problem solving skills in marketing

At my current job, I recently solved a problem where a client was upset about our software pricing. They had misunderstood the sales representative who explained pricing originally, and when their package renewed for its second month, they called to complain about the invoice. I apologized for the confusion and then spoke to our billing team to see what type of solution we could come up with. We decided that the best course of action was to offer a long-term pricing package that would provide a discount. This not only solved the problem but got the customer to agree to a longer-term contract, which means we’ll keep their business for at least one year now, and they’re happy with the pricing. I feel I got the best possible outcome and the way I chose to solve the problem was effective.

Example Answer 2:

In my last job, I had to do quite a bit of problem solving related to our shift scheduling. We had four people quit within a week and the department was severely understaffed. I coordinated a ramp-up of our hiring efforts, I got approval from the department head to offer bonuses for overtime work, and then I found eight employees who were willing to do overtime this month. I think the key problem solving skills here were taking initiative, communicating clearly, and reacting quickly to solve this problem before it became an even bigger issue.

Example Answer 3:

In my current marketing role, my manager asked me to come up with a solution to our declining social media engagement. I assessed our current strategy and recent results, analyzed what some of our top competitors were doing, and then came up with an exact blueprint we could follow this year to emulate our best competitors but also stand out and develop a unique voice as a brand. I feel this is a good example of using logic to solve a problem because it was based on analysis and observation of competitors, rather than guessing or quickly reacting to the situation without reliable data. I always use logic and data to solve problems when possible. The project turned out to be a success and we increased our social media engagement by an average of 82% by the end of the year.

Answering Questions About Problem Solving with the STAR Method

When you answer interview questions about problem solving scenarios, or if you decide to demonstrate your problem solving skills in a cover letter (which is a good idea any time the job description mention problem solving as a necessary skill), I recommend using the STAR method to tell your story.

STAR stands for:

It’s a simple way of walking the listener or reader through the story in a way that will make sense to them. So before jumping in and talking about the problem that needed solving, make sure to describe the general situation. What job/company were you working at? When was this? Then, you can describe the task at hand and the problem that needed solving. After this, describe the course of action you chose and why. Ideally, show that you evaluated all the information you could given the time you had, and made a decision based on logic and fact.

Finally, describe a positive result you got.

Whether you’re answering interview questions about problem solving or writing a cover letter, you should only choose examples where you got a positive result and successfully solved the issue.

Example answer:

Situation : We had an irate client who was a social media influencer and had impossible delivery time demands we could not meet. She spoke negatively about us in her vlog and asked her followers to boycott our products. (Task : To develop an official statement to explain our company’s side, clarify the issue, and prevent it from getting out of hand). Action : I drafted a statement that balanced empathy, understanding, and utmost customer service with facts, logic, and fairness. It was direct, simple, succinct, and phrased to highlight our brand values while addressing the issue in a logical yet sensitive way. We also tapped our influencer partners to subtly and indirectly share their positive experiences with our brand so we could counter the negative content being shared online. Result : We got the results we worked for through proper communication and a positive and strategic campaign. The irate client agreed to have a dialogue with us. She apologized to us, and we reaffirmed our commitment to delivering quality service to all. We assured her that she can reach out to us anytime regarding her purchases and that we’d gladly accommodate her requests whenever possible. She also retracted her negative statements in her vlog and urged her followers to keep supporting our brand.

What Are Good Outcomes of Problem Solving?

Whenever you answer interview questions about problem solving or share examples of problem solving in a cover letter, you want to be sure you’re sharing a positive outcome.

Below are good outcomes of problem solving:

Every employer wants to make more money, save money, and save time. If you can assess your problem solving experience and think about how you’ve helped past employers in those three areas, then that’s a great start. That’s where I recommend you begin looking for stories of times you had to solve problems.

Tips to Improve Your Problem Solving Skills

Throughout your career, you’re going to get hired for better jobs and earn more money if you can show employers that you’re a problem solver. So to improve your problem solving skills, I recommend always analyzing a problem and situation before acting. When discussing problem solving with employers, you never want to sound like you rush or make impulsive decisions. They want to see fact-based or data-based decisions when you solve problems.

Next, to get better at solving problems, analyze the outcomes of past solutions you came up with. You can recognize what works and what doesn’t. Think about how you can get better at researching and analyzing a situation, but also how you can get better at communicating, deciding the right people in the organization to talk to and “pull in” to help you if needed, etc.

