal cortex – responsible for EF skills like focus, planning, and self-control – is closely linked to brain regions that are responsible for signaling emotions like fear, anger, and anxiety [11] [12] . These brain regions are connected through the stress response system, which is designed to alert the body in times of danger and initiate physiological changes that allow you to react fast when needed. These changes put your body into an automatic “flight or fight” mode, so you can run away from a potential threat or protect your family or home – in essence, enabling an immediate response without consideration of future consequences or long-term goals.

This is an adaptive system, but it comes at a cost. When stress takes over, it shuts down the control center of the brain, inhibiting EF skills and making it difficult to think clearly or make effective long-term decisions [13] . Research suggests that chronic exposure to poverty-related stressors can change the basic architecture of the brain, particularly the areas responsible for learning, memory, planning, and self-control [14] . This makes it increasingly difficult for children and adults to organize their behavior in ways that drive success in school, the workplace, and other areas of life.

SECURe Families focuses on universal challenges of parenting that are exacerbated under conditions of stress.

But the story here is not just about chronic stressors and long-term changes in the brain. This “stress cycle” happens all the time and in all of us: we can all think of moments when we react impulsively even though we know better. Imagine walking into your home after a particularly stressful and tiring day at work, and you find your children falling apart in ways they often do at the end of the day – needing dinner or help with homework right away, getting into conflicts with each other, or simply wanting to connect immediately on their own terms. Under conditions of stress (and the exhaustion that often comes with it), it is difficult manage these moments, to put one’s own needs aside and to respond in a calm and effective way, even though you know responding with tension, frustration, or anger is likely to escalate the situation.

SECURe Families interrupts the stress cycle by building key executive function skills and putting the front of the brain back in control – so everyone can go from their stressed self to their best self.

The impact of these “pressure point” moments can be hyper-salient for low-income families. A young child’s challenging behavior can make it difficult to get out of the house and to work on-time, and therefore impact a parent’s ability to keep a job or follow-through with important commitments. This is frustrating and inconvenient for all parents, but for adults who have limited job security and limited financial resources, the stakes are higher; these moments exert out-sized pressure on an already taxed family system.

Over time, frequent conflicts about behavior can undermine parental self-efficacy, contribute to a negative view of one’s child, and erode the sense of connection that is essential for relationships that serve to buffer children from stress and other adverse life experiences. For the young child, strained and negative interactions, persistent yelling, and harsh parenting can itself become a chronic stressor. Additionally, children may learn to react with similar impulsivity, aggression, or withdrawal, instead of learning the self-regulation skills that are reinforced when parents respond to challenging situations in calm and supportive ways.

All parents love their children and want to do their best, but many low-income parents are at a double-disadvantage, because the toxic stress associated with poverty can undermine or impede the use of skills that are necessary for effective parenting [15] , skills that many parents have and can use under calmer circumstances. For adults living in poverty, an impulsive or harsh reaction to misbehavior, hyperactivity, or neediness (all quite typical behaviors of young children) may happen faster and with more intensity, and may trigger their own past experience with trauma or abuse as a young child. Self-control, emotion regulation, and decision-making skills are compromised under these conditions, which can make accessing these skills even more difficult, particularly in moments that require adults to replace previously learned behaviors with new, more effective parenting practices. Over time, patterns of negative interaction may cascade into a loss of control with more dramatic and devastating effects.

By giving low-income parents a set of strategies for managing challenging moments, SECURe aims to improve the quality of everyday care-giving and buffer children from the harmful effects of toxic stress. These strategies may help to interrupt an inter-generational cycle of trauma and adverse life experiences that impacts many children and families in poverty.

These moments happen every day in both school and home settings, and play out in the interactions between adults and children. They are a distressing signal of the intimate ways that cycles of stress and poverty can be transmitted across multiple generations; yet they also suggest a powerful mechanism for improving the daily experiences and trajectories of low-income families. As illustrated by a recent New Yorker article, the work is in the relationships: daily parent-child interactions hold opportunity for both tremendous devastation and tremendous growth [16] .

Key Features of the Intervention

What? SECURe Families consists of a series of nine workshops that unfold over the course of a school year. Workshops are facilitated by a community-based social worker, and aim to build a peer network and social support system among cohorts of low-income parents. Workshops are designed to interrupt cycles of stress and problem behavior at home, by introducing strategies that help adults manage these moments more effectively – for example, building EF skills with daily “Brain Games” [17] , learning how to identify when the “stress siren” is taking over, and practicing cool-down strategies.

When? SECURe Families is designed around salient developmental moments. Research indicates that brain regions supporting EF and self-regulation have the ability to change and grow, in particular during the early childhood period and during the transition to adulthood or new parenting [18] . These are key windows of opportunity for building EF skills: they are sensitive periods in the development of the prefrontal cortex, which means the brain is especially “plastic” or able to build new connections through learning and the practice of new skills. Patterns that get established during these windows may influence lifelong trajectories of learning, health, and behavior. SECURe Families is specifically designed for parents of young children and it addresses unique challenges that arise during this time.

Where? SECURe Families focuses on the home environment, because parent-child interactions are a key context for building EF and self-regulation skills. Additionally, the content of each Families workshop is designed to align with what children are doing in the SECURe classroom curriculum, and with what teachers are doing through the SECURe Professional Development system. Across each of these groups (children, teachers, and parents) are a common set of elements. The SECURe strategies (i.e., Brain Games, Feelings/Stress Thermometer, cool-down strategies) are scalable and easily deployable to help children and adults address challenges that arise across multiple environments.

How? SECURe workshops are organized in a deliberate fashion to reinforce cycles of skill building. Each month, the workshop is structured in the following way:

• Brain Basics – parents learn about brain development and are introduced to a new SECURe strategy for supporting positive behavior and building EF-related skills at home.
• Make a Plan – parents set a goal for the month and make a plan for how they will use the SECURe strategy to address “pressure points” with their child.
• Try it Out – parents try out the SECURe strategy or activity at home; parents notice and keep track of how often they use the strategy and how it is going.
• Reflect – parents start the next workshop by reflecting on the effectiveness of the SECURe strategy, and sharing with other parents what did or didn’t go well during the month; then they begin the cycle again with a new Brain Basics and SECURe strategy.

The workshop structure was designed to give adults repeated practice in key EF skills such as planning, setting goals, problem solving, and reflection. Each month, the SECURe take-home strategy helps adults build additional skills with their children, including self-control, stress management, emotion awareness, and effective communication. These are transferable skills that are intended to support adults and children in multiple spheres of their lives. Thus, although SECURe Families focuses on parent-child interactions, the skills developed through the workshops can be applied to a much broader array of settings – including the workplace, financial planning, health decisions, etc. By engaging in cycles of planning and reflection, we hope to build sustainable habits that are transferred beyond the parent-child relationship to improve other aspects of low-income adults’ lives.

At its core, SECURe builds a set of meta-skills such as planning, reflection, and self-control – skills that support high-quality parenting but also transfer to other areas of adult life – serving as a central pathway to wellbeing and success.

Conversations during our pilot suggest that noticing and reflecting is hard: we don’t often make time to do it, and most of us need scaffolds to do it well. And yet, this appears to be an initial step in any behavior-related change. In human services work, we often make assumptions about what low-income adults can do without giving them the scaffolds to do it. SECURe Families tries to address this by creating tools to help parents notice and reflect on their own thinking, feelings, and behavior at home, and to use these reflections to inform parenting and use of SECURe strategies each month.

What did we learn?

In the 2014-15 school year, we simultaneously built and piloted the SECURe Families program with a group of families living in high-poverty and high-risk, urban, mixed-ethnicity communities. We collected data on the implementation and feasibility of the program, and feedback about its potential effectiveness to improve parent-child relationships and daily interactions in the home. The majority of family members reported that SECURe strategies were doable in their daily routines and were helpful for managing the challenges of parenting young children: 71% said they used the SECURe strategy every day or most days of the week, and 65% said it was helpful most of the time (the remaining 35% said it was helpful some of the time). All of the family members who gave feedback said they observed changes in both themselves and in their children as a result of the program.

In the voices of participating family members:

• “Yes I love this program a lot because [it] help me [calm] down and my kids if we really upset.”
• “The situations have change[d] from bad to better. We have more happy moments.”
• “I have noticed that my stressed level change my physical body.”
• “A lot has changes in my house hold in terms of how I handle and understand my kids.”
• “It help me a lot because I can help my kids with their reading, homework, [and] understand how to relax and how to think.”

The US currently has one of the highest rates of childhood poverty of any developed country. More than 15 million children are living in poverty, and they are more than twice as likely as their more affluent peers to be exposed to multiple adverse experiences including trauma, abuse, or neglect [19] [20] . Many poor children grow up with parents whose own experiences of childhood included harsh parenting, trauma, or abuse. There is a real urgency for family supports that directly combat this inter-generational cycle of poverty and stress that directly impacts health and development [21] [22] .

SECURe Families gives low-income parents tools to manage stress, anger and frustration, and to engage productively with young children in difficult moments. Our aim is to infuse the family system with strategies that promote high-quality relationships and positive, skill-building interactions. While parents suggested the program was effective in reducing stress and promoting positive interactions with their children, the key take-away was embedded in the process: Notice – Reflect – Plan – Try it Out. We see this process as building a core set of meta-skills that are relevant beyond the parent-child

[1] Center on the Developing Child; 2011. Working Paper #11: “ Building the Brain’s Air Traffic Control System ” about executive function and self-regulation skills.

[2] Moffitt et al; 2011. PNAS, “ A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety ” about early childhood skills and longitudinal links to life outcomes (study)

[3] Silvia Bunge; 2014. Building Better Programs, “ Executive Function Skills for Adults: What they are and why they matter ” explaining how adult EF supports daily functioning (link to PPT):

[4] Buckner, Mezzacappa, and Beardslee; 2003. Development and Psychopathology, “ Characteristics of resilient youths living in poverty: the role of self-regulatory processes ” about how self-regulation skills are linked to better life outcomes for low-income youth (study)

[5] Buckner, Mezzacappa, and Beardslee; 2009. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, “ Self-regulation and its relations to adaptive functioning in low income youths ” (study)

[6] Noble, McCandliss, and Farah; 2007. Developmental Science, “ Socioeconomic gradients predict individual differences in neurocognitive abilities ” about EF in low-income children (study)

[7] Kimberly Noble; 2014. Cerebrum at DANA.org, “ Rich man, poor man: Socioeconomic adversity and brain development ” summarizing research on poverty and brain development

[8] Beth Babcock; 2013. TedXBeaconStreet, “ Using Brain Science to Develop New Pathways Out of Poverty ” about EF and coaching for low-income women (link to PPT)

[9] Jones, Bailey, and Jacob; 2014. Phi Delta Kappan, “ Social-emotional learning is essential for classroom management ” describing the SECURe PreK program and findings

[10] Center on the Developing Child; 2014. “ Building Adult Capabilities to Improve Child Outcomes ” describing the theory of change behind dual-generation approaches (interactive resources)

[11] Amy Arnsten; 2009. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, “ Stress signaling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function ” about brain regions linking stress and EF

[12] Amy Arnsten; 1998. Science, “ The Biology of Being Frazzled ” about the biology of stress and EF

[13] Arnsten, Mazure, and Sinha; 2012. Scientific American, “ Everyday Stress Can Shut Down the Brain’s Chief Command Center ” about stress and EF

[14] Center on the Developing Child; 2005/2014. Working Paper #3: “ Toxic Stress Disrupts the Architecture of the Developing Brain ” about chronic exposure to poverty and the brain

[15] Mullainathan and Datta; 2011. W.K. Kellogg Annual Report, “ Stress Impacts Good Parenting ” about how poverty-related stressors impact daily parenting behavior (accessed online via Building Better Programs)

[16] Jill Lepore; 2016 (February 2). New Yorker, “ Baby Doe ” article about inter-generational cycles of poverty, abuse, and adverse life experiences

[17] Brain Games ; 2015. Created by the SECURe Research Team at Harvard University and adapted with HopeLab and Daylight Design (link to images and description)

[18] Kim and Watamura, 2015. Ascend at Aspen Institute, “ Two Open Windows: Infant and Parent and Neurobiological Change ” about brain plasticity and the opportunity for intervention with young children and new parents

[19] Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2014 , U.S. Census Bureau; poverty statistics compiled and available online via PovertyUSA

[20] Child Trends; 2013. “ Adverse Experiences ” basic info and graphs about adverse childhood experiences including prevalence, links to later life outcomes, and poverty as an indicator

[21] Dr. Nadine Burke Harris; 2014. Excerpt from The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back from the Brink , “ The Chronic Stress of Poverty: Toxic to Children ” about poverty, stress, and parent-focused therapy for minimizing the impacts of adverse childhood experiences

[22] Paul Tough; 2011 (March 21). New Yorker, “ The Poverty Clinic ” article about stress, adverse childhood experiences, and poor health outcomes

Related Posts

April 29, 2024 Céline Apollon & 1 more

April 8, 2024 Sohrab Kohli & 1 more

The best of the Institute, right in your inbox.

Sign up for our email newsletter

About . Click to expand section.

• Our History
• Team & Board
• Transparency and Accountability

What We Do . Click to expand section.

• Cycle of Poverty
• Climate & Environment
• Emergencies & Refugees
• Health & Nutrition
• Livelihoods
• Gender Equality
• Where We Work

Take Action . Click to expand section.

• Attend an Event
• Partner With Us
• Fundraise for Concern
• Work With Us
• Leadership Giving
• Humanitarian Training
• Newsletter Sign-Up

Donate . Click to expand section.

