Reasoning, problem-solving & ideation

REABETSWE MAKOFANE

Reabetswe is a Senior Consultant in Strategy and Business Design at Deloitte. As a UCT alumna, she prides herself on being an evidencebased decision maker, using real data to investigate and understand the issues facing systems and organisations in order to develop entrepreneurial and innovative interventions to address them

Congratulations on beginning your career! If you have your first job lined up, you are amongst the one third of lucky graduates from South African universities who find a job after graduating. If you are still awaiting an interview or offer, you might be feeling frustrated, anxious and lost.

These feelings, and more, will come up many times throughout your career. The intention of this article is to help prepare you and hopefully help you feel empowered to tackle the job market.

You may have already come across a few articles that highlight the importance of analytical capability or come across job adverts looking for “problem-solving and analytical skills”. This may have left you questioning what “problem-solving and analytical skills” look like or where to learn these skills (did they even cover these in my lectures?). This article should help you find the answers.

So, what is problem-solving and analysis? Problem-solving is how we move from identifying an issue or new need in our world or work to deciding on a way to resolve the issue or serve the need. Sometimes we can do this without much thought. For example, my pot plant looks like it is dying – a simple solution: I should water it.

Of-course, in your career (but also overall in your life) you will come across more complex problems and will need to be able to logically and systematically find solutions.

Here is a breakdown of how you might use problem-solving and analysis to make high-quality, innovative decisions based on real problems.

1. Identify the problem

2. Structure the problem: list the elements that could be causing the problem

3. Analyse opportunities: research elements that can be used to improve the problem develop options on how the problem could be solved

4. Prioritise the options: inspect which options could deliver the desired outcome most efficiently

5,6. Act & Measure: observe the impact of actions

Problemsolving is how we move from identifying an issue or new need in our world or work to deciding on a way to resolve the issue or serve the need.

Let’s revisit the dying-pot-plant problem:

1. Identify the problem

The botanical gardens are looking drab: the grass is patchy; the flowering trees have wilted, and we’ve noticed little white marks on the leaves of these trees.

2. Structure the problem

We know that plants use a combination of water, sunlight and soil nutrients to live healthily and that there are pests that can cause plants to wither and die. Furthermore, exposure to elements such as wind and temperature will also impact plant health.

3. Analyse opportunities

Has the garden had too much or too little of the above elements? How would we know which elements the garden has received too much or too little of? We could find out what level of each the grass and flowering trees require and compare that to how much of each element it has received. The grass should be watered weekly for 15 minutes, and the trees rely on rain and groundwater. Both should be receiving full sun and the trees will flower in spring-time (at moderate temperatures with medium wind). The soil is fertilised weekly using a water-soluble nitrogen compound.

4. Prioritise your options

After the analysis that the garden is already receiving the correct amount of water, soil nutrients and sun, the remaining element to be investigated is the potential for pests. The white marks on the trees are evidence of a specific pest, and the most efficient solution to the drab botanical garden is using an organic pesticide to protect the trees and grass.

To learn more about problemsolving as a process, you can look at problems and solutions you’ve identified in your world.

Steps 5 & 6

In this example, steps 5 and 6 (Act and Measure) follow on quite clearly. However, the choice of which pesticide to purchase and use could be another problem to unpack and investigate further.

To learn more about problem-solving as a process, you can look at problems and solutions you’ve identified in your world. Whether it’s as organic as a garden looking drab or as serious and complex as the roll out of vaccines, read up on how these solutions were developed and try to trace the steps back to the above problemsolving process steps.

Sources of problem-solving content can be found across the internet. Try to find sites or sources that don’t take an industry focused approach to problem-solving, so that you can learn how to apply the process across any area.