Finally, practice staying calm even in stressful situations. Take a few minutes to walk outside if needed. Step away from your phone and computer to clear your head. A work problem is rarely so urgent that you cannot take five minutes to think (with the possible exception of safety problems), and you’ll get better outcomes if you solve problems by acting logically instead of rushing to react in a panic.

You can use all of the ideas above to describe your problem solving skills when asked interview questions about the topic. If you say that you do the things above, employers will be impressed when they assess your problem solving ability.

If you practice the tips above, you’ll be ready to share detailed, impressive stories and problem solving examples that will make hiring managers want to offer you the job. Every employer appreciates a problem solver, whether solving problems is a requirement listed on the job description or not. And you never know which hiring manager or interviewer will ask you about a time you solved a problem, so you should always be ready to discuss this when applying for a job.

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What Is Creative Problem-Solving & Why Is It Important?

Business team using creative problem-solving

01 Feb 2022

One of the biggest hindrances to innovation is complacency—it can be more comfortable to do what you know than venture into the unknown. Business leaders can overcome this barrier by mobilizing creative team members and providing space to innovate.

There are several tools you can use to encourage creativity in the workplace. Creative problem-solving is one of them, which facilitates the development of innovative solutions to difficult problems.

Here’s an overview of creative problem-solving and why it’s important in business.

What Is Creative Problem-Solving?

Research is necessary when solving a problem. But there are situations where a problem’s specific cause is difficult to pinpoint. This can occur when there’s not enough time to narrow down the problem’s source or there are differing opinions about its root cause.

In such cases, you can use creative problem-solving , which allows you to explore potential solutions regardless of whether a problem has been defined.

Creative problem-solving is less structured than other innovation processes and encourages exploring open-ended solutions. It also focuses on developing new perspectives and fostering creativity in the workplace . Its benefits include:

Design Thinking and Innovation | Uncover creative solutions to your business problems | Learn more

Creative problem-solving is traditionally based on the following key principles :

1. Balance Divergent and Convergent Thinking

Creative problem-solving uses two primary tools to find solutions: divergence and convergence. Divergence generates ideas in response to a problem, while convergence narrows them down to a shortlist. It balances these two practices and turns ideas into concrete solutions.

2. Reframe Problems as Questions

By framing problems as questions, you shift from focusing on obstacles to solutions. This provides the freedom to brainstorm potential ideas.

3. Defer Judgment of Ideas

When brainstorming, it can be natural to reject or accept ideas right away. Yet, immediate judgments interfere with the idea generation process. Even ideas that seem implausible can turn into outstanding innovations upon further exploration and development.

4. Focus on "Yes, And" Instead of "No, But"

Using negative words like "no" discourages creative thinking. Instead, use positive language to build and maintain an environment that fosters the development of creative and innovative ideas.

Creative Problem-Solving and Design Thinking

Whereas creative problem-solving facilitates developing innovative ideas through a less structured workflow, design thinking takes a far more organized approach.

Design thinking is a human-centered, solutions-based process that fosters the ideation and development of solutions. In the online course Design Thinking and Innovation , Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar leverages a four-phase framework to explain design thinking.

The four stages are:

The four stages of design thinking: clarify, ideate, develop, and implement

Creative problem-solving primarily operates in the ideate phase of design thinking but can be applied to others. This is because design thinking is an iterative process that moves between the stages as ideas are generated and pursued. This is normal and encouraged, as innovation requires exploring multiple ideas.

Creative Problem-Solving Tools

While there are many useful tools in the creative problem-solving process, here are three you should know:

Creating a Problem Story

One way to innovate is by creating a story about a problem to understand how it affects users and what solutions best fit their needs. Here are the steps you need to take to use this tool properly.

1. Identify a UDP

Create a problem story to identify the undesired phenomena (UDP). For example, consider a company that produces printers that overheat. In this case, the UDP is "our printers overheat."

2. Move Forward in Time

To move forward in time, ask: “Why is this a problem?” For example, minor damage could be one result of the machines overheating. In more extreme cases, printers may catch fire. Don't be afraid to create multiple problem stories if you think of more than one UDP.

3. Move Backward in Time

To move backward in time, ask: “What caused this UDP?” If you can't identify the root problem, think about what typically causes the UDP to occur. For the overheating printers, overuse could be a cause.