• Give Monthly
• Donate in Honor or Memory
• Leave a Legacy
• DAFs, IRAs, Trusts, & Stocks
• Employee Giving

Solutions to Poverty to Get Us To 2030

What would Zero Poverty look like for the world in 2030? Here are a few starting points.

Apr 24, 2022 | By: Angela Maya

If you believe, like we do at Concern, that we can end poverty, then the next question is: How? There’s no one simple process for achieving this goal, but that doesn’t make it impossible. Here are seven solutions to poverty that guide our work in 24 countries around the world.

Stand With Concern in the Fight for Zero Poverty

1. eliminating poverty through equity.

One of the main causes of poverty is inequality. The systemic barriers that lead to groups of people going without representation in their communities leaves them further behind in terms of resources and opportunity. In order for a community, or even a country, to alleviate poverty,  all  groups and identities must be involved in creating solutions.

One of the biggest inequalities we need to address is gender inequality. According to the  UN’s High-Level Panel for Women’s Economic Empowerment , women’s unpaid labor adds up to $10 trillion per year — 13% of the global GDP.  According to the Food and Agriculture Organization , women own less than 20% of agricultural land in parts of Africa and Asia, yet make up 60% of the agricultural workforce. As former FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said in 2016:

"Women are the backbone of our work in agriculture...when women have opportunities, the yields on their farms increase -- also their incomes. Natural resources are better managed. Nutrition is improved. And livelihoods are more secured."

One other important thing to note: By equality, we mean that every person must have an equality of  results  versus equality of resources. This may mean additional resources for the furthest behind, in order to ensure that they have all they need to succeed.

2. Reducing Poverty With Resilience

Poverty happens when a high amount of inequality meets a high amount of risk.

For instance, the  Democratic Republic of Congo  has suffered ongoing conflict since gaining independence from Belgium in 1960. This has left millions of Congolese vulnerable, either living in conflict zones or in displacement camps (or both). When another crisis hits, like the  DRC’s 2019 Ebola epidemic  or  2021’s Mount Nyiragongo eruption , people are much less able to cope because their resources have already been worn thin.

To offset this, we need to ensure that the most vulnerable people and communities are able to build  resilience . While the meaning of that phrase has changed in recent years, it means something very concrete in  humanitarian aid  and development. Resilience for us means working with communities to prepare for disasters — whether manmade or natural — in advance. It also means adapting to long-term changes (such as fighting climate change with  Climate Smart Agriculture  or creating programs to support the education, safety, and livelihoods of  refugees or IDPs ). These solutions to poverty help to offset the level of vulnerability communities may have in the face of risks — or even reduce the level of risk.

3. Commit to climate change solutions and climate justice

Resilience against climate change is especially important and deserves its own mention. According to the World Bank , climate change could force an additional 100 million people into extreme poverty over the next decade without any urgent action taken.

Concern maintains overall climate responses (such as Disaster Risk Reduction ), as well as specific programs (like Paribartan in India and Bangladesh , BRCiS in Somalia , and RAPID in Pakistan ). But one of the solutions to poverty that goes beyond any humanitarian mandate is a governmental commitment to climate justice, particularly on the parts of high-income countries whose carbon emissions are higher than those of the low-income countries hit hardest by climate change.

4. Eradicating poverty through education

According to UNESCO, if all students in low-income countries had just basic reading and writing skills (nothing else), an estimated 171 million people could escape extreme poverty. If all adults completed secondary education, we could cut the global poverty rate by more than half. Education develops skills and abilities, corrects some of the imbalances that come out of marginalization, and decreases both risk and vulnerability.

Some of the key areas of focus for making sure that education is truly for all involve breaking down the barriers to education : creating access to school in remote areas, supporting teachers in their work to deliver quality education , and making sure that education is available to children living in fragile contexts.

5. Halting poverty by ending hunger (and thirst)

Simply eating three meals a day and getting a healthy amount of calories and nutrients can go a long way to breaking the cycle of poverty . When a person doesn’t have enough to eat, they lack the strength and energy needed to work. Contaminated water can lead to debilitating illnesses.

What’s more, improving access to clean water can mean that those who live in rural communities. If you go back to our first point on inequality, you might be able to guess that water is a women's issue . Current estimates suggest that women and girls collectively spend 200 million hours every day walking long distances to fetch water.

Adequate healthcare options for all goes hand-in-hand with this solution, and represents a larger need for governments to offer the basic social protections and services to keep their citizens healthy, and give them affordable treatment options when they aren’t.

6. Poverty alleviation through peace

Ending all war — while ambitious — means that budgets allocated to cover the cost of conflict can be used to deliver public services. It also reduces risks faced by the most vulnerable communities, and ensures that goals towards equality and inclusion can be maintained.

We’ve seen this play out time and again: While estimates around data for the country vary, Syria 's poverty rate following the start of the Syrian crisis increased from approximately 12% in 2007 to 83% in 2019. Conversely, in Nepal, a decade-long civil war came to a close in 2006. This correlated with a sharp increase in gross national income (GNI) and gross domestic product (GDP) year-over-year.

Likewise, the establishment of a United Nations peacekeeping operation in Cambodia in 1992 (following a deadly civil war and war with Vietnam) helped to forge stability within the country and grow its middle class: The country’s poverty rate dropped from 47.8% in 2007 to 13.5% by 2014.

7. Cash solves poverty

It may seem like the simplest of answers, but cash and microfinance are two of the best solutions to poverty.

One of the ways Cambodia’s transition from wartime to peace (including the repatriation of over 300,000 Cambodian refugees) was so smooth was thanks to the idea of buying on credit. Such an influx of returnees could place a strain on resources and create financial dire straits, microfinancing models introduced into the country helped to establish village savings and loans , insurance, and cash transfer services in communities that need them the most, allowing people to purchase the tools and services they need in order to become self-sufficient. Between 1998 and 2018, Cambodia’s economy grew by an average of 8% each year, and its middle class began to flourish.

While the traditional image of humanitarian aid may be crates of supplies like food, water, and tents, distributing cash has become more common. It’s cheaper and faster to get into a country (and can even be distributed by phone now). It also gives recipients the autonomy to make their own purchasing decisions, and supports local and national economies.

Sometimes, a small startup grant (even as small as $100) is all it takes to help a family living below the poverty line to launch a new business while keeping on top of their bills and keeping their children fed. The net effect is that they are able to lift themselves out of poverty in a sustainable manner, like Stawa James in Malawi .

It’s a small step — but one that promises a ripple effect of change.

Solutions to Poverty in Action

How Village Savings and Loans Associations Are Beating Poverty Around the World

Climate Smart Agriculture: Back to the basics to fight climate change and hunger

Cash transfers, explained: A solution that beats poverty and stereotypes

Sign up for our newsletter.

Get emails with stories from around the world.

You can change your preferences at any time. By subscribing, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

A business journal from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Finding a Creative Solution to Poverty-related Challenges

February 29, 2016 • 8 min read.

Jocelyn Wyatt is executive director and co-lead of IDEO.org, a sister non-profit to the global design and innovation firm IDEO.

Knowledge at Wharton: For most of our readers, IDEO is a well-known brand. IDEO.org is probably also known. But just give us a brief overview of what IDEO.org is and what it does.

Jocelyn Wyatt: IDEO.org is a sister non-profit to the design and innovation firm IDEO. We focus on applying human-centered design to poverty-related challenges. Human-centered design is a creative, problem-solving approach where we start with deeply understanding people’s wants and needs, come up with creative solutions in order to serve those needs more effectively, prototype and test them, and refine them after getting feedback. Ultimately, we implement and scale up solutions that improve people’s lives. The type of work we do at IDEO.org include things like reproductive health for adolescent girls who live across sub-Saharan Africa, to tools for smallholder farmers, to financial opportunity solutions like mobile money products.

Knowledge at Wharton: You mentioned human-centered design for poverty-related challenges. What is human-centered design? What makes it a unique tool for poverty alleviation?

Wyatt: Human-centered design is a creative problem-solving approach. We do a lot of qualitative research, spending time with [the poor] in their own context, in their places of work, in their homes, working alongside them … to find out what it is that they want and need and are willing to pay for and what would really improve their lives. From there, we synthesize those learnings and identify different insights and opportunity areas. We brainstorm a whole range of creative solutions and develop some concepts, which we then create into prototypes to test out. We then implement and scale up both throughout a given geography and globally as well.

“For us, remaining centered on our mission of improving the lives of the poor has been critical.”

The way it improves lives is that the solutions we’re creating — instead of being things that are immediately discarded or not sustainable — are solutions that people actually use. They are typically market-based solutions that people are willing to pay for, solutions that people will come back to and tell their friends about, solutions that delight people and are beneficial to them, are affordable, and are the right product or service to meet their needs. So, we improve people’s lives by providing them access to clean toilets or clean drinking water, with more effective tools to farm their land, or give loans to one another or that sort of thing.

Knowledge at Wharton: Can you give us an example? Just walk us through what the problem issue was, how you approached it and then what the end solution was.

Wyatt: Recently, we’ve been working with Marie Stopes International (MSI) in Zambia and now in Kenya to tackle the challenge of reproductive health. We focus specifically on reproductive health for adolescent girls. Typically, reproductive health programs have focused on mothers and on birth-spacing and on women stopping having children once they have had the number they want to. Very little effort has been placed on working with adolescent, unmarried girls who are not yet ready to have their first child. We’ve been working with those adolescent girls to make sure that when they do have their first child, it’s really their choice as opposed to an accident that will cause them to drop out of school and [make] their family fall into a continued cycle of poverty.

Working with MSI, we designed a three-part solution. The first was a communications campaign, an outreach campaign. There was a brand called the Divine Divas. The Divas were girls that were bringing different forms of contraceptives — superheroes to the girls. The second piece was a peer-to-peer outreach program so that peers would be connecting with other girls and sharing with them what they knew about contraceptives and directing them to the clinics. The third level was the clinic experience itself. We designed everything from the look of the actual clinic — the physical building, the way that it was painted and set up, and the signs outside it. Our work included the ways that the nurses interacted with the girls, the business model in terms of how the contraceptives would be delivered and what the girls would be required to pay for and the follow-up.

We were designing many different touchpoints and a whole system related to reproductive health with the intended outcome of reducing instances of unplanned pregnancy.

Knowledge at Wharton: You have worked in other countries in Africa. Part of human-centered design is empathy, and your team is not full of Kenyans and Zambians. You have people from all over the world working on these projects. So talk to us a little bit about understanding and uncovering the context of these adolescent girls.

“One of our cultural values is optimism and always believing that there are solutions to these difficult challenges.”

Wyatt: Our team is trained in empathy, in doing qualitative research and in connecting with people regardless of how different their backgrounds are. Part of the techniques that people learn at IDEO.org is about how to connect, how to relate, how to ask questions to people to make them feel comfortable. The second thing we do is work with local partners. In this case, we were working with MSI’s teams in Zambia and Kenya who were Zambians and Kenyans. They had the experience, and we equipped them to do the design research as well. So they also are doing interviews, gaining insights, bringing that back to us, participating in the synthesis sessions and really acting as partners on our design team. Combining with local people who are from these cultural contexts allows us to gain that deep insight.

Knowledge at Wharton: Part of IDEO.org’s mission is to spread human-centered design throughout the social sector. What’s going on there?

Wyatt: IDEO.org has introduced a series of tools under the Design Kit umbrella. We have a web platform called Design Kit. We have now two courses that we offer in collaboration. +Acumen is more of an introduction to human-centered design for social innovation. The other is specifically a prototyping course. Then we have the field guide to human-centered design, which is actually a sort of how-to on human-centered design. This three-part collection of learning tools has now reached about 125,000 people around the world. We’re finding that there’s widespread awareness of human-centered design, and people are starting to practice it themselves.

Knowledge at Wharton: I’m curious to know more about your own leadership skills. You manage diverse teams and you’re also working in different contexts. What do you think are some key attributes that contribute to the success of IDEO.org?

Wyatt: One of our cultural values is optimism and always believing that there are solutions to these difficult challenges. As a leader, I continue to practice being optimistic and positive. I believe in the strengths of our team members and the partner organizations with whom we’re working and, most importantly, in the communities that we’re working with. Curiosity is another piece, as we are working on a whole range of different sectors — from agriculture to water and sanitation, health, financial opportunity, employment and early childhood development.

What it requires is being able to jump in and learn about different challenges, different geographies and different sectors all of the time. Constantly being curious about the world and about learning and excited about diving into new topics is certainly another piece of that leadership.

Knowledge at Wharton: I’m curious to know more about the intersection of your work with the private sector.

Wyatt: We work with both non-profits and for-profits. I think that there’s a role for all of those different types of organizations. Working with the private sector has many rewards including the ability to quickly get to scale. That said, there are challenges in terms of getting things implemented and thinking about the lives of the poor. It’s often too easy to assume that serving the middle-class would be an easier way to get to profitability. For us, remaining centered in our mission of improving the lives of the poor has been critical.

More From Knowledge at Wharton

How Early Adopters of Gen AI Are Gaining Efficiencies

How Is AI Affecting Innovation Management?

Is ChatGPT a Better Entrepreneur Than Most?

Looking for more insights.

Sign up to stay informed about our latest article releases.

Using technology to fight poverty

Born in a seas classroom, upsolve is now helping low-income families erase debt at scale.

A nonprofit startup that offers a free, self-service software tool that helps people file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy has relieved more than $300 million in debt for low-income families who have used it. The nonprofit, Upsolve , named one of the best inventions of 2020 by Time magazine, has reached more than two million low-income households in the U.S. through its free educational resources, community, and financial technology.

