Be it our personal life or professional life, we face small or big problems every day. These issues sometimes de-motivate us and become a hurdle towards successful career. Every organization need people who doesn’t only raise problems but also come up with the possible solutions. In today’s scenario of cut throat competition we are also expected to be a problem solver and people who show these skills climbs the ladder of success more quickly. Problem solvers have few following qualities:

• Problem solving is an attitude: Problem solving is an attitudinal quality of an individual. Problem solvers don’t afraid of problems but they welcome the problems. They treat problems as an opportunity to learn and grow. They feel that we have become so advanced due to problems only. Their happy positive/attitude towards the problem helps them to understand problems quickly and resolve it.
• Look problem from different angles: They look for problems from different angles. They believe that every problem have many solutions and they opt for the best possible solutions. They also look problem differently and sometimes convert the problem into source of success, as problem of extreme heat became the business for the AC manufacturers. So the person who invented the Air Conditioner has seen the extremely hot climate as source of revenue for them.
• Naïve approach helps sometimes: Sometimes a simple approach resolves the issue rather than entering into difficult mathematical or scientific algorithms. Problem solvers look for simple and economical solutions. A huge problem for an experienced person may get a simple solution from a naïve. As rather than getting into the complexity of a problem, a naïve look for possible solutions of a problem which are simple.
• Cause and effect approach: Problem solvers attack the causes of problem rather than struggling with the symptoms. They look to identify causes with 5 Whys/Why not approach. 5 whys/Why not helps you to reach to the root cause which is actually creating the problem. For an example: One may say that I get late everyday due to traffic jam. So if going by 5 Whys approach it may help that person to reach to the root cause in following manner:

1. Why do you get late everyday: Because of heavy traffic jam around at 10 am.
2. Why do you leave for office around at 10 am: Because I get ready by 10 am only.
3. Why do you get ready by 10 am: Because water at my home comes around at 6 am and 9 am only.
4. Why not you take a bath at 6 am: Because I sleep late, I wake up around at 8 am only.
5. Why do you sleep late: Because I call my fiancé and talk till late evening.

So the cause of coming late was not traffic jam but talking to the fiancé till late evening.

• Come out of traditional solutions: Problem solvers don’t rely only on traditional solutions. They adopt the innovative approach and think out of box to get the problems resolved. They walk an extra mile to look for innovative solution which may be different from traditional solution and yield better results.