Following the three-step framework above helps illustrate a clear problem story:

You can extend the problem story in either direction if you think of additional cause-and-effect relationships.

4. Break the Chains

By this point, you’ll have multiple UDP storylines. Take two that are similar and focus on breaking the chains connecting them. This can be accomplished through inversion or neutralization.

Even if creating a problem story doesn't provide a solution, it can offer useful context to users’ problems and additional ideas to be explored. Given that divergence is one of the fundamental practices of creative problem-solving, it’s a good idea to incorporate it into each tool you use.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a tool that can be highly effective when guided by the iterative qualities of the design thinking process. It involves openly discussing and debating ideas and topics in a group setting. This facilitates idea generation and exploration as different team members consider the same concept from multiple perspectives.

Hosting brainstorming sessions can result in problems, such as groupthink or social loafing. To combat this, leverage a three-step brainstorming method involving divergence and convergence :

Alternate Worlds

The alternate worlds tool is an empathetic approach to creative problem-solving. It encourages you to consider how someone in another world would approach your situation.

For example, if you’re concerned that the printers you produce overheat and catch fire, consider how a different industry would approach the problem. How would an automotive expert solve it? How would a firefighter?

Be creative as you consider and research alternate worlds. The purpose is not to nail down a solution right away but to continue the ideation process through diverging and exploring ideas.

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Whether you’re an entrepreneur, marketer, or business leader, learning the ropes of design thinking can be an effective way to build your skills and foster creativity and innovation in any setting.

If you're ready to develop your design thinking and creative problem-solving skills, explore Design Thinking and Innovation , one of our online entrepreneurship and innovation courses. If you aren't sure which course is the right fit, download our free course flowchart to determine which best aligns with your goals.

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What Are Interpersonal Skills? + 5 Ways to Develop Them

Updated: January 28, 2022

Published: September 08, 2021

To succeed at our jobs, we often need a wide range of skills, from simply communicating to in-depth product knowledge.

businesspeople working together as a team and using interpersonal skills for collaboration

Soft skills, like communication, fall into the category of interpersonal skills, and they are typically expected of everyone, regardless of the position you apply for. In this post, learn what interpersonal skills are, examples of what they look like in action, and how to develop them and display them on your resume to stand out against other applicants.

What are interpersonal skills?

Interpersonal skills are the behaviors directly related to how we interact with others, like empathy and active listening.

Interpersonal skills relate to all aspects of life, from close relationships to business partnerships.

Interpersonal Skills in Organization

In the business world, interpersonal skills dictate how we get along with our team members. For example, suppose you sense tension at work. You may pick up on this and use active listening to get to the root of the problem and then use effective communication to come to a resolution.

Why are interpersonal skills important?

Many career paths come with consistent interaction with people, whether coworkers or teammates, so it’s crucial to know how to interact with everyone. Without them, it would be challenging to perform as expected.

Given this, employers look for people with strong interpersonal skills because it means they can work well with others and communicate in a way that drives business success. In some jobs, like customer service, strong interpersonal skills are critical.

Most critically, interpersonal skills help us interact with others in a respectable manner. Even if you’re a software engineer who spends most of your time on the computer, you still need to interact with your teammates and sometimes explain technical details to those who may not have the same know-how, which requires good communication.

There tends to be some confusion about interpersonal skills vs intrapersonal skills, so we’ll explain the difference below.

Intrapersonal vs. Interpersonal Skills

A few letters make up the difference between intrapersonal and interpersonal skills, but they are different. Specifically, interpersonal skills are how you speak to yourself in your mind, and interpersonal skills are involved in conversations with other people.

However, both relate to each other through emotional intelligence. Having strong self-awareness (intrapersonal) can help you become better with interpersonal skills, as you’ll be able to manage your emotions, regardless of the situation, and respond accordingly.

Types of Interpersonal Skills

There are various types of interpersonal skills, and many complement each other. Below we’ll list common interpersonal skills and give examples of what they look like in action.

Examples of Interpersonal Skills

How to develop interpersonal skills.

Interpersonal skills are essential, regardless of the role you’re in. Here are some tips for developing your interpersonal skills and improving upon the ones you already have.

1. Leverage available resources.

Look for online courses or books from experts that explain the importance of interpersonal skills and give tips on developing them based on their own experiences.

2. Identify areas for improvement.

Identifying areas for improvement can help develop your skills.