Now poised for rapid growth, the startup traces its beginnings to a classroom at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) .

Co-founder Rohan Pavuluri, A.B. ’18, a statistics concentrator (who was recently named to the Time100 Next list of individuals who are shaping the future of their fields) began working on Upsolve in Startup R&D (ES 95r) , taught by Paul Bottino , Executive Director of Innovation Education at SEAS .

“Harvard University is one of the best incubators in the world, especially if you are trying to tackle the world’s most pressing problems,” said Pavuluri. “I think a little bit of every facet of the University played a role in Upsolve.”

Pavuluri was inspired to launch Upsolve while conducting research in the Harvard Law School Access for Justice Lab with Jim Greiner , The Honorable S. William Green Professor of Public Law.

Pavuluri was creating self-help packets for people to solve their own legal problems, and started working on a packet related to bankruptcy. Pavuluri learned that, to file for bankruptcy , an individual must pay an average of $1,500 for a bankruptcy lawyer.

“When you need to file for bankruptcy because you have an illness or a job loss and you need to get back on your feet, there’s no way you can afford $1,500 for a lawyer. So there is this civil rights injustice that wasn’t part of our national consciousness in a way that I thought it needed to be,” he said. “And that just made me really, really angry.”

That anger inspired Pavuluri to act. He had enrolled in ES95r , but the original startup idea he had brought to the class wasn’t working out. The course gives students the opportunity to work on any startup idea during class time, with mentorship from seasoned entrepreneurs. Pavuluri began exploring how technology could help address the civil rights issue of bankruptcy at scale.

The guidance of Bottino and the support from an entire community of student founders gave Pavuluri the skills and the boost he needed to get started.

“There’s no way Upsolve would exist if it wasn’t for ES95r ,” he said. “You have this engineering school with all the different parts of engineering, but you walk a few blocks and you’re at the law school, and you can apply those engineering skills to legal problems. That proximity to so many different fields and so much exploration, I don’t think that exists anywhere else in the world like it does at Harvard.”

While he was learning about entrepreneurship in ES95r , Pavuluri was also taking “Innovations in Government,” a Harvard Kennedy School course where he learned to rapidly prototype a basic solution to a complex social problem to determine if it is feasible.

Upsolve passed that litmus test.

As he built momentum, Pavuluri received additional votes of confidence, and critical seed funding, through University startup competitions the i3 Innovation Challenge (sponsored by the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at SEAS) and the President’s Innovation Challenge (sponsored by the Harvard Innovation Labs ). He also received grants from the Law and Kennedy schools—in total, more than $200,000 in seed funding to make his idea a reality.

The startup began in 2017 as a bare-bones, online form that, in its first two years, helped a few dozen people in New York file for bankruptcy. But as Pavuluri used the skills he learned at Harvard and the funding provided by the University to scale up, things began taking off.

Upsolve grew into an entire educational platform, online community, and set of sleek, self-service software tools that help people determine whether filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy is the right move for them. If so, the tools walk them through the process in a streamlined and simplified way.

“Chapter 7 bankruptcy allows you to rebuild your credit and re-enter the economy. So it is this really powerful tool that helps folks get back on their feet,” he said. “Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t know about it, and the people who do know about it are scared. Our goal is to make this tool more accessible for people who are deeply in need.”

Making bankruptcy more accessible could mean changing the culture in the U.S. legal system. For corporations, bankruptcy is typically viewed simply as a legal tool to navigate unfortunate market circumstances, yet when individuals file for bankruptcy, society often considers it a moral failing ; this is a misconception that continues to serve the wealthy and powerful, Pavuluri said.

“The thesis behind Upsolve is that modern-day legal fees in so many areas of poverty law are like poll taxes. Poll taxes used to stop you from accessing your basic civil rights with voting,” he said. “Today, that idea still exists. If you can’t afford legal fees, you can’t afford your rights. And that needs to change.”

Pavuluri expects the need for bankruptcy to expand dramatically as the economy recovers and Americans who have lost jobs due to COVID-19 begin to rebuild their finances. Of those who are currently filing using Upsolve, more than a third are doing so because of a financial shock related to COVID-19.

While Upsolve is well-positioned to help millions more file for bankruptcy, Pavuluri isn’t content to stop there. He plans to continue growing the startup to help low-income families facing a host of financial problems, taking on a legal establishment that he believes is often stacked against those most in need of help.

“It is so fun to be able to work on a serious issue that I care about and that I consider my calling, and at the same time, to be able to build and be creative every day,” he said. “To apply creative solutions to important issues of inequity in our economy and legal system and be able to have this impact at scale has been so fulfilling, enjoyable, and meaningful to me.”

Topics: Alumni , Entrepreneurship

Cutting-edge science delivered direct to your inbox.

Join the Harvard SEAS mailing list.

Related News

Seven SEAS teams named President’s Innovation Challenge finalists

Start-ups will vie for up to $75,000 in prize money

Computer Science , Design , Electrical Engineering , Entrepreneurship , Events , Master of Design Engineering , Materials Science & Mechanical Engineering , MS/MBA

Alumni profile: Raquel Schreiber, S.B. '15, MS/MBA '21

Using AI to help regenerate the earth

Alumni , Entrepreneurship , Environmental Science & Engineering , MS/MBA

Alumni profile: Victor Udoewa, S.B. '99

Bringing “radical participatory design” to the public sector

Alumni , Design , Materials Science & Mechanical Engineering

Content Search

Solutions to poverty to get us to 2030.

What would zero poverty look like for the world in 2030?

We’re officially 10 years away from the deadline to meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals — number one being “End poverty in all its forms everywhere.” No small feat, but also not impossible.

There are some key solutions to poverty that are key to making this goal a reality. Here are the top 7.

1. EQUALITY AND REPRESENTATION FOR ALL

One of the main causes of extreme poverty is marginalization — the systemic barriers that lead to groups of people going without representation in their communities. In order for a community or country to work its way out of poverty, all groups must be involved in the decision-making process — especially when it comes to having a say in the things that determine your place in society.

According to the UN’s High-Level Panel for Women’s Economic Empowerment , women’s unpaid labor adds up to $10 trillion per year — 13% of the global GDP. Likewise, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization , women own less than 20% of agricultural land, yet make up 60% of the agricultural workforce in parts of Africa and Asia. Former FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said in 2016 that “women are the backbone of our work in agriculture… when women have opportunities, the yields on their farms increase – also their incomes. Natural resources are better managed. Nutrition is improved. And livelihoods are more secured.”

Ensuring that all marginalized communities have a seat at the table and are given the tools they need to succeed is key to all other solutions to poverty.

2. BUILDING RESILIENCE — CLIMATE AND OTHERWISE…

Poverty is most likely to occur when there is a high combination of marginalization and risk — with risk being its own combination of a person or group’s level of vulnerability and the hazards they face. For instance, the DRC has suffered ongoing conflict since declaring independence from France in 1960.

This means that millions of Congolese are already vulnerable, being away from home in temporary shelters while still facing the threat of conflict. Those hazards are compounded, however, when you take into account other crises that affect the country, such as the DRC’s current Ebola epidemic (history’s second-largest outbreak of the virus).

To offset this, we need to ensure that the most vulnerable people and communities are able to build resilience — whether it’s preventative education and treatment support during an epidemic, recovery and resilience interventions in the face of climate disasters, or health, nutrition, and shelter resources for refugees and IDPs .

3. …BUT ESPECIALLY FOCUSING ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Resilience against climate change is especially important and deserves its own mention. According to the World Bank , climate change could force an additional 100 million people into extreme poverty over the next decade without any urgent action taken.

From Cyclone Idai to droughts in the Sahel to floods in Bangladesh, we can’t prevent many of the current disasters afflicting the world. But we can help the communities most vulnerable to these crises become better prepared in order to protect their farms, their homes, their loved ones, and their livelihoods. Eco-friendly farming techniques such as climate-smart agriculture preserve vital topsoil, allowing land to recover from degradation, and better adapt to extreme weather.

4. INCREASE ACCESS TO EDUCATION

According to UNESCO, if all students in low-income countries had just basic reading skills (nothing else), an estimated 171 million people could escape extreme poverty. If all adults completed secondary education, we could cut the global poverty rate by more than half. Education develops skills and abilities, corrects some of the imbalances that come out of marginalization, and decreases both risk and vulnerability.

Some of the key areas of focus for making sure that education is truly for all involve breaking down the barriers to education — creating access in remote areas, supporting teachers in their work to deliver quality education , and making sure that education is available to children living in fragile contexts.

5. IMPROVE FOOD SECURITY AND ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER

Simply eating three meals a day and getting a healthy amount of calories and nutrients can go a long way to addressing the cycle of poverty . When a person doesn’t have enough to eat, they lack the strength and energy needed to work. Contaminated water can lead to debilitating illnesses.

What’s more, improving access to clean water can mean that those who live in rural communities (often women and girls — see our first point on marginalization and equality) will save time walking to their nearest water point. Current estimates suggest that women and girls collectively spend 200 million hours every day walking long distances to fetch water. Adequate healthcare options for all goes hand-in-hand with this solution, and represents a larger need for governments to offer the basic social protections and services to keep their citizens healthy, and give them affordable treatment options when they aren’t.

6. END WAR AND CONFLICT

No war means that budgets allocated to cover the cost of conflict can be used to deliver public services. It also reduces risks faced by the most vulnerable communities, and ensures that goals towards equality and inclusion can be maintained.

We’ve seen this play out time and again: While estimates around data for the country vary, Syria’s poverty rate has increased from approximately 12% in 2007 to 83% in 2019. Conversely, in Nepal, a decade-long civil war came to a close in 2006, which correlates with a sharp increase in gross national income (GNI) and gross domestic product (GDP) year over year.

Likewise, the establishment of a United Nations peacekeeping operation in Cambodia in 1992 (following a deadly civil war and war with Vietnam) helped to forge stability within the country and grow its middle class: The country’s poverty rate dropped from 47.8% in 2007 to 13.5% by 2014.

7. EMBRACE CASH AND MICROFINANCE

One of the ways Cambodia’s transition from wartime to peace (including the repatriation of over 300,000 Cambodian refugees) was so smooth was thanks to the idea of buying on credit. While such an influx of returnees could place a strain on resources and create financial dire straits, microfinancing models introduced into the country helped to establish savings, loans, insurance, and cash transfer services in communities that need them the most, allowing people to purchase the tools and services they need in order to become self-sufficient. Between 1998 and 2018, Cambodia’s economy grew by an average of 8% each year, and its middle class began to flourish.

Cash seems like an even more obvious solution to poverty. While the traditional image of humanitarian aid may be crates of supplies like food, water, and tents, distributing cash has become more common. It’s cheaper and faster to get into a country, gives its recipients the autonomy to make their own purchasing decisions, and supports local and national economies.

Sometimes, a small startup grant (even as small as $100) is all it takes to help a family living below the poverty line to launch a new business while keeping on top of their bills and keeping their children fed. The net effect is that they are able to lift themselves out of poverty in a sustainable manner, like Stawa James in Malawi.

Related Content

Asia and the pacific sdg progress report: showcasing transformative actions 2024, 2024 será un año difícil para los niños del mundo, prospects for children in 2024: cooperation in a fragmented world - a global outlook.

World + 14 more

UNHCR Appel Global 2024

December 2022 - You are accessing an archived version of our website. This website is no longer maintained or updated. The Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform has been migrated here: https://sdgs.un.org/

You will be redirected to the new Partnership Platform in 10 seconds.

• A/69/700 - The road to dignity by 2030: ending poverty, transforming all lives and protecting the planet [Arabic] [Chinese] [English] [French] [Russian] [Spanish]
• 2017 HLFP Thematic Review of SDG 1: End Poverty in All its Forms Everywhere

• improving access to sustainable livelihoods, entrepreneurial opportunities and productive resources;
• providing universal access to basic social services;
• empowering people living in poverty and their organizations;
• addressing the disproportionate impact of poverty on women;
• working with interested donors and recipients to allocate increased shares of ODA to poverty eradication; and
• intensifying international cooperation for poverty eradication.

October 17 is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. We believe that ensuring quality education for all is not only central to the achievement of all of the Global Goals but in particular the goal to end extreme poverty. Two recent reports provide data that illustrates this link.

Last year when the United Nations committed to the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, they recognized that “eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.”

We believe that ensuring quality education for all is not only central to the achievement of all of the Global Goals but in particular the goal to end extreme poverty.

Considering the changing nature of the global economy, driven by technological advancements and globalization, it is now more important than ever to invest in human capital and ensure that everyone has the skills necessary to succeed. According to recent estimates , up to 2 billion of today’s jobs are at risk of being replaced by automation by 2030.

The UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report and the Education Commission’s Learning Generation Report provide important evidence on the impact of education on individual’s earnings and economic growth. Below are some of the most compelling data that illustrate these links.

1. Education reduces poverty

• 171 million people could be lifted out of extreme poverty if all children left school with basic reading skills. That’s equivalent to a 12% drop in the world total.
• Absolute poverty could be reduced by 30% from learning improvements outlined by the Education Commission.

2. Education increases individual earnings

• Education increases earnings by roughly 10% per each additional year of schooling.
• For each $1 invested in an additional year of schooling earnings increase by $5 in low-income countries and $2.5 in lower-middle income countries.

3. Education reduces economic inequalities

• If workers from poor and rich backgrounds received the same education, disparity between the two in working poverty could decrease by 39%.

