Beginner Guide: Why & How to Develop Problem-Solving Mindset for Challenging Workplace?
Whether you just want to improve your productivity, make your stance at a relationship better, or simply just want to resolve conflict, developing a problem-solving mindset is a critical factor. Many people often go wrong by overlooking this essential factor in every aspect of our lives. Sometimes, even with the best planning and preparation and making sure that everything turns out as expected, things do go wrong, and there is nothing you can do about it.
For instance, the whole planet is suffering from the Corona Virus outbreak as we talk about it. The pandemic has shaken the world ever since it was first discovered in China four months ago. Ever since then, every plan, event, work, school, and even as random as your grocery trips have been abruptly stopped. We all have been asked to stay home, and it doesn’t matter if it means that you have to work from home. The only way to stay safe in this situation is to stay indoors as much as possible.
Now in such a situation where anxiety is at an all-time high, and everybody seems to have been deeply hit by it in one way or the other, it is crucial to keep a cool head and an equally positive attitude. It’s about time developing a problem solving will come in handy and keep all the pandemic woes at bay.
A Step By Step Guide to Develop a Problem Solving Mindset for Working At Home
Therefore, here we have listed a step-by-step guide to help you develop a problem-solving mindset for working from home during these challenging times and just keeping calm in general to get through this abrupt phase in our lives.
Step 1: Contribute to have a working environment
The environment plays a massive role in how you think. Our surroundings affect our thinking more than we value them for doing so. Many people complain that it gets difficult to work from home. The reason is that we find ourselves in our comfort zone at home where we hardly get time to think about work, especially if you have a family.
If you don’t have any experience prior to this of working from home, then you will find it difficult to take your mind away from its resting phase to working mode. Thus, it is only viable to first contribute to having a working environment. Choose a room away from the main hall in order to lower distractions and set up your work desk there. Let your family know about timings, so they don’t disturb you when you finally focus on work.
Step 2: Be meticulous yet adaptable
Being meticulous is a great virtue to have most of the time, but that doesn’t mean if you are very particular and precise about things, you cannot get your head around other aspects that should be rather adaptable. Especially if we consider the current situation, then it is not something we are used to. Working from home and just generally staying indoors has been hard on even celebrities that we know for having the most positive outlook on life.
Thus, it is understandable if you are also finding it hard to adapt to sudden changes. Going against how you would want things specifically for them to work in your favor shouldn’t mean that you are unable to turn things around. You should be flexible enough to make any situation work in your support no matter how difficult it gets.
Step 3: Communication is crucial
You cannot expect that not talk about a problem and keep worrying about it on your own would get you through the situation. Just because now all of a sudden you and your workmates have been thrown miles apart to sit in their private home offices and work, doesn’t mean you cannot hit up each other and talk on conference calls.
Technology should be considered a huge blessing at this time because if it weren’t for apps like Whatsapp, Face Time, and Zoom, it would have become exceedingly difficult. So now that you are privileged to have such accessible routes for communication, utilize them efficiently. Understand that now this is the only way you can interact with each other, so don’t break the communication and address issues as soon as they arise.
Step 4: Take responsibility
Do not go on to waste your time arguing over things. It can get complicated already to put a point across over a conference or a video call if you are just used to interacting and discussing issues with your teammates in person. And heating up a discussion can very quickly manifest into something against work ethics.
Therefore, even if it is not your mistake and somebody else’s, making them accept and deal with the difficulty of that person, for now, is not necessary. Take responsibility as a bigger person and start by thinking about how you can correct things that have gone wrong. Verily your team leader or manager would notice this, and it will add up positively in your credibility. You can even discuss it with them personally afterward to point-out.
Step 5: Get into the problem-solving attitude
Now that you have made a healthy working environment, communicated your issues, and taken the responsibility to set things straight, it’s time to get in the right headspace with the right attitude. Most of the time, it is not the actual problem that is causing concerns, but how we react to it. That is why it is vital to get into the problem-solving attitude before going all in.
If in your head you don’t feel as confident for addressing an issue, then maybe your outcome will reflect that. You can even take personal statements help to help you get in the right frame of mind. Define the problem in your head first and be confident that you can work your way around it. Being stuck at home and having a monotonous routine can get in the way and put you to a slump, but your attitude should not be affected.
Step 6: Believe that there is a way out
The obvious next step is in knowing and firmly believing that there is a way out of the issue at hand. Sometimes shaky confidence can lead to diminished belief and insecurity that you will ever see yourself out of the problem. Considering the current situation we are in, it has become quite inevitable to feel this particular way, but developing a problem-solving mindset at its core starts with the belief that there is a solution to the problem you are facing.
Sooner or later, you will be able to find it. If you lose at this step, you might want to reconsider all the steps above and question if you have yet to perfect them before you come back to this step and conquer it this time.
Step 7: Recognize patterns that lead to this situation
Sometimes a recurring issue has a recurring pattern of occurrence as well. It takes a sharp mind to be able to pick on it right away. However, even if you can’t recognize the pattern right from the get-go, then give it some thought. Take your time to think about it from the very beginning and communicate with your teammates and your manager as much as you can to discuss ideas back and forth.
Sometimes a difference of perspective and opinion can also help in seeing a situation differently and ultimately finding a way out of it. Many people think they can do things on their own, and their own ego gets in the way. You shouldn’t be in that frame of mind. Instead, be open to different opinions and viewpoints as they may play better in your favor.
Step 8: Define your desired outcomes
Now that you are moving forward and find yourself on the right track, it is about time you define your desired outcomes. Highlight the end goals, more significant objectives, and your expected result of a problem at hand.
Knowing what you are working towards will keep you on track and motivated throughout to keep working hard without stopping. We are humans, and an incentive is always what keeps us motivated for doing tasks no matter how difficult and challenging they are. Therefore, align your actions with the end goal and keep moving forward.
Step 9: Keep moving forward
No matter what hurdles appear or you might even feel that you are going in circles, keep moving forward. Stopping is not the option here. An issue, if prolonged, can cause more damage than it already is meant to. Thus, discipline your mind to not stop and keep moving forward with the available resources and making your way around the hurdles. If an issue is causing you to a halt, then stop, think act and then move forward.
Try not to lose track of the more significant objective at the end of your problem-solving. The only thing that has changed is the place where you are working and how you are working. We all will agree that ever since the pandemic has hit, the work has been doubled and become increasingly difficult, but then that is the challenge, and you will rightfully conquer it.
Step 10: Learn from the past and strategize the future
Lastly, now that you are well on track and successfully powering through learning from your past mistakes and strategize the future accordingly. Mistakes and lessons that we determine in the past can help us focus more intently on the future. We can now notice recurring patterns before they get out of hand, communicate our issues with fellow mates, practice self-discipline, adapt and improvise as well as incentivize our goals and visions.
In Conclusion
All in all, a problem-solving mindset at the end of the day is not that hard to achieve if you practice self-discipline and are self-aware. The pandemic has shaken the whole planet. None of us is alone in this situation, and as much as it would daunt us to be home, staying home is the only way we are safe and able to avoid spreading and prolonging this situation.
These times might be tough, but looking on the brighter side of things that you are getting to spend more time with your family should ease things out until we are finally able to step out. Till then, stay safe and stay at home!
Author Bio: Amanda Jerelyn is currently working as an Associate Consultant at Crowd Writer, an excellent platform to get research proposal writing service UK. She is a stay-at-home single mother. Amanda, having tackled work from home for quite some time now, likes to share her short-coming and experiences through her blog.
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