You can ask for feedback from people who work with you daily and hear about areas that they think could use improvement. If you work in customer-facing roles, you can monitor your NPS scores or customer feedback surveys to get a sense of where they feel you fall short.

3. Ask for feedback, and learn from it.

One of the best ways to get a sense of your skill level is to ask for feedback on your current performance from people that interact with you every day, like colleagues, mentors, or bosses.

For example, maybe you work in teams on a day-to-day basis, and one of your colleagues says that sometimes they don’t feel heard by you. You can learn from their assessment and make an effort to practice active listening.

4. Practice your skills.

As with most skills, one of the best ways to develop them is by practicing them. Put yourself in situations where these skills will be required of you, like stepping up during team meetings and assuming leadership roles. As mentioned above, you can then ask for feedback from peers and learn what went right and what needs more work.

5. Recognize that there is no “end” to developing your skills.

Although your desire may be to be perfect, there is no way to be perfect. Everyone is always learning on the go and developing their skills, especially since role requirements can vary.

For example, working in customer service may require you to focus more on problem-solving and empathy, while assuming a role as a manager may require you to spend more time collaborating and conflict management. Recognize that there is always room for growth and development and, as long as you are aware of this, you’ll develop the skills you need to succeed.

Interpersonal Skills on a Resume

It’s important to emphasize your interpersonal skills on a resume, as many employers look for them. Sometimes interpersonal skills are referred to as soft skills instead of technical skills like having product knowledge.

The most important thing to do is to identify the skills you have that match the job description of the new role, so you can explicitly demonstrate how they’ll help you succeed.

Once you’ve identified these skills, you have three options for displaying them:

As mentioned above, there is no finish line for developing your interpersonal skills. Those you need for each job will likely change depending on your industry, and it is always important to continuously be learning. However, leverage the tips on this list, put yourself in situations where you’ll need to practice your skills, and you’ll find yourself succeeding in your roles, regardless of whether you’re just starting out or are a seasoned executive.

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People are always going to have problems, so as a marketer or business owner, your job is to solve these problems for your ideal clients. This really is the key to business success.

Here’s the thing, problem-solving is easier said than done. You can’t take this lightly and can’t just go halfway with it because people will always look for better and faster ways to get what they’re looking for.

I’m not going to sit here today and tell you how to build your product, that’s your job, but I am going to give you helpful tips on how to market it.

Why people buy

It never gets easier to hear this, but at the end of the day, people don’t want or care about what you sell. All they care about are that their problems are solved, and your products or services are simply a means to an end.

Some of the most successful and satisfied entrepreneurs I know figured this out early on. They weren’t necessarily after all the fancy bells and whistles that could have come with their products and services at the beginning. Instead, they were obsessive in solving their customer’s problems. Once they figured out how to do that, they could add the “cool” factors.

Your customers don’t often know how to solve their problems, but they often know what those problems are, which is why they are searching for solutions like yours. Show them that you are the answer they are looking for and the experts equipped to make their pain points go away. As a marketer or business owner, that’s really all you need to do. Period.

How to discover problems

Do you have the answers to the following questions (this is a long list, but to truly be effective, you’ll want the answers to each and every one of them):

To truly get the answers to these questions, and understand them front to back, start your research by sitting down with current customers and simply ask them some of those questions directly.

Additionally, look at online forums and sites they visit and see what they’re talking about, and also take a look at your emails, look at your online reviews, and chat with your sales team to pinpoint common complaints or issues your customers are having. You’d be amazed at the amount of information that can come from those sources.

How to effortlessly include problem-solving in your marketing

Refocus your messaging

Your ideal customer should always be top of mind and it is imperative that your message is directed to them and resonates with them.

They want to see a message that revolves around solving their problems. It should be clear and concise so that they have little doubts as to how you can help them.

It’s not uncommon for businesses to focus on themselves, products, and services in their messaging. It’s important that you scan your content and refocus your message on your customers and the problems they want to be solved.

Create trigger phrases

This is a bit time consuming, but worth it. Break down the solutions you sell and the benefits of what you do. Map these back to what I like to call “trigger phrases.” These should be attention-grabbing statements or questions and should come from the point of view of your customer, not your own.

Develop an attention-grabbing headline

Take a second and write a bold statement that might be the first thing anyone who visits your website will see and test this headline with your ideal clients. Ask them to be honest and details in their feedback.