4. Education promotes economic growth

• Educational attainment explains about half of the difference in growth rates between East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa between 1965 and 2010.
• In 2050, GDP per capita in low-income countries would be almost 70% lower than it would be if all children were learning.
• Increasing tertiary attainment by one year on average would increase sub-Saharan Africa’s long-term GDP by 16%. 

5. Education helps save the planet*

*What does that have to do with poverty? Hear us out…

• Overall climate change and the resulting increased frequency of natural disasters and reduced agricultural output could cast as many as 122 million people into poverty by 2030.
• The creation of green industries will rely on high-skilled, educated workers.
• Agriculture contributes 1/3 of all greenhouse gas emissions. Primary and secondary education can provide future farmers with critical knowledge about sustainability challenges in agriculture.

UNESCO GEM Report 2016

Learning Generation Report

Map of results stories

Explore the impact of GPE around the world.

Related blogs

April 22, 2024 by Nesmy Manigat Why education is key for security and peace in Haiti and around the world The crises affecting Haiti are not just undermining the education of millions of children, they are also threatening the future of an entire generation. It is time to act, make up for lost school days, and...

April 09, 2024 by Laura Frigenti | 1 comment 2023 Annual Report: GPE’s commitment to investing in education for prosperity and peace GPE’s 2023 Annual Report highlights important achievements in a context of increased conflicts, climate shocks and the prolonged impact of COVID-19 on learning in lower-income countries.

December 01, 2023 by Global Coalition for Foundational Learning The importance of SDG 4.1.1a for foundational learning SDG 4.1.1a measures the proportion of children and young people in grades 2 and 3 achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading and mathematics. The Global Coalition for Foundational Learning ask...

I work for Centre for Communities education and Youth Development in Ghana (CCEYD) and am much interested in knowing more about the work of GPE and how we can work together.

Education is a must to each and every one. Each one teach one. Kids are our future.

In reply to Education by Sudhir Sajwan

Education opportunities in conjunction with a healthy diet are the key components to helping those less fortunate. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN is working with communities to bring long-term food shortages to Syria by transforming school playgrounds into gardens to feed children and communities whose diet has been depleted by the civil war. Source: https://www.ccfcanada.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7…

Quality education is not only on acquisition of skills for employability but acquisition of skills for job creation.

All this info is shocking and helpful. This helped me with 20% of my speech that I had to do about poverty.

yes. i agree much

Hello, 2 trains of education is not education!!! It is pure discrimination of the 21st Century...!!! If workers from poor and rich backgrounds received the same education, disparity between the two in working poverty could decrease by 39%.

PLEASE SEND ME UPDATE ISSUES ON EDUCATION A SOLUTION TO POVERTY AND ADDRESSES SOCIAL JUSTICE AS WELL.

Please give me many tips or lines about through education end poverty in Pakistan in simple English Please

This article was helpful for my essays references and sources. I'm still working on my essay and so if any new article is published please let me know. Thank you.

Very informative

In reply to Very informative by Tchim Tabaro

Education is the fundation for society transformation. It can be formel or unformal. There is also the Peace education, or an education that promotes a culture of peace, is essentially transformative. It cultivates the knowledge base, skills, attitudes and values that seek to transform people’s mindsets, attitudes and behaviors that, in the first place, have either created or exacerbated violent conflicts.

The information on this platform is incredible. Please, be emailing me more information on education.

this is very educative and very smart and helpful.

Information is key and this is powerfully equip

It really helped me with my assignment. Thanks 👍

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. All fields are required.

• Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.
• No HTML tags allowed.
• Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
• Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.

Community Developments

The outreach blog.

5 Ways to Fight Poverty

More than half the world lives on less than $2 a day..

It’s a startling truth that can sometimes make us feel helpless. Yet poverty can and must be fought. Our very own Dr. Dennis Labayen, Field Operations Director, identified 5 effective ways to fight poverty. Dennis has been working since 1973 to create a sustainable, permanent solution to poverty in many poor communities around the world. After years of research and implementation, Dennis and his team have fine-tuned a process called Participatory Human Development . The process is so effective that other NGOs are also being trained in these techniques and are adopting similar practices.

Here are his 5 ways to fight poverty.

• The people directly affected by the problems or issues of poverty in the community have to be actively and authentically participating in their efforts to fight poverty. This means that the affected people themselves will be the major participants of the intervention to fight poverty. Formal leaders need to be consulted, as well as those affected. Their worldview should be taken into consideration, and through facilitation, they become part of the process of addressing and resolving the issues they face.
• Create an organized group within the community to help many people, rather than only a few individuals. Rather than working with individual persons, it is more effective to facilitate collective and organized actions to help strengthen and empower people in poverty through an organization. This means that it is not enough to provide assistance to individually affected persons alone, but through collective organization, each individual is developed and steps are taken to address their problems and other problems in the future.
• The people affected need to identify the issues . It is more effective when issues and problems are identified by the people facing them. They begin to gain self-confidence and acquire capabilities in working together on simple problems. This means that their initial efforts and experiences can be used toward addressing more complex problems and issues. It is in identifying and acting on their initial simple issues or problems that the affected people gain self-confidence and the capability to identify other matters which need to be addressed. Though externally introduced projects can help some of poverty’s effects, without the people’s active involvement linking these projects with their own identified issues and problems, such projects will most likely not be sustained or maintained.
• People in poverty need to understand that they can often address and solve their own issues. The affected people going through the process of fighting poverty should have a raised level of consciousness about their situation, and their own capabilities, in order to sustain their collective efforts and address future issues.
• Fighting poverty takes time . The process of fighting poverty is not simple, especially since a deep personal transformation needs to take place in those affected. It takes time to empower and facilitate affected people so they can become actors of their own development.

Many thanks to Dr. Labayen for sharing these insights.

How to Help

Please join us today in the fight against poverty . Together, we can make a huge difference for children and families as they work toward sustainable empowerment. Donate today!

Share This Post

Related posts.

Bolivia Greenhouses Project: 2024 Update

Poverty in India: Real-Life Consequences & Sustainable Solutions

Poverty in Nepal: Causes, Effects, and Trends for the Upcoming Years

Home > ETD > DISSERTATIONS > AAI1490648

Critical thinking and problem solving in a rural poverty situation: An action research project

Janel Susan Franks , Purdue University

While many of the issues surrounding poverty are universal, rural poverty presents a different variety of the situation. This research was completed in a small rural school with 380 students in grades seven through twelve. In seeking to address the unique needs of students in rural poverty, three questions were posed: •What characteristics does a child from rural poverty exhibit that a child from urban poverty does not? What similarities exist? •What transferable skills are needed for children from rural poverty to be successful in post-secondary education and careers? •What are the best avenues to teach the identified transferable skills? A review of literature helped to address questions about the differences between students of rural and urban poverty. Further review of literature sought to understand the transferable skills that would be beneficial for all students, and especially students in a poverty situation. Quality teaching benefits all students, regardless of their socio-economic status. As a result, improving transferable skills overall was an additional goal of this research. The third question, about avenues for teaching transferable skills, was investigated through an action research project conducted in the teacher-researcher's classroom. The action research focused on problem solving and critical thinking. It took place over a 9-week term, with three classes that met for 85 minutes each day: seventh grade family and consumer sciences (n=20), eighth grade family and consumer sciences (n=21), and high school housing and interior design (n=18). The teacher-researcher designed a problem solving guide and assessment rubric that was implemented during the research. Students in all three classes completed the guide with real-world scenarios related to course topics. Data were coded to maintain student anonymity. The procedures were reviewed by the Purdue University Institutional Review Board and determined to be exempt as part of regular classroom instruction. Students completed three cycles of the problem solving process. In the first cycle no direct instruction was given in problem solving or critical thinking; students were given a scenario and asked to complete the problem solving guide as best they could. Participation points were given. The second cycle began with direct instruction in problem solving and critical thinking. Students were then given a second scenario for which they completed the problem solving guide. After two to three weeks, they were given a third scenario and again completed the third cycle of the problem solving guide. Grades were entered for the second and third cycles. At the completion of the term, the guidance counselor was provided with the class roster. He replaced all student names with anonymous identification numbers. Students who received free/reduced lunch were coded as being in the poverty sub-group; others were the general sub-group. Another person removed names from the problem solving guides and rubrics and replaced them with each student's anonymous number. Analysis of students’ scores on the problem-solving guide showed no statistical differences between the poverty and general sub-groups. All students’ scores improved after instruction, showing the worth of teaching problem solving and critical thinking skills to students and the value of the problem solving guide and rubric developed in this research. Future recommendations are to continue teaching critical thinking and problem solving to students as a separate lesson and then to apply those skills using curriculum related real-world scenarios. The problem solving guide and rubric, scenarios, descriptions of lessons, and quantitative scores are provided in the thesis.

Fox, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Home economics education|Educational evaluation

Off-Campus Purdue Users: To access this dissertation, please log in to our proxy server .

Since May 24, 2011

Advanced Search

• Notify me via email or RSS
• Purdue Libraries
• Purdue University Press Open Access Collections

Links for Authors

• Policies and Help Documentation
• Collections
• Disciplines

Home | About | FAQ | My Account | Accessibility Statement

Privacy Copyright

• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
• EDIT Edit this Article
• EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• Browse Articles
• Learn Something New
• Quizzes Hot
• This Or That Game
• Train Your Brain
• Explore More
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Log in / Sign up
• Education and Communications
• Social Activism

How to Cope with the Issues on Poverty and Unemployment

Last Updated: April 19, 2024 References

This article was co-authored by Alex Kwan and by wikiHow staff writer, Kira Jan . Alex Kwan is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and the CEO of Flex Tax and Consulting Group in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has also served as a Vice President for one of the top five Private Equity Firms. With over a decade of experience practicing public accounting, he specializes in client-centered accounting and consulting, R&D tax services, and the small business sector. There are 32 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 77,745 times.

Unemployment and poverty are linked, since a lack of income makes it hard for people to make ends meet. What can communities and governments do to reduce poverty and unemployment? Whether you’re a student or an activist, we’ve outlined the top strategies and policies recommended by experts to help you understand these complex economic issues. The solutions fall into three major buckets–helping people become more employable, creating more jobs, and supporting governmental programs to stop the cycle of poverty.

Promote education for everyone.

• Donate to scholarship funds. For instance, you can donate to the Children’s Scholarship Fund to support K-8 education in the U.S. at https://scholarshipfund.org/
• Support afterschool tutoring programs and mentorship programs that connect students with caring adults. [5] X Trustworthy Source PubMed Central Journal archive from the U.S. National Institutes of Health Go to source Visit https://secure.givelively.org/donate/afterschool-alliance to donate.
• Give money to funds that pay for transport to and from school. Search online to find local and state funds that support kids near you.

Make job training more accessible.

• Governments can provide federally-funded or state-funded job training programs. These are often run by state workforce development commissions.

Create microfinance programs.

• New studies on the impacts of microfinance question whether it’s a solution that truly benefits the poor. While it may help empower female entrepreneurs living in poverty, microfinance can potentially worsen overall debt. [13] X Research source

Increase jobs in labor-intensive industries.

• Economists find that employing more people (rather than using machines) doesn’t result in the huge drop in productivity you might imagine. [15] X Research source

To address poverty and unemployment, education, job training, microfinance, and counseling must combine with policy transformation. Safety nets must cover all while infrastructure and hiring incentives create good jobs. Healthcare access and affordability need improving too. With coordination across sectors, cycles trapping people in poverty can end.

Invest in infrastructure.

• Beyond just providing jobs, infrastructure development makes the economy more connected. When there’s more infrastructure, it’s easier for people to travel around in order to buy or sell goods and services.
• For instance, to help alleviate poverty and unemployment in the rural Philippines, better access to roads and the internet could help farmers sell their goods. [17] X Research source

Reduce barriers to unemployment insurance.

• Some states specify that only people with a certain work history length can receive unemployment benefits, and adjusting work history requirements could more people eligible. [20] X Research source
• States also could consider eliminating waiting periods for people to receive their unemployment insurance benefits. Currently, 42 states require people to wait 1 week to receive benefits. [21] X Research source
• To receive unemployment benefits, you have to prove you lost your job through no fault of your own. States might consider changing what qualifies as an “acceptable” cause of unemployment. [22] X Research source

Create affordable housing.

• For example, one region might say you have to be 50% below the median income for an area while another region might say you qualify if your income is 80% below the median income.

Ensure access to clean water and sanitation.

• Communities can improve access to water by helping people create water safety plans for keeping water contaminant-free and building water filtration systems and wells. [27] X Trustworthy Source World Health Organization Health information and news provided by the World Health Organization Go to source
• Visit The Water Project ( https://thewaterproject.org/ ) or Charity Water ( https://www.charitywater.org/ ) to donate and support bringing clean water to those in need.

Improve access to healthcare.

• On the provider level, doctors have to understand that patients in poverty might face greater obstacles to getting treatment.
• Patients in poverty may find medications too expensive, may lack transportation to get to the doctor’s office, and may not have a work schedule that lets them easily see a doctor. [29] X Trustworthy Source American Academy of Family Physicians Organization devoted to improving the health of patients, families, and communities Go to source

Offer counseling services to support families in poverty.

• Connect families in need to a Federally Qualified Health Center if they can’t afford to pay for psychological services. [32] X Research source

Increase access to financial services.

• For instance, creating free digital banking services can make it easy for people to access accounts. [34] X Research source
• In the U.S., predatory financial services, like high-cost mortgage firms, have historically targeted Black and Latino communities. Today, these communities are 30-86% more likely to be financially “underwater” as a result of high-cost mortgages. [35] X Research source

Support single-mother households.

