Decision Making and Problem Solving Skills

Decision Making and Problem Solving

I'm sure you've been in a situation where your decision making or problem solving ability has let you down - I know I have!

But there are tools and techniques that you can use to help make seemingly impossible decisions and solve problems no matter how complex. And being able to make decisions and solve problems with confidence is a life skill we can all use.

In fact, we all solve problems and make decisions every day of our lives – what will I wear to work? What will I cook for dinner? How will I arrange to pick up the kids? Many of these day-to-day decisions and problems are easy to solve, so you probably don’t even notice that your brain is doing anything.

And most problem solving techniques are merely an extension of what your brain naturally does when faced with these day-to-day problems. Techniques such as:

Many brainstorming variations, including the Military’s version for solving problems
SWOT Analysis for making decisions and solving problems.
Mind Mapping for charting a course through complex problems – also, the mind map variation “Sticky note mapping”.
Preparing instructions and plans for decision making and solving problems.

Next time you face a problem, no matter how simple or complex, try one of the above techniques – I can assure you that you’ll confidently make the right decision!

These are of course only a few of the myriad of decision making and problem solving techniques available. I don’t want to go into them all – just give you a few of the basic techniques that will do the job.

But if these aren’t enough for one of your complex problems, or you’d like to try a different approach, remember that there are other methods available – decision trees, decision matrices [there’s a template for one of the these in the ToolBOX], concept diagrams, flowcharts, system diagrams and risk assessments – just to name a few.

There’s already a lot of information on these methods on the web – so just Google It! and see what you find!

What decision making skills do YOU think are critical for success? Write a page on it and teach others… Or try these decision making and problem solving resources...

NovaMind is an excellent graphical tool for mind mapping and works wonderfully simply in a way that almost hides its complexity and wealth of intuitive features. It provides excellent value for money and is under active continuous development and improvement. You’ll have no regrets buying this software for your mind mapping needs. And you get great support from the company too!

NovaMind has also written a book on the ‘HOW TO’ of mind mapping. This book is not just for NovaMind mapping software but is designed for anyone who needs to be more organized and efficient at life or who is looking for something to help them with their problem solving or pitching ideas. The book does refer to the NovaMind software for examples, but you can apply the principles in this book to other mind mapping software and to the good old hand drawn versions too!

Or from the ‘inventor’ of the Mind Map – Tony Buzan - this book shows you not only how to do a Mind Map, but how to apply it to different tasks – study, creativity, projects, etc. Using practical examples and a step-by-step approach, you’ll be an expert mind mapper in no time at all.

Harness the power of mind mapping to improve your mind power!

Brainstorm is your personal map to better understanding creative thinking and the brainstorming process. This book will teach you the basics of how to produce many ideas, evaluate each of them, and pick the best one. This book also features in-depth interviews and profiles of a handful of well known people whose brainstorming skills have led them to incredible success.