Online reviews can also provide valuable insight for writing these headlines. They can often write your promise for you.

Be educational and informative in your content

Be helpful with the content you create, even if it doesn’t directly discuss your products or services. Show that you are knowledgeable on the issues they are facing in a variety of formats. Content is essential to any business today so get started on writing blog posts, creating how-tos, recording videos, and so on. Through content, show them that you are experts in the field that will help to make their pain points go away. Providing actionable advice can go a long way.

Make your prospects’ and clients’ lives easier through content upgrades

As part of your lead generation efforts, provide valuable information through content upgrades that people can download by giving at the very least their email address. This allows you to nurture them with additional helpful information down the road, which will continue to remind them that you are there for them and have the answers they are looking for.

Be responsive to comments, emails, and social media

Remember, these channels should not be one-way streets, they should be conversation tools. By responding quickly and providing thorough answers on these platforms, you’re just giving them one more reason to trust you and see you as an authority in your field that has their backs.

Dive deeper than basic keywords

Keyword research is essential for speaking to and getting your audience’s attention, but to really have an impact, go further than the surface level keywords and focus on long-tail keywords to really get targeted and get to the root of their problems.

Personalize your lead generation efforts

While problem-solving in itself will help drive you towards success, to really make an impact in your market, you must be unique and creative in how you solve these problems because everyone in your industry is trying to address the same problems.

Are you focusing on problem-solving in your marketing efforts? Have you seen a change with this type of focus?

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Oct 28, 2020

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Essential Skills 7: Problem Solving

Digital Management and Leadership

by Kevin Reid

Posted on Oct 28, 2020

Many types of problems can arise in the workplace, and for various reasons. and it's very useful to have the right problem-solving skills so you can resolve them efficiently - saving you time and money. This can apply to any workplace, whether physical or remote and virtual.

Inter-personal conflict, issues of time management, lack of tools or resources, poor communication, competitiveness, gossip, culture clash, lack of opportunity and training and so on.

In these three videos, DMI expert Kevin Reid helps you focus on how to take to identify the full extent and cause of problems to help you implement a strategy to resolve them. His six-step aproach breaks down the strategy into doable elements, and he also looks at other skills you have that can help, from thinking creatively to delegating.

1. Approaching Problems in the Workplace

2. the stages of problem solving, 3. skills for effective problem solving.

About The Essential Skills Series

This series includes a number of videos that explore those personal skills that we tend to overlook but which are becoming ever more important in your marketing life. These include communication, creativity, persuasion, project management, collaboration, strategic thinking, and crisis management. An important study was done in 2019 by the Digital Marketing Institute in collaboration with The Economist Group, and the full white paper is available to read on the library. The survey of 500 global marketing executives revealed that the ongoing skills gap in digital marketing includes these key essential skills.

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Marketing91

15 Problem Solving Skills

August 22, 2020 By Hitesh Bhasin Filed Under: Skills

Regardless of whether you gauged it or not, we all use our critical thinking aptitudes for resolving different issues or performing essential tasks. Such a way of thinking aptitudes empowers us with excellent Problem Solving Skills .

We use these skills consistently to guarantee that whatever we do is finished as per our expectations. They are increasingly significant professional lives since they can legitimately influence the result of a specific activity and associated goals.

Most of the top authorities in board jobs inside an organization have exceptional problem-solving abilities. Having the ability to solve even the most challenging issues is a significant skill. It can prove to be useful in all that you face throughout everyday life, regardless of whether you’re at work or home.

In case you struggle to solve different issues in your professional as well as personal lives, then this post is personalized to you. Let us start with some of the top tips for enhancing your problem-solving skills.

1. Observation

It is one of the most important and probably the finest skills required for problem-solving in any domain. It is essential to assess the situation and know what’s wrong.

The diagnosis of the problem is the first and foremost thing to be done. Managers in any business domain need to know what the business is going through and what are its shortcomings.

2. Research

Once the diagnosis is made, it is essential to understand the broader perspective of the problem. Research is the key to any problem-solving assignment. Knowledge can be gathered from any resource, providing it is relevant to the problem diagnosed.

In businesses, managers can go on checking the history; how the problem has been solved earlier. Moreover, companies can also observe others dealing with a similar situation to get better information.