• Support single mothers in your community by donating kids’ clothes and toys and contributing staples like canned goods to your local food bank. [37] X Research source
• If you know a single mother, offer to babysit, or carpool to school if you have kids of your own.
• In 2013, federal benefits reduced the poverty rate among single mothers by half.

Improve fairness in criminal justice systems.

• Incarceration negatively impacts communities of color more than white communities.
• Visit The Sentencing Project ( https://www.sentencingproject.org/actions/ ) to take action and connect with state and local partners working towards legal reform.

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://en.unesco.org/news/world-poverty-could-be-cut-half-if-all-adults-completed-secondary-education
• ↑ https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/education/
• ↑ https://educateachild.org/explore/barriers-to-education
• ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2528798/
• ↑ Alex Kwan. Certified Public Accountant. Expert Interview. 23 April 2021.
• ↑ https://prospect.org/special-report/education-cure-poverty/
• ↑ https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2018/02/22/447115/better-training-better-jobs/
• ↑ https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/august-2015/microfinance-good-poor
• ↑ https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0018726716640865
• ↑ https://www.un.org/development/desa/socialperspectiveondevelopment/issues/employment-and-decent-work.html
• ↑ https://ideas.repec.org/a/sls/ipmsls/v28y20154.html
• ↑ https://www.brookings.edu/research/expanding-opportunity-through-infrastructure-jobs/
• ↑ https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2020/02/06/na020620the-philippines-a-good-time-to-expand-the-infrastructure-push
• ↑ https://www.cbpp.org/research/introduction-to-unemployment-insurance
• ↑ https://www.urban.org/research/publication/how-does-unemployment-affect-family-arrangements-children
• ↑ https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/cares-act-measures-strengthening-unemployment-insurance-should-continue
• ↑ https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/coronavirus-booker-introduces-bill-to-get-unemployment-assistance-immediately-to-laid-off-workers
• ↑ https://www.wpr.org/evers-aims-increase-unemployment-benefits-lower-barriers
• ↑ https://archives.hud.gov/local/nv/goodstories/2006-04-06glos.cfm
• ↑ https://www.hud.gov/topics/rental_assistance/phprog
• ↑ https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/03/1087682
• ↑ https://thewaterproject.org/why-water/poverty
• ↑ https://www.who.int/westernpacific/activities/improving-access-to-safe-water-sanitation-and-hygiene
• ↑ https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/health/brief/poverty-health
• ↑ https://www.aafp.org/about/policies/all/poverty-health.html
• ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7525587/
• ↑ https://www.hrsa.gov/opa/eligibility-and-registration/health-centers/fqhc/index.html
• ↑ https://www.policylink.org/sites/default/files/BreakingTheCycle_0.pdf
• ↑ https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/financialinclusion/overview#2
• ↑ https://www.brookings.edu/testimonies/renewing-communities-and-providing-opportunities-through-innovative-solutions-to-poverty/
• ↑ https://parents-together.org/11-realistic-ways-to-support-single-parents-during-the-covid-19-crisis/
• ↑ https://www.americanactionforum.org/research/incarceration-and-poverty-in-the-united-states/

About This Article

• Send fan mail to authors

Did this article help you?

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

wikiHow Tech Help Pro:

Develop the tech skills you need for work and life

How to improve your problem solving skills and build effective problem solving strategies

Design your next session with SessionLab

Join the 150,000+ facilitators 
using SessionLab.

Recommended Articles

A step-by-step guide to planning a workshop, how to create an unforgettable training session in 8 simple steps, 47 useful online tools for workshop planning and meeting facilitation.

Effective problem solving is all about using the right process and following a plan tailored to the issue at hand. Recognizing your team or organization has an issue isn’t enough to come up with effective problem solving strategies. 

To truly understand a problem and develop appropriate solutions, you will want to follow a solid process, follow the necessary problem solving steps, and bring all of your problem solving skills to the table.  

We’ll first guide you through the seven step problem solving process you and your team can use to effectively solve complex business challenges. We’ll also look at what problem solving strategies you can employ with your team when looking for a way to approach the process. We’ll then discuss the problem solving skills you need to be more effective at solving problems, complete with an activity from the SessionLab library you can use to develop that skill in your team.

Let’s get to it! 

What is a problem solving process?

• What are the problem solving steps I need to follow?

Problem solving strategies

What skills do i need to be an effective problem solver, how can i improve my problem solving skills.

Solving problems is like baking a cake. You can go straight into the kitchen without a recipe or the right ingredients and do your best, but the end result is unlikely to be very tasty!

Using a process to bake a cake allows you to use the best ingredients without waste, collect the right tools, account for allergies, decide whether it is a birthday or wedding cake, and then bake efficiently and on time. The result is a better cake that is fit for purpose, tastes better and has created less mess in the kitchen. Also, it should have chocolate sprinkles. Having a step by step process to solve organizational problems allows you to go through each stage methodically and ensure you are trying to solve the right problems and select the most appropriate, effective solutions.

What are the problem solving steps I need to follow? 

All problem solving processes go through a number of steps in order to move from identifying a problem to resolving it.

Depending on your problem solving model and who you ask, there can be anything between four and nine problem solving steps you should follow in order to find the right solution. Whatever framework you and your group use, there are some key items that should be addressed in order to have an effective process.

We’ve looked at problem solving processes from sources such as the American Society for Quality and their four step approach , and Mediate ‘s six step process. By reflecting on those and our own problem solving processes, we’ve come up with a sequence of seven problem solving steps we feel best covers everything you need in order to effectively solve problems.

1. Problem identification 

The first stage of any problem solving process is to identify the problem or problems you might want to solve. Effective problem solving strategies always begin by allowing a group scope to articulate what they believe the problem to be and then coming to some consensus over which problem they approach first. Problem solving activities used at this stage often have a focus on creating frank, open discussion so that potential problems can be brought to the surface.

2. Problem analysis 

Though this step is not a million miles from problem identification, problem analysis deserves to be considered separately. It can often be an overlooked part of the process and is instrumental when it comes to developing effective solutions.

The process of problem analysis means ensuring that the problem you are seeking to solve is the right problem . As part of this stage, you may look deeper and try to find the root cause of a specific problem at a team or organizational level.

Remember that problem solving strategies should not only be focused on putting out fires in the short term but developing long term solutions that deal with the root cause of organizational challenges. 

Whatever your approach, analyzing a problem is crucial in being able to select an appropriate solution and the problem solving skills deployed in this stage are beneficial for the rest of the process and ensuring the solutions you create are fit for purpose.

3. Solution generation

Once your group has nailed down the particulars of the problem you wish to solve, you want to encourage a free flow of ideas connecting to solving that problem. This can take the form of problem solving games that encourage creative thinking or problem solving activities designed to produce working prototypes of possible solutions. 

The key to ensuring the success of this stage of the problem solving process is to encourage quick, creative thinking and create an open space where all ideas are considered. The best solutions can come from unlikely places and by using problem solving techniques that celebrate invention, you might come up with solution gold. 

4. Solution development

No solution is likely to be perfect right out of the gate. It’s important to discuss and develop the solutions your group has come up with over the course of following the previous problem solving steps in order to arrive at the best possible solution. Problem solving games used in this stage involve lots of critical thinking, measuring potential effort and impact, and looking at possible solutions analytically. 

During this stage, you will often ask your team to iterate and improve upon your frontrunning solutions and develop them further. Remember that problem solving strategies always benefit from a multitude of voices and opinions, and not to let ego get involved when it comes to choosing which solutions to develop and take further.

Finding the best solution is the goal of all problem solving workshops and here is the place to ensure that your solution is well thought out, sufficiently robust and fit for purpose. 

5. Decision making 

Nearly there! Once your group has reached consensus and selected a solution that applies to the problem at hand you have some decisions to make. You will want to work on allocating ownership of the project, figure out who will do what, how the success of the solution will be measured and decide the next course of action.

The decision making stage is a part of the problem solving process that can get missed or taken as for granted. Fail to properly allocate roles and plan out how a solution will actually be implemented and it less likely to be successful in solving the problem.

Have clear accountabilities, actions, timeframes, and follow-ups. Make these decisions and set clear next-steps in the problem solving workshop so that everyone is aligned and you can move forward effectively as a group. 

Ensuring that you plan for the roll-out of a solution is one of the most important problem solving steps. Without adequate planning or oversight, it can prove impossible to measure success or iterate further if the problem was not solved. 

6. Solution implementation 

This is what we were waiting for! All problem solving strategies have the end goal of implementing a solution and solving a problem in mind. 

Remember that in order for any solution to be successful, you need to help your group through all of the previous problem solving steps thoughtfully. Only then can you ensure that you are solving the right problem but also that you have developed the correct solution and can then successfully implement and measure the impact of that solution.

Project management and communication skills are key here – your solution may need to adjust when out in the wild or you might discover new challenges along the way.

7. Solution evaluation 

So you and your team developed a great solution to a problem and have a gut feeling its been solved. Work done, right? Wrong. All problem solving strategies benefit from evaluation, consideration, and feedback. You might find that the solution does not work for everyone, might create new problems, or is potentially so successful that you will want to roll it out to larger teams or as part of other initiatives. 

None of that is possible without taking the time to evaluate the success of the solution you developed in your problem solving model and adjust if necessary.

Remember that the problem solving process is often iterative and it can be common to not solve complex issues on the first try. Even when this is the case, you and your team will have generated learning that will be important for future problem solving workshops or in other parts of the organization. 

It’s worth underlining how important record keeping is throughout the problem solving process. If a solution didn’t work, you need to have the data and records to see why that was the case. If you go back to the drawing board, notes from the previous workshop can help save time. Data and insight is invaluable at every stage of the problem solving process and this one is no different.

Problem solving workshops made easy

Problem solving strategies are methods of approaching and facilitating the process of problem-solving with a set of techniques , actions, and processes. Different strategies are more effective if you are trying to solve broad problems such as achieving higher growth versus more focused problems like, how do we improve our customer onboarding process?

Broadly, the problem solving steps outlined above should be included in any problem solving strategy though choosing where to focus your time and what approaches should be taken is where they begin to differ. You might find that some strategies ask for the problem identification to be done prior to the session or that everything happens in the course of a one day workshop.

The key similarity is that all good problem solving strategies are structured and designed. Four hours of open discussion is never going to be as productive as a four-hour workshop designed to lead a group through a problem solving process.

Good problem solving strategies are tailored to the team, organization and problem you will be attempting to solve. Here are some example problem solving strategies you can learn from or use to get started.

Use a workshop to lead a team through a group process

Often, the first step to solving problems or organizational challenges is bringing a group together effectively. Most teams have the tools, knowledge, and expertise necessary to solve their challenges – they just need some guidance in how to use leverage those skills and a structure and format that allows people to focus their energies.

Facilitated workshops are one of the most effective ways of solving problems of any scale. By designing and planning your workshop carefully, you can tailor the approach and scope to best fit the needs of your team and organization. 

Problem solving workshop

• Creating a bespoke, tailored process
• Tackling problems of any size
• Building in-house workshop ability and encouraging their use

Workshops are an effective strategy for solving problems. By using tried and test facilitation techniques and methods, you can design and deliver a workshop that is perfectly suited to the unique variables of your organization. You may only have the capacity for a half-day workshop and so need a problem solving process to match. 

By using our session planner tool and importing methods from our library of 700+ facilitation techniques, you can create the right problem solving workshop for your team. It might be that you want to encourage creative thinking or look at things from a new angle to unblock your groups approach to problem solving. By tailoring your workshop design to the purpose, you can help ensure great results.

One of the main benefits of a workshop is the structured approach to problem solving. Not only does this mean that the workshop itself will be successful, but many of the methods and techniques will help your team improve their working processes outside of the workshop. 

We believe that workshops are one of the best tools you can use to improve the way your team works together. Start with a problem solving workshop and then see what team building, culture or design workshops can do for your organization!

Run a design sprint

Great for: 

• aligning large, multi-discipline teams
• quickly designing and testing solutions
• tackling large, complex organizational challenges and breaking them down into smaller tasks

By using design thinking principles and methods, a design sprint is a great way of identifying, prioritizing and prototyping solutions to long term challenges that can help solve major organizational problems with quick action and measurable results.

Some familiarity with design thinking is useful, though not integral, and this strategy can really help a team align if there is some discussion around which problems should be approached first. 

The stage-based structure of the design sprint is also very useful for teams new to design thinking.  The inspiration phase, where you look to competitors that have solved your problem, and the rapid prototyping and testing phases are great for introducing new concepts that will benefit a team in all their future work. 

It can be common for teams to look inward for solutions and so looking to the market for solutions you can iterate on can be very productive. Instilling an agile prototyping and testing mindset can also be great when helping teams move forwards – generating and testing solutions quickly can help save time in the long run and is also pretty exciting!

Break problems down into smaller issues

Organizational challenges and problems are often complicated and large scale in nature. Sometimes, trying to resolve such an issue in one swoop is simply unachievable or overwhelming. Try breaking down such problems into smaller issues that you can work on step by step. You may not be able to solve the problem of churning customers off the bat, but you can work with your team to identify smaller effort but high impact elements and work on those first.

This problem solving strategy can help a team generate momentum, prioritize and get some easy wins. It’s also a great strategy to employ with teams who are just beginning to learn how to approach the problem solving process. If you want some insight into a way to employ this strategy, we recommend looking at our design sprint template below!

Use guiding frameworks or try new methodologies

Some problems are best solved by introducing a major shift in perspective or by using new methodologies that encourage your team to think differently.