3. Analysis

An analysis is the major part of any problem-solving assignment hence regarded as a crucial skill. The analysis includes everything related to the insight of the problem. Businesses can go on analyzing the current situation of the company and how the issue is going to affect the business.

Sometimes some diseases are self-treatable; similar goes for businesses. Some problems occur and go away; some need a proper solution and execution. It can only be assessed if the manager holds appropriate analyzing skills.

4. Creativity

One must be creative to handle problematic situations. This not only helps in designing more straightforward and varied solutions but also in comprehending the problem from various angles.

It is essential to know the different sides of the issue before tackling it. Being creative always helps managers to handle the problem better in any company.

5. Teamwork

This point doesn’t need any explanation. Employees and managers in any business, must hold this skill to work on any problem in a better manner.

Any problem-solving process can be made simpler if an action team handles it. Moreover, the task gets divided hence the overall efficiency increases.

6. Leadership

Just as team-work skills, leadership is one of the musts to have expertise in the leaders of any business. You must know how to make your teamwork for something.

However, it doesn’t mean acting like a dictator instead of being polite and generous with the fellow-members. Managers must know how to motivate their team to work for something. A perfect team without an ideal leader is just like another looser team whose loss is evident.

7. Persistence

While solving any problem, the solution is never acquired easily; hence persistence is significant. The action team, along with the leader, must be persistent enough to look for the possible solution and act accordingly.

It is essential to be determined and motivated throughout the process. A loss of morale is directly or indirectly going to affect the efficiency of the action team.

8. Communication

This is something that not only helps in problem-solving but in all significant life-events. From business management to personal life, this is a must to have skill. An excellent communicator can easily influence and convey information to others.

An action team working on a problem must hold excellent communication skills. Lack of proper communication will directly affect the cooperation from the fellow-members. B-schools focus on this majorly, and so do everyone.

9. Emotional Intelligence

Again from real-life to business, one must hold this skill to ace up in every complicated situation. Being emotionally unstable directly refers to one’s in-efficiency to handle stressful situations.

It doesn’t mean being emotionally firm and harsh, instead being intelligent enough to switch the modes.

10. Risk Management

In any problem-solving assignment, it is essential to manage the risk appropriately. Finding a perfect solution is never easy. Just like the side-effects of medication, there could be side-effects of a solution.

Businesses must be ready to tackle those side-effects. Managers should hold this skill to assess the risk accurately and act accordingly to minimize their effect.

11. Flexibility

By flexibility, we mean the skill to adapt in a different situation and be open to all kinds of solutions. Sticking to one way may not be helpful all the time; hence the action team must be flexible enough to switch between the solutions when needed.

12. Collaboration

Don’t confuse it with the teamwork. By collaboration, we mean the collaboration from external sources. Sometimes tackling a problem is not entirely in our hands; hence it is essential to be skilled enough to get collaboration from the external sources. Depending upon the nature of the problem businesses can ask other businesses to assist in the action plan.

13. Decision Making

This is a self-explanatory phrase. Everyone knows the efficiency of this skill. Not only in business management rather than in real-life problems; decision making is one of the essential skills to have.

Finding a perfect solution entirely depends upon the decision-making skill of the manager. One must be wise enough to choose what’s best for the business.

14. Implementation

After detecting a perfect solution, it is essential to implement that correctly. Poor implementation can ruin the entire effort made by the action team; hence the team must hold this skill to implement the plan well.

A cricket team may develop a perfect strategy to win a match, but poor execution can turn the situation entirely, and a better team may end up losing in the end, the same goes for the business. Nokia’s poor performance in the mobile market leads them to lose the firm grip they had on it.

15. Monitoring

Monitoring is vital to check how the plan performs and remove any potential threat. The action team must hold this skill to keep a continuous track of how the implemented plan performs. It can then detect and remove any shortcoming which may not be visible while planning.

Sometimes it may be required to switch between the plans after the execution; hence the business and the team must be ready for any situation in the problem-solving assignment.

In addition to these problem-solving skills, some other abilities will help you in solving problems at your workplace. Let us go through them as well-

Here is a video by Marketing91 on Problem Solving Skills.

7 Problem Solving Skills with Co-Workers

1. Keep It, Professional

You need to be consistently courteous, prudent, and generous of others’ sentiments. Plus, you should never think about work issues and differences literally on personal levels.

2. Maintain your Calmness

Regardless of how severe the problem is and whosoever is responsible for it, it is suggested to not lash out at associates. You should not move the issues towards conflicting, confronting, and aggressive mannerisms, as it mostly aggravates the situation. Your decision should not be dependent on outrage, uneasiness, or dissatisfaction.

Instead, taking a break and expressing your sentiments and feelings by conversing with them more dexterously and convincingly will be more effective.

3. Pay closure heed on other’s considerations

You must listen and regard the assessments, viewpoints, and considerations of co-workers. You must be polite, but in the process, you need not waver from your objective.

While going through others’ opinions, try to make common ground, or constructively convince others about the most effective solution.

4. Make an Arrangement/Plan that gives result

To have excellent problem-solving skills at your workplace, you should be able to assess the problem from all sides, analyze every one of your choices, and look for some other alternatives as well.

You must utilize your collective and imaginative critical thinking skills that you learned throughout the years while solving the problems. Getting inspirations from past situations and other incidents of life will guide you in every problem that you face.

Listing of different possible solutions and prioritizing their execution as per the requirement is crucial here.

5. Do fair negotiation

Being able to do fair negotiation is one of the most useful problem-solving skills with the workgroups. You need to include all the factors and related data while talking about potential activities and choices.

You should be prepared to collaborate and settle and try to solicit a similar response from others. Dealing with associates while solving a problem is never a simple undertaking, and you need to come up with the best negotiation strategies.

6. Opt for a Rapport Building with Your Team

This is an essential skill when it comes to solving problems at the workplace. You need to accumulate all the individuals necessary to solve the problem and choose the one who has a dynamic power.

You should also give your best attempt to executing the solution for the issue. Having full involvement, interacting with others, having the right people placed in the right places, motivation, empowerment, etc. play a key role in rapport building.

7. Do adept use of your sense of humor

Adeptly using your comical inclination for breaking the ice in conflicting situations is a beneficial problem-solving skill at the workplaces. Your sense of humor can also be quite good at developing good bonds with co-workers.

6 Tips to Enhance your Problem Solving Skills

1. Recognize the issue

The very first tip of enhancing problem-solving skills revolves around identifying the problem because if you neglect to distinguish the issue, you might wind up with a solution for another issue. Examining and posing inquiries will let you find the exact problem. Create a rundown of potential solutions

In the next step, you need to make a list of different potential fixes of that issue. Conceptualizing various aspects and brainstorming will let you find potential solutions.

2. Assess potential solutions

After having the rundown of potential solutions, you need to assess them. This process should take a gander at the advantages, downsides, effects, and other key factors affecting the problem.

3. Narrow down and choose the best potential solutions

Once you have finished your assessment, you should have a list of those that are likely to be most effective in solving that problem.

4. Test where you can

If you are not dealing with an urgent issue that needs an immediate solution, then you should test different chosen solutions from a more precise perspective. For a quick solution, go with your experience, intuition, and expert suggestion.

5. Take a decision and do the implementation

Now, the time has come to settle on a decision as to your final solution for the issue that you are solving and feel free to execute it as fast as could be expected under the circumstances.

6. Review results and refine solutions

Once in a while, when we execute a solution, we don’t get the outcomes we anticipate. That is why; you should try reviewing your results, so ultimately you can get the solution that you want.

Tackling problems is a crucial job for the management or administration authorities. The higher the issue, the more significant it is to be organized and deliberate in your way to deal with problem-solving.

Below, we are going to cover 15 phenomenal problem-solving skills that will empower you in solving different varieties of problems in professional as well as personal lives

Final Thoughts about Problem Solving Skills!

Incorporating these problems-solving skills will empower you to have better abilities in solving different problems in professional and day-to-day lives.

With the help of these skills, you will inherently develop the power of not getting baffled while facing different issues. Instead, you will have the right strategies, the frame of mind, and thinking patterns at your disposal to deal with that issue dexterously.

What kinds of problems do you regularly face in your professional or personal life?

What skills do you consider most effective in solving problems?

Alternatively, check out the Marketing91 Academy , which provides you access to 10+ marketing courses and 100s of Case studies.

About Hitesh Bhasin

Hi, I am an MBA and the CEO of Marketing91. I am a Digital Marketer and an Entrepreneur with 12 Years of experience in Business and Marketing. Business is my passion and i have established myself in multiple industries with a focus on sustainable growth. You will generally find me online at the Marketing91 Academy .