Props and tools such as Methodkit , which uses a card-based toolkit for facilitation, or Lego Serious Play can be great ways to engage your team and find an inclusive, democratic problem solving strategy. Remember that play and creativity are great tools for achieving change and whatever the challenge, engaging your participants can be very effective where other strategies may have failed.

LEGO Serious Play

• Improving core problem solving skills
• Thinking outside of the box
• Encouraging creative solutions

LEGO Serious Play is a problem solving methodology designed to get participants thinking differently by using 3D models and kinesthetic learning styles. By physically building LEGO models based on questions and exercises, participants are encouraged to think outside of the box and create their own responses. 

Collaborate LEGO Serious Play exercises are also used to encourage communication and build problem solving skills in a group. By using this problem solving process, you can often help different kinds of learners and personality types contribute and unblock organizational problems with creative thinking. 

Problem solving strategies like LEGO Serious Play are super effective at helping a team solve more skills-based problems such as communication between teams or a lack of creative thinking. Some problems are not suited to LEGO Serious Play and require a different problem solving strategy.

Card Decks and Method Kits

• New facilitators or non-facilitators 
• Approaching difficult subjects with a simple, creative framework
• Engaging those with varied learning styles

Card decks and method kids are great tools for those new to facilitation or for whom facilitation is not the primary role. Card decks such as the emotional culture deck can be used for complete workshops and in many cases, can be used right out of the box. Methodkit has a variety of kits designed for scenarios ranging from personal development through to personas and global challenges so you can find the right deck for your particular needs.

Having an easy to use framework that encourages creativity or a new approach can take some of the friction or planning difficulties out of the workshop process and energize a team in any setting. Simplicity is the key with these methods. By ensuring everyone on your team can get involved and engage with the process as quickly as possible can really contribute to the success of your problem solving strategy.

Source external advice

Looking to peers, experts and external facilitators can be a great way of approaching the problem solving process. Your team may not have the necessary expertise, insights of experience to tackle some issues, or you might simply benefit from a fresh perspective. Some problems may require bringing together an entire team, and coaching managers or team members individually might be the right approach. Remember that not all problems are best resolved in the same manner.

If you’re a solo entrepreneur, peer groups, coaches and mentors can also be invaluable at not only solving specific business problems, but in providing a support network for resolving future challenges. One great approach is to join a Mastermind Group and link up with like-minded individuals and all grow together. Remember that however you approach the sourcing of external advice, do so thoughtfully, respectfully and honestly. Reciprocate where you can and prepare to be surprised by just how kind and helpful your peers can be!

Mastermind Group

• Solo entrepreneurs or small teams with low capacity
• Peer learning and gaining outside expertise
• Getting multiple external points of view quickly

Problem solving in large organizations with lots of skilled team members is one thing, but how about if you work for yourself or in a very small team without the capacity to get the most from a design sprint or LEGO Serious Play session? 

A mastermind group – sometimes known as a peer advisory board – is where a group of people come together to support one another in their own goals, challenges, and businesses. Each participant comes to the group with their own purpose and the other members of the group will help them create solutions, brainstorm ideas, and support one another. 

Mastermind groups are very effective in creating an energized, supportive atmosphere that can deliver meaningful results. Learning from peers from outside of your organization or industry can really help unlock new ways of thinking and drive growth. Access to the experience and skills of your peers can be invaluable in helping fill the gaps in your own ability, particularly in young companies.

A mastermind group is a great solution for solo entrepreneurs, small teams, or for organizations that feel that external expertise or fresh perspectives will be beneficial for them. It is worth noting that Mastermind groups are often only as good as the participants and what they can bring to the group. Participants need to be committed, engaged and understand how to work in this context. 

Coaching and mentoring

• Focused learning and development
• Filling skills gaps
• Working on a range of challenges over time

Receiving advice from a business coach or building a mentor/mentee relationship can be an effective way of resolving certain challenges. The one-to-one format of most coaching and mentor relationships can really help solve the challenges those individuals are having and benefit the organization as a result.

A great mentor can be invaluable when it comes to spotting potential problems before they arise and coming to understand a mentee very well has a host of other business benefits. You might run an internal mentorship program to help develop your team’s problem solving skills and strategies or as part of a large learning and development program. External coaches can also be an important part of your problem solving strategy, filling skills gaps for your management team or helping with specific business issues. 

Now we’ve explored the problem solving process and the steps you will want to go through in order to have an effective session, let’s look at the skills you and your team need to be more effective problem solvers.

Problem solving skills are highly sought after, whatever industry or team you work in. Organizations are keen to employ people who are able to approach problems thoughtfully and find strong, realistic solutions. Whether you are a facilitator , a team leader or a developer, being an effective problem solver is a skill you’ll want to develop.

Problem solving skills form a whole suite of techniques and approaches that an individual uses to not only identify problems but to discuss them productively before then developing appropriate solutions.

Here are some of the most important problem solving skills everyone from executives to junior staff members should learn. We’ve also included an activity or exercise from the SessionLab library that can help you and your team develop that skill. 

If you’re running a workshop or training session to try and improve problem solving skills in your team, try using these methods to supercharge your process!

Active listening

Active listening is one of the most important skills anyone who works with people can possess. In short, active listening is a technique used to not only better understand what is being said by an individual, but also to be more aware of the underlying message the speaker is trying to convey. When it comes to problem solving, active listening is integral for understanding the position of every participant and to clarify the challenges, ideas and solutions they bring to the table.

Some active listening skills include:

• Paying complete attention to the speaker.
• Removing distractions.
• Avoid interruption.
• Taking the time to fully understand before preparing a rebuttal.
• Responding respectfully and appropriately.
• Demonstrate attentiveness and positivity with an open posture, making eye contact with the speaker, smiling and nodding if appropriate. Show that you are listening and encourage them to continue.
• Be aware of and respectful of feelings. Judge the situation and respond appropriately. You can disagree without being disrespectful.   
• Observe body language. 
• Paraphrase what was said in your own words, either mentally or verbally.
• Remain neutral. 
• Reflect and take a moment before responding.
• Ask deeper questions based on what is said and clarify points where necessary.   

Active Listening   #hyperisland   #skills   #active listening   #remote-friendly   This activity supports participants to reflect on a question and generate their own solutions using simple principles of active listening and peer coaching. It’s an excellent introduction to active listening but can also be used with groups that are already familiar with it. Participants work in groups of three and take turns being: “the subject”, the listener, and the observer.

Analytical skills

All problem solving models require strong analytical skills, particularly during the beginning of the process and when it comes to analyzing how solutions have performed.

Analytical skills are primarily focused on performing an effective analysis by collecting, studying and parsing data related to a problem or opportunity. 

It often involves spotting patterns, being able to see things from different perspectives and using observable facts and data to make suggestions or produce insight. 

Analytical skills are also important at every stage of the problem solving process and by having these skills, you can ensure that any ideas or solutions you create or backed up analytically and have been sufficiently thought out.

Nine Whys   #innovation   #issue analysis   #liberating structures   With breathtaking simplicity, you can rapidly clarify for individuals and a group what is essentially important in their work. You can quickly reveal when a compelling purpose is missing in a gathering and avoid moving forward without clarity. When a group discovers an unambiguous shared purpose, more freedom and more responsibility are unleashed. You have laid the foundation for spreading and scaling innovations with fidelity.

Collaboration

Trying to solve problems on your own is difficult. Being able to collaborate effectively, with a free exchange of ideas, to delegate and be a productive member of a team is hugely important to all problem solving strategies.

Remember that whatever your role, collaboration is integral, and in a problem solving process, you are all working together to find the best solution for everyone. 

Marshmallow challenge with debriefing   #teamwork   #team   #leadership   #collaboration   In eighteen minutes, teams must build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. The marshmallow needs to be on top. The Marshmallow Challenge was developed by Tom Wujec, who has done the activity with hundreds of groups around the world. Visit the Marshmallow Challenge website for more information. This version has an extra debriefing question added with sample questions focusing on roles within the team.

Communication  

Being an effective communicator means being empathetic, clear and succinct, asking the right questions, and demonstrating active listening skills throughout any discussion or meeting. 

In a problem solving setting, you need to communicate well in order to progress through each stage of the process effectively. As a team leader, it may also fall to you to facilitate communication between parties who may not see eye to eye. Effective communication also means helping others to express themselves and be heard in a group.

Bus Trip   #feedback   #communication   #appreciation   #closing   #thiagi   #team   This is one of my favourite feedback games. I use Bus Trip at the end of a training session or a meeting, and I use it all the time. The game creates a massive amount of energy with lots of smiles, laughs, and sometimes even a teardrop or two.

Creative problem solving skills can be some of the best tools in your arsenal. Thinking creatively, being able to generate lots of ideas and come up with out of the box solutions is useful at every step of the process. 

The kinds of problems you will likely discuss in a problem solving workshop are often difficult to solve, and by approaching things in a fresh, creative manner, you can often create more innovative solutions.

Having practical creative skills is also a boon when it comes to problem solving. If you can help create quality design sketches and prototypes in record time, it can help bring a team to alignment more quickly or provide a base for further iteration.

The paper clip method   #sharing   #creativity   #warm up   #idea generation   #brainstorming   The power of brainstorming. A training for project leaders, creativity training, and to catalyse getting new solutions.

Critical thinking

Critical thinking is one of the fundamental problem solving skills you’ll want to develop when working on developing solutions. Critical thinking is the ability to analyze, rationalize and evaluate while being aware of personal bias, outlying factors and remaining open-minded.

Defining and analyzing problems without deploying critical thinking skills can mean you and your team go down the wrong path. Developing solutions to complex issues requires critical thinking too – ensuring your team considers all possibilities and rationally evaluating them. 

Agreement-Certainty Matrix   #issue analysis   #liberating structures   #problem solving   You can help individuals or groups avoid the frequent mistake of trying to solve a problem with methods that are not adapted to the nature of their challenge. The combination of two questions makes it possible to easily sort challenges into four categories: simple, complicated, complex , and chaotic .  A problem is simple when it can be solved reliably with practices that are easy to duplicate.  It is complicated when experts are required to devise a sophisticated solution that will yield the desired results predictably.  A problem is complex when there are several valid ways to proceed but outcomes are not predictable in detail.  Chaotic is when the context is too turbulent to identify a path forward.  A loose analogy may be used to describe these differences: simple is like following a recipe, complicated like sending a rocket to the moon, complex like raising a child, and chaotic is like the game “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.”  The Liberating Structures Matching Matrix in Chapter 5 can be used as the first step to clarify the nature of a challenge and avoid the mismatches between problems and solutions that are frequently at the root of chronic, recurring problems.

Data analysis 

Though it shares lots of space with general analytical skills, data analysis skills are something you want to cultivate in their own right in order to be an effective problem solver.

Being good at data analysis doesn’t just mean being able to find insights from data, but also selecting the appropriate data for a given issue, interpreting it effectively and knowing how to model and present that data. Depending on the problem at hand, it might also include a working knowledge of specific data analysis tools and procedures. 

Having a solid grasp of data analysis techniques is useful if you’re leading a problem solving workshop but if you’re not an expert, don’t worry. Bring people into the group who has this skill set and help your team be more effective as a result.

Decision making

All problems need a solution and all solutions require that someone make the decision to implement them. Without strong decision making skills, teams can become bogged down in discussion and less effective as a result. 

Making decisions is a key part of the problem solving process. It’s important to remember that decision making is not restricted to the leadership team. Every staff member makes decisions every day and developing these skills ensures that your team is able to solve problems at any scale. Remember that making decisions does not mean leaping to the first solution but weighing up the options and coming to an informed, well thought out solution to any given problem that works for the whole team.

Lightning Decision Jam (LDJ)   #action   #decision making   #problem solving   #issue analysis   #innovation   #design   #remote-friendly   The problem with anything that requires creative thinking is that it’s easy to get lost—lose focus and fall into the trap of having useless, open-ended, unstructured discussions. Here’s the most effective solution I’ve found: Replace all open, unstructured discussion with a clear process. What to use this exercise for: Anything which requires a group of people to make decisions, solve problems or discuss challenges. It’s always good to frame an LDJ session with a broad topic, here are some examples: The conversion flow of our checkout Our internal design process How we organise events Keeping up with our competition Improving sales flow

Dependability

Most complex organizational problems require multiple people to be involved in delivering the solution. Ensuring that the team and organization can depend on you to take the necessary actions and communicate where necessary is key to ensuring problems are solved effectively.

Being dependable also means working to deadlines and to brief. It is often a matter of creating trust in a team so that everyone can depend on one another to complete the agreed actions in the agreed time frame so that the team can move forward together. Being undependable can create problems of friction and can limit the effectiveness of your solutions so be sure to bear this in mind throughout a project. 

Team Purpose & Culture   #team   #hyperisland   #culture   #remote-friendly   This is an essential process designed to help teams define their purpose (why they exist) and their culture (how they work together to achieve that purpose). Defining these two things will help any team to be more focused and aligned. With support of tangible examples from other companies, the team members work as individuals and a group to codify the way they work together. The goal is a visual manifestation of both the purpose and culture that can be put up in the team’s work space.

Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is an important skill for any successful team member, whether communicating internally or with clients or users. In the problem solving process, emotional intelligence means being attuned to how people are feeling and thinking, communicating effectively and being self-aware of what you bring to a room. 

There are often differences of opinion when working through problem solving processes, and it can be easy to let things become impassioned or combative. Developing your emotional intelligence means being empathetic to your colleagues and managing your own emotions throughout the problem and solution process. Be kind, be thoughtful and put your points across care and attention. 

Being emotionally intelligent is a skill for life and by deploying it at work, you can not only work efficiently but empathetically. Check out the emotional culture workshop template for more!

Facilitation

As we’ve clarified in our facilitation skills post, facilitation is the art of leading people through processes towards agreed-upon objectives in a manner that encourages participation, ownership, and creativity by all those involved. While facilitation is a set of interrelated skills in itself, the broad definition of facilitation can be invaluable when it comes to problem solving. Leading a team through a problem solving process is made more effective if you improve and utilize facilitation skills – whether you’re a manager, team leader or external stakeholder.

The Six Thinking Hats   #creative thinking   #meeting facilitation   #problem solving   #issue resolution   #idea generation   #conflict resolution   The Six Thinking Hats are used by individuals and groups to separate out conflicting styles of thinking. They enable and encourage a group of people to think constructively together in exploring and implementing change, rather than using argument to fight over who is right and who is wrong.

Flexibility 

Being flexible is a vital skill when it comes to problem solving. This does not mean immediately bowing to pressure or changing your opinion quickly: instead, being flexible is all about seeing things from new perspectives, receiving new information and factoring it into your thought process.

Flexibility is also important when it comes to rolling out solutions. It might be that other organizational projects have greater priority or require the same resources as your chosen solution. Being flexible means understanding needs and challenges across the team and being open to shifting or arranging your own schedule as necessary. Again, this does not mean immediately making way for other projects. It’s about articulating your own needs, understanding the needs of others and being able to come to a meaningful compromise.

The Creativity Dice   #creativity   #problem solving   #thiagi   #issue analysis   Too much linear thinking is hazardous to creative problem solving. To be creative, you should approach the problem (or the opportunity) from different points of view. You should leave a thought hanging in mid-air and move to another. This skipping around prevents premature closure and lets your brain incubate one line of thought while you consciously pursue another.

Working in any group can lead to unconscious elements of groupthink or situations in which you may not wish to be entirely honest. Disagreeing with the opinions of the executive team or wishing to save the feelings of a coworker can be tricky to navigate, but being honest is absolutely vital when to comes to developing effective solutions and ensuring your voice is heard. 

Remember that being honest does not mean being brutally candid. You can deliver your honest feedback and opinions thoughtfully and without creating friction by using other skills such as emotional intelligence. 

Explore your Values   #hyperisland   #skills   #values   #remote-friendly   Your Values is an exercise for participants to explore what their most important values are. It’s done in an intuitive and rapid way to encourage participants to follow their intuitive feeling rather than over-thinking and finding the “correct” values. It is a good exercise to use to initiate reflection and dialogue around personal values.

Initiative 

The problem solving process is multi-faceted and requires different approaches at certain points of the process. Taking initiative to bring problems to the attention of the team, collect data or lead the solution creating process is always valuable. You might even roadtest your own small scale solutions or brainstorm before a session. Taking initiative is particularly effective if you have good deal of knowledge in that area or have ownership of a particular project and want to get things kickstarted.

That said, be sure to remember to honor the process and work in service of the team. If you are asked to own one part of the problem solving process and you don’t complete that task because your initiative leads you to work on something else, that’s not an effective method of solving business challenges.

15% Solutions   #action   #liberating structures   #remote-friendly   You can reveal the actions, however small, that everyone can do immediately. At a minimum, these will create momentum, and that may make a BIG difference.  15% Solutions show that there is no reason to wait around, feel powerless, or fearful. They help people pick it up a level. They get individuals and the group to focus on what is within their discretion instead of what they cannot change.  With a very simple question, you can flip the conversation to what can be done and find solutions to big problems that are often distributed widely in places not known in advance. Shifting a few grains of sand may trigger a landslide and change the whole landscape.

Impartiality

A particularly useful problem solving skill for product owners or managers is the ability to remain impartial throughout much of the process. In practice, this means treating all points of view and ideas brought forward in a meeting equally and ensuring that your own areas of interest or ownership are not favored over others. 

There may be a stage in the process where a decision maker has to weigh the cost and ROI of possible solutions against the company roadmap though even then, ensuring that the decision made is based on merit and not personal opinion. 

Empathy map   #frame insights   #create   #design   #issue analysis   An empathy map is a tool to help a design team to empathize with the people they are designing for. You can make an empathy map for a group of people or for a persona. To be used after doing personas when more insights are needed.

Being a good leader means getting a team aligned, energized and focused around a common goal. In the problem solving process, strong leadership helps ensure that the process is efficient, that any conflicts are resolved and that a team is managed in the direction of success.

It’s common for managers or executives to assume this role in a problem solving workshop, though it’s important that the leader maintains impartiality and does not bulldoze the group in a particular direction. Remember that good leadership means working in service of the purpose and team and ensuring the workshop is a safe space for employees of any level to contribute. Take a look at our leadership games and activities post for more exercises and methods to help improve leadership in your organization.

Leadership Pizza   #leadership   #team   #remote-friendly   This leadership development activity offers a self-assessment framework for people to first identify what skills, attributes and attitudes they find important for effective leadership, and then assess their own development and initiate goal setting.

In the context of problem solving, mediation is important in keeping a team engaged, happy and free of conflict. When leading or facilitating a problem solving workshop, you are likely to run into differences of opinion. Depending on the nature of the problem, certain issues may be brought up that are emotive in nature. 

Being an effective mediator means helping those people on either side of such a divide are heard, listen to one another and encouraged to find common ground and a resolution. Mediating skills are useful for leaders and managers in many situations and the problem solving process is no different.

Conflict Responses   #hyperisland   #team   #issue resolution   A workshop for a team to reflect on past conflicts, and use them to generate guidelines for effective conflict handling. The workshop uses the Thomas-Killman model of conflict responses to frame a reflective discussion. Use it to open up a discussion around conflict with a team.

Planning 

Solving organizational problems is much more effective when following a process or problem solving model. Planning skills are vital in order to structure, deliver and follow-through on a problem solving workshop and ensure your solutions are intelligently deployed.

Planning skills include the ability to organize tasks and a team, plan and design the process and take into account any potential challenges. Taking the time to plan carefully can save time and frustration later in the process and is valuable for ensuring a team is positioned for success.

3 Action Steps   #hyperisland   #action   #remote-friendly   This is a small-scale strategic planning session that helps groups and individuals to take action toward a desired change. It is often used at the end of a workshop or programme. The group discusses and agrees on a vision, then creates some action steps that will lead them towards that vision. The scope of the challenge is also defined, through discussion of the helpful and harmful factors influencing the group.

Prioritization

As organisations grow, the scale and variation of problems they face multiplies. Your team or is likely to face numerous challenges in different areas and so having the skills to analyze and prioritize becomes very important, particularly for those in leadership roles.

A thorough problem solving process is likely to deliver multiple solutions and you may have several different problems you wish to solve simultaneously. Prioritization is the ability to measure the importance, value, and effectiveness of those possible solutions and choose which to enact and in what order. The process of prioritization is integral in ensuring the biggest challenges are addressed with the most impactful solutions.

Impact and Effort Matrix   #gamestorming   #decision making   #action   #remote-friendly   In this decision-making exercise, possible actions are mapped based on two factors: effort required to implement and potential impact. Categorizing ideas along these lines is a useful technique in decision making, as it obliges contributors to balance and evaluate suggested actions before committing to them.

Project management

Some problem solving skills are utilized in a workshop or ideation phases, while others come in useful when it comes to decision making. Overseeing an entire problem solving process and ensuring its success requires strong project management skills. 

While project management incorporates many of the other skills listed here, it is important to note the distinction of considering all of the factors of a project and managing them successfully. Being able to negotiate with stakeholders, manage tasks, time and people, consider costs and ROI, and tie everything together is massively helpful when going through the problem solving process. 

Record keeping

Working out meaningful solutions to organizational challenges is only one part of the process.  Thoughtfully documenting and keeping records of each problem solving step for future consultation is important in ensuring efficiency and meaningful change. 

For example, some problems may be lower priority than others but can be revisited in the future. If the team has ideated on solutions and found some are not up to the task, record those so you can rule them out and avoiding repeating work. Keeping records of the process also helps you improve and refine your problem solving model next time around!

Personal Kanban   #gamestorming   #action   #agile   #project planning   Personal Kanban is a tool for organizing your work to be more efficient and productive. It is based on agile methods and principles.

Research skills

Conducting research to support both the identification of problems and the development of appropriate solutions is important for an effective process. Knowing where to go to collect research, how to conduct research efficiently, and identifying pieces of research are relevant are all things a good researcher can do well. 

In larger groups, not everyone has to demonstrate this ability in order for a problem solving workshop to be effective. That said, having people with research skills involved in the process, particularly if they have existing area knowledge, can help ensure the solutions that are developed with data that supports their intention. Remember that being able to deliver the results of research efficiently and in a way the team can easily understand is also important. The best data in the world is only as effective as how it is delivered and interpreted.

Customer experience map   #ideation   #concepts   #research   #design   #issue analysis   #remote-friendly   Customer experience mapping is a method of documenting and visualizing the experience a customer has as they use the product or service. It also maps out their responses to their experiences. To be used when there is a solution (even in a conceptual stage) that can be analyzed.

Risk management

Managing risk is an often overlooked part of the problem solving process. Solutions are often developed with the intention of reducing exposure to risk or solving issues that create risk but sometimes, great solutions are more experimental in nature and as such, deploying them needs to be carefully considered. 

Managing risk means acknowledging that there may be risks associated with more out of the box solutions or trying new things, but that this must be measured against the possible benefits and other organizational factors. 

Be informed, get the right data and stakeholders in the room and you can appropriately factor risk into your decision making process. 

Decisions, Decisions…   #communication   #decision making   #thiagi   #action   #issue analysis   When it comes to decision-making, why are some of us more prone to take risks while others are risk-averse? One explanation might be the way the decision and options were presented.  This exercise, based on Kahneman and Tversky’s classic study , illustrates how the framing effect influences our judgement and our ability to make decisions . The participants are divided into two groups. Both groups are presented with the same problem and two alternative programs for solving them. The two programs both have the same consequences but are presented differently. The debriefing discussion examines how the framing of the program impacted the participant’s decision.

Team-building 

No single person is as good at problem solving as a team. Building an effective team and helping them come together around a common purpose is one of the most important problem solving skills, doubly so for leaders. By bringing a team together and helping them work efficiently, you pave the way for team ownership of a problem and the development of effective solutions. 

In a problem solving workshop, it can be tempting to jump right into the deep end, though taking the time to break the ice, energize the team and align them with a game or exercise will pay off over the course of the day.

Remember that you will likely go through the problem solving process multiple times over an organization’s lifespan and building a strong team culture will make future problem solving more effective. It’s also great to work with people you know, trust and have fun with. Working on team building in and out of the problem solving process is a hallmark of successful teams that can work together to solve business problems.

9 Dimensions Team Building Activity   #ice breaker   #teambuilding   #team   #remote-friendly   9 Dimensions is a powerful activity designed to build relationships and trust among team members. There are 2 variations of this icebreaker. The first version is for teams who want to get to know each other better. The second version is for teams who want to explore how they are working together as a team.

Time management 

The problem solving process is designed to lead a team from identifying a problem through to delivering a solution and evaluating its effectiveness. Without effective time management skills or timeboxing of tasks, it can be easy for a team to get bogged down or be inefficient.

By using a problem solving model and carefully designing your workshop, you can allocate time efficiently and trust that the process will deliver the results you need in a good timeframe.

Time management also comes into play when it comes to rolling out solutions, particularly those that are experimental in nature. Having a clear timeframe for implementing and evaluating solutions is vital for ensuring their success and being able to pivot if necessary.

Improving your skills at problem solving is often a career-long pursuit though there are methods you can use to make the learning process more efficient and to supercharge your problem solving skillset.

Remember that the skills you need to be a great problem solver have a large overlap with those skills you need to be effective in any role. Investing time and effort to develop your active listening or critical thinking skills is valuable in any context. Here are 7 ways to improve your problem solving skills.

Share best practices

Remember that your team is an excellent source of skills, wisdom, and techniques and that you should all take advantage of one another where possible. Best practices that one team has for solving problems, conducting research or making decisions should be shared across the organization. If you have in-house staff that have done active listening training or are data analysis pros, have them lead a training session. 

Your team is one of your best resources. Create space and internal processes for the sharing of skills so that you can all grow together. 

Ask for help and attend training

Once you’ve figured out you have a skills gap, the next step is to take action to fill that skills gap. That might be by asking your superior for training or coaching, or liaising with team members with that skill set. You might even attend specialized training for certain skills – active listening or critical thinking, for example, are business-critical skills that are regularly offered as part of a training scheme.

Whatever method you choose, remember that taking action of some description is necessary for growth. Whether that means practicing, getting help, attending training or doing some background reading, taking active steps to improve your skills is the way to go.

Learn a process 

Problem solving can be complicated, particularly when attempting to solve large problems for the first time. Using a problem solving process helps give structure to your problem solving efforts and focus on creating outcomes, rather than worrying about the format. 

Tools such as the seven-step problem solving process above are effective because not only do they feature steps that will help a team solve problems, they also develop skills along the way. Each step asks for people to engage with the process using different skills and in doing so, helps the team learn and grow together. Group processes of varying complexity and purpose can also be found in the SessionLab library of facilitation techniques . Using a tried and tested process and really help ease the learning curve for both those leading such a process, as well as those undergoing the purpose.

Effective teams make decisions about where they should and shouldn’t expend additional effort. By using a problem solving process, you can focus on the things that matter, rather than stumbling towards a solution haphazardly. 