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COMMENTS

7 Problem Solving Skills Marketing Managers Need & How to Improve Them
For marketing managers, creativity plays out in a number of problem solving skills: Brainstorming Curiosity Project design Project planning Editing the aesthetics of marketing materials Creating new promotional methods for products Planning and executing events 3. Judgment With dozens of solutions before you, how do you choose the best one?
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Here are the problem-solving skills every marketer can benefit from developing: Research Data collection Prioritization Checking for accuracy Risk-taking Attention to detail Dependability Team-building Logic and reasoning Organization Crisis management 6. Collaboration
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By defining each stage of your problem-solving explicitly, you increase the odds of your team coming to better solutions more smoothly. This problem-solving technique gains extra power when ...
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Some key problem-solving skills include: Active listening Analysis Research Creativity Communication Decision-making Team-building Problem-solving skills are important in every career at every level. As a result, effective problem-solving may also require industry or job-specific technical skills.
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An effective problem-solver uses many skills to devise and implement solutions including: Creative skills Research skills Team-working skills Decision-making skills, and Risk-taking skills Creative skills Creative skills allow big and boundless thinking.
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Problem-solving skills are crucial because the VP of Marketing is responsible for overseeing critical decisions that impact the organization's growth and success. Effective problem-solving skills enable marketing leaders to analyze complex situations, identify the root cause of problems, and develop creative and sustainable solutions.
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In conclusion, developing problem-solving skills is vital to becoming a successful Chief Marketing Officer. By assessing your current abilities, cultivating a problem-solving mindset, enhancing your critical thinking skills, and building effective communication and collaboration, you can become a more effective problem-solver.
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Problem-solving skills for marketing professionals include a range of abilities, such as analytical and critical thinking, communication, interpersonal, collaboration, leadership, and soft skills.
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At the core, problem-solving skills allow people to take note of an issue, identify what's causing it, design a solution, and effectively implement that solution. Aside from that, problem-solving also involves being able to evaluate whether a given solution achieved the desired results or not.
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Problem solving is an underrated talent. It helps you make clear decisions during turbulent, overwhelming times, and many experts identify it as a vital soft skill for job seekers post-pandemic. To develop your problem-solving acumen, use a structured approach that focuses on the why, what, and how of your issue.
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Here are several types you may come across in the marketing world. Image Source. While the skills associated with creativity, negotiation, stress management, communication, and public speaking are usually considered " soft skills ," categories like technology and analytical thinking involve technical skills.
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Using problem solving abilities to reduce/eliminate a company expense Finding a way to make the company more profitable through new service or product offerings, new pricing ideas, promotion and sale ideas, etc. Changing how a process, team, or task is organized to make it more efficient
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To improve your problem solving skills, it is important to define the problem clearly and accurately, understanding the root cause, scope, and impact. Utilize data, facts, and evidence to support ...
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Creative problem-solving is traditionally based on the following key principles: 1. Balance Divergent and Convergent Thinking Creative problem-solving uses two primary tools to find solutions: divergence and convergence. Divergence generates ideas in response to a problem, while convergence narrows them down to a shortlist.
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Example of interpersonal skill in action. Communication. Non-verbal communication and body language, public speaking, verbal communication, written communication, ability to develop rapport. Conflict management. Problem-solving, active listening, mediating. Empathy.
Why Problem Solving is the Golden Ticket For Your Marketing Efforts
How to effortlessly include problem-solving in your marketing. Refocus your messaging. Your ideal customer should always be top of mind and it is imperative that your message is directed to them and resonates with them. They want to see a message that revolves around solving their problems. It should be clear and concise so that they have ...
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1. Approaching Problems in the Workplace 2. The Stages of Problem Solving 3. Skills for Effective Problem Solving About The Essential Skills Series This series includes a number of videos that explore those personal skills that we tend to overlook but which are becoming ever more important in your marketing life.
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15 Problem Solving Skills 1. Observation It is one of the most important and probably the finest skills required for problem-solving in any domain. It is essential to assess the situation and know what's wrong. The diagnosis of the problem is the first and foremost thing to be done.
11 Skills That Can Help Marketing Project Managers Succeed
6. Problem-solving. Challenges can arise in almost any project, so a marketing project manager needs strong problem-solving skills. These skills can help a marketing project manager respond to unforeseen challenges in productive ways and remain calm and focused when they occur unexpectedly.