Create a feedback loop

Some skills gaps are more obvious than others. It’s possible that your perception of your active listening skills differs from those of your colleagues. 

It’s valuable to create a system where team members can provide feedback in an ordered and friendly manner so they can all learn from one another. Only by identifying areas of improvement can you then work to improve them. 

Remember that feedback systems require oversight and consideration so that they don’t turn into a place to complain about colleagues. Design the system intelligently so that you encourage the creation of learning opportunities, rather than encouraging people to list their pet peeves.

While practice might not make perfect, it does make the problem solving process easier. If you are having trouble with critical thinking, don’t shy away from doing it. Get involved where you can and stretch those muscles as regularly as possible. 

Problem solving skills come more naturally to some than to others and that’s okay. Take opportunities to get involved and see where you can practice your skills in situations outside of a workshop context. Try collaborating in other circumstances at work or conduct data analysis on your own projects. You can often develop those skills you need for problem solving simply by doing them. Get involved!

Use expert exercises and methods

Learn from the best. Our library of 700+ facilitation techniques is full of activities and methods that help develop the skills you need to be an effective problem solver. Check out our templates to see how to approach problem solving and other organizational challenges in a structured and intelligent manner.

There is no single approach to improving problem solving skills, but by using the techniques employed by others you can learn from their example and develop processes that have seen proven results. 

Try new ways of thinking and change your mindset

Using tried and tested exercises that you know well can help deliver results, but you do run the risk of missing out on the learning opportunities offered by new approaches. As with the problem solving process, changing your mindset can remove blockages and be used to develop your problem solving skills.

Most teams have members with mixed skill sets and specialties. Mix people from different teams and share skills and different points of view. Teach your customer support team how to use design thinking methods or help your developers with conflict resolution techniques. Try switching perspectives with facilitation techniques like Flip It! or by using new problem solving methodologies or models. Give design thinking, liberating structures or lego serious play a try if you want to try a new approach. You will find that framing problems in new ways and using existing skills in new contexts can be hugely useful for personal development and improving your skillset. It’s also a lot of fun to try new things. Give it a go!

Encountering business challenges and needing to find appropriate solutions is not unique to your organization. Lots of very smart people have developed methods, theories and approaches to help develop problem solving skills and create effective solutions. Learn from them!

Books like The Art of Thinking Clearly , Think Smarter, or Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow are great places to start, though it’s also worth looking at blogs related to organizations facing similar problems to yours, or browsing for success stories. Seeing how Dropbox massively increased growth and working backward can help you see the skills or approach you might be lacking to solve that same problem. Learning from others by reading their stories or approaches can be time-consuming but ultimately rewarding.

A tired, distracted mind is not in the best position to learn new skills. It can be tempted to burn the candle at both ends and develop problem solving skills outside of work. Absolutely use your time effectively and take opportunities for self-improvement, though remember that rest is hugely important and that without letting your brain rest, you cannot be at your most effective. 

Creating distance between yourself and the problem you might be facing can also be useful. By letting an idea sit, you can find that a better one presents itself or you can develop it further. Take regular breaks when working and create a space for downtime. Remember that working smarter is preferable to working harder and that self-care is important for any effective learning or improvement process.

Want to design better group processes?

Over to you

Now we’ve explored some of the key problem solving skills and the problem solving steps necessary for an effective process, you’re ready to begin developing more effective solutions and leading problem solving workshops.

Need more inspiration? Check out our post on problem solving activities you can use when guiding a group towards a great solution in your next workshop or meeting. Have questions? Did you have a great problem solving technique you use with your team? Get in touch in the comments below. We’d love to chat!

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Going from a mere idea to a workshop that delivers results for your clients can feel like a daunting task. In this piece, we will shine a light on all the work behind the scenes and help you learn how to plan a workshop from start to finish. On a good day, facilitation can feel like effortless magic, but that is mostly the result of backstage work, foresight, and a lot of careful planning. Read on to learn a step-by-step approach to breaking the process of planning a workshop into small, manageable chunks.  The flow starts with the first meeting with a client to define the purposes of a workshop.…

How does learning work? A clever 9-year-old once told me: “I know I am learning something new when I am surprised.” The science of adult learning tells us that, in order to learn new skills (which, unsurprisingly, is harder for adults to do than kids) grown-ups need to first get into a specific headspace.  In a business, this approach is often employed in a training session where employees learn new skills or work on professional development. But how do you ensure your training is effective? In this guide, we'll explore how to create an effective training session plan and run engaging training sessions. As team leader, project manager, or consultant,…

Effective online tools are a necessity for smooth and engaging virtual workshops and meetings. But how do you choose the right ones? Do you sometimes feel that the good old pen and paper or MS Office toolkit and email leaves you struggling to stay on top of managing and delivering your workshop? Fortunately, there are plenty of online tools to make your life easier when you need to facilitate a meeting and lead workshops. In this post, we’ll share our favorite online tools you can use to make your job as a facilitator easier. In fact, there are plenty of free online workshop tools and meeting facilitation software you can…

Design your next workshop with SessionLab

Join the 150,000 facilitators using SessionLab

Sign up for free

Formulating Problem-Solving Moves Throughout Your Day

Have you thought about how much problem-solving you typically do each day? If you don’t think very much, you may not be giving yourself enough credit.

Individuals typically solve numerous problems throughout the day for both personal and work. While many problems are solved consciously, you also engage in an unconscious problem-solving process throughout the day. These may involve automatic or instinctual responses to familiar situations as well as subconscious processing of information and experiences that influence decision-making. It could involve routine tasks, strategic decisions, and unexpected situations.

Problem-solving skills are essential because of their wide-ranging impact (and are listed as a required skill in many job descriptions). It fosters adaptability and resilience, enhances decision-making, enhances critical thinking and analytical skills, and drives innovation and creativity. So, learning from failures and adapting your approach based on feedback and new information is important.

There are several problem-solving techniques. Depending on the situation, some techniques will lend themselves and be more effective than other techniques. Some popular problem-solving techniques are brainstorming, PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act), and root cause analysis (RCA).

Different Problem-Solving Techniques

Image from Bigstock

Brainstorming is a creative technique that involves generating many ideas. It encourages individuals to generate ideas without judgment, potentially leading to innovative solutions. To generate a diverse collection of ideas, it’s crucial to have a diverse group of individuals with varied backgrounds, perspectives, expertise, and roles. Other considerations:

• Clearly articulate the problem you’re addressing and any specific goals or outcomes you hope to achieve,
• Establish ground rules to ensure productive and respectful participation,
• Capture and document ideas in real time using visual aids such as whiteboards or digital collaboration tools, and
• Summarize the key ideas generated and identify the next steps for further exploring, evaluating, or implementing promising ideas.

For example, if the organization wants to revamp its social media strategy utilizing gen AI, it may benefit from having a brainstorming session. Afterward, it may use the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) technique to see how well the implemented strategy is going.

The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) is a continuous improvement cycle used to address problems or make improvements systematically and iteratively. It involves planning a solution, implementing it, checking the results, and acting on the findings to further refine or adjust the solution. PDCA’s popularity stems from its simplicity, flexibility, and effectiveness in driving continuous improvement.

Root cause analysis (RCA) is used to identify the underlying root cause of a problem. It involves identifying the root causes (versus addressing its symptoms) responsible for a problem and then addressing those causes to prevent the problem from recurring. Some components of an RCA are:

• Identify the problem including its symptoms, observed effects, etc.,
• Analyze the impact quantifying the cost, risks, and implications associated with the problem,
• Identify the root cause including the primary and contributory root causes of the problem,
• Propose corrective actions and measures to prevent recurrence of the problem, and
• Remediate and monitor including timeliness, responsible parties, and performance metrics.

I like creating an RCA report after a system outage. It explains the 5 Ws—who, what, where, when, why—and how the outage occurred and to prevent it from happening again. It’s imperative to share the RCA report with your business partners.

Continuously Improving Your Problem-Solving Skills

Image created by Debra Shannon

Reflect on your problem-solving skills and commit to continuous improvement. If you want to improve your problem-solving abilities start by clearly defining the problem and practicing critical thinking and analysis. Do you have any experiences, insights, and perspectives on problem-solving to share?

For more information on the importance of having strong problem-solving skills, follow me on LinkedIn !

• 5-Step Problem-Solving Technique For A More Innovative Solution ›
• 5 Ways To Develop Your Skills On The Job ›
• Top 5 Interview Questions Engineers Should Be Ready To Answer ›
• Problem-Solving Techniques and Tips (That Actually Work) | Blog ... ›
• 35 problem-solving techniques and methods for solving complex ... ›
• Problem-Solving Strategies: Definition and 5 Techniques to Try ›

Spring Cleaning: 4 Ways To Fix Your Job Search

Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.

In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.

For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.

Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach

Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:

• How did I learn about this job?
• How did I apply for the job?
• Did I earn an interview?
• What was the ultimate result?

A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:

Negative Trends

You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.

The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations , and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.

One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.

The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.

This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.

Positive Trends

You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.

The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview . This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.

The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback , and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.

Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.

The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.

Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention

Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.

Let's start with resumes!

Every resume should be tailored to the position in order for it to stand out to recruiters and hiring managers . It may seem like a lot of work, but it's actually less work than submitting the same resume over and over again and never hearing back.

The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.

Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.

While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.

As for writing a good cover letter , the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter . When you write a disruptive cover letter , you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.

If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.

Build Your Personal Brand

Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand .

Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"

Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.

By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.

You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.

Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search

Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.

There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:

• Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
• Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
• Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle , even better!

Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!

Need more help with your job search?

Become a member to learn how to land a job and UNLEASH your true potential to get what you want from work!

This article was originally published at an earlier date.

Got Cobwebs On Your Resume? 3 Ways To Bring Your Resume Back To Life

Now hiring: remote sysops engineer, 3 important career lessons learned on and off the field, how ex-nfl player, chris gronkowski, is using social media to change careers.

More From Forbes

Why people skills are still important in the age of ai.

• Share to Facebook
• Share to Twitter
• Share to Linkedin

President of Improving , a technology management and consulting services firm rooted in a commitment to trust and Conscious Capitalism.

In the age of artificial intelligence (AI), it's easy to think that people skills are becoming less important. After all, AI can already do many tasks that were once thought to require human intelligence, such as customer service, data analysis and even writing.

However, while AI is certainly capable of performing many tasks, it still lacks the ability to understand and respond to human emotions, build relationships and solve problems creatively. This is where people skills come in.

People skills are the personal attributes that enable us to interact effectively with others, such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, leadership, teamwork, adaptability, resilience and emotional intelligence. These skills are essential for success in the workplace, even in the age of AI. People skills (sometimes called soft skills) are defined as "non-technical skills that relate to how you work" and include time management, creative thinking, networking, teamwork and conflict resolution.

Here are some reasons why people skills are still important in the age of AI:

Trump Media Stock (DJT) At Risk Of A New Short Selling Plunge

Your best look yet at the new iphone 16, ryan garcia what s ostarine and how could a boxer use it to cheat, ai can't replace human creativity and problem-solving..

AI is great at following instructions and completing tasks, but it's not as good at coming up with new ideas or solving problems creatively. This is where human creativity and problem-solving skills come in. And while some say that this aspect is coming in the next-generation systems, I feel that true creativity is still a ways off.

AI can't understand and respond to human emotions.

AI can't understand and respond to human emotions in the same way that humans can. This is why humans need to have strong communication and emotional intelligence skills to work effectively with AI. These emotions are communicated even without the non-verbal cues we get with visual-based communication.

AI can't build relationships.

AI can't build relationships in the same way that humans can. This is why humans need to have strong teamwork and leadership skills to lead and collaborate with AI. True connection will never be transactional but AI is.

You can work to hone your people skills.

There are several ways that you can work to further develop your people skills. Depending on where you feel you might have the most growth potential, you can focus in on one or two of these to help you grow.

1. Participate in group activities and networking. Getting out and meeting people can feel uncomfortable and is a stretch for many, as we aren't always sure what to talk about. But hearing others' perspectives and learning social cues helps to grow your awareness of others and makes you a better teammate.

2. Practice active listening. If you haven't heard of active listening , it's communication that goes beyond just hearing what's being said. You're listening with the whole of yourself and engaged in the conversation.

3. Read books. I know it sounds counter-intuitive to say that reading could help you, but more knowledge actually helps. You expand your understanding and grow the number of things that you can converse on when interacting with others. Additionally, it can provide topics for you to share when you're in those group settings.

4. Practice mindfulness. When you're calmer and more at peace with yourself, you can show up better to those around you. The positive energy you give off is attractive when you're in a group setting.

5. Have a growth mindset. Realize you don't know everything and that you have room to grow. And that's okay. When you explore and embrace your curiosity, you allow room for others to share what they know.

Developing your people skills is an investment in your future. It can help you become more successful in your career and a more valuable asset to your company. With the rise of AI, it's becoming increasingly apparent to me that while AI can excel in executing tasks, it falls short of understanding the intricacies of human interaction. People skills, which encompass a wide array of personal attributes, remain essential. Despite the advancements in AI, it cannot replicate human creativity, empathize with emotions or foster genuine relationships. Therefore, it's still crucial to hone communication, emotional intelligence, teamwork and leadership skills. There are various activities that we can undertake to maintain a growth mindset, which is a pivotal step toward personal and professional growth. Investing in people skills can not only enhance individual success but also make you an invaluable asset to any organization in this evolving landscape of work.

Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?

• Editorial Standards
• Reprints & Permissions

An official website of the United States government.

If you want to request a wider IP range, first request access for your current IP, and then use the "Site Feedback" button found in the lower left-hand side to make the request.