Problem Solving
Definition: The ability to solve problems includes having the courage to speak up when something is wrong. A person must be able to work with others and listen to the solutions others have.
Criteria for effective Problem Solving:
One of the times that I was able to identify a problem and solve it was when I first entered college. As a freshmen in college I still had my High School habits and felt that I had all the time in the world to manage my tasks. However, once exams and projects started accumulating I realized I was not having all the time in the world to complete my tasks. I had to reflect on how I had been approaching my homework assignments, and studying so that I could identify what I was doing wrong. Through reflection I realized that I was trying to do a lot of things at once, study, go out with friends, and Skype my family a lot. However, I did not have an end time for all of my tasks so it was difficult to sometimes finish that day’s homework assignment so I would push it back to get done the day after. After realizing the degree of the problem I had, being unable to manage tasks and complete task efficiently, I had to come up with a solution. To do this I had to keep calm , I couldn’t panic about all the stuff on my to-do-list because if I did I would have stayed in the same place and not get anything done. I stayed motivated and dedicated though and figured that I needed to become more strict on how much time I spent in “fun” activities. It took a while but after about a month, balancing my time allowed me to finish my task and my grades were going up. I was very pleased with myself.
Although this was a very minor example, it truly has impacted me in a HUGE way. I am able to keep that balance in my life and I know how to efficiently approach problems: with a calm mentality, an open-mind, and identifying the problem first to reach a solution.
Criteria for effective Problem Solving:
- Open-minded
- Reflective
- Composed
- Motivated
- Dedicated
One of the times that I was able to identify a problem and solve it was when I first entered college. As a freshmen in college I still had my High School habits and felt that I had all the time in the world to manage my tasks. However, once exams and projects started accumulating I realized I was not having all the time in the world to complete my tasks. I had to reflect on how I had been approaching my homework assignments, and studying so that I could identify what I was doing wrong. Through reflection I realized that I was trying to do a lot of things at once, study, go out with friends, and Skype my family a lot. However, I did not have an end time for all of my tasks so it was difficult to sometimes finish that day’s homework assignment so I would push it back to get done the day after. After realizing the degree of the problem I had, being unable to manage tasks and complete task efficiently, I had to come up with a solution. To do this I had to keep calm , I couldn’t panic about all the stuff on my to-do-list because if I did I would have stayed in the same place and not get anything done. I stayed motivated and dedicated though and figured that I needed to become more strict on how much time I spent in “fun” activities. It took a while but after about a month, balancing my time allowed me to finish my task and my grades were going up. I was very pleased with myself.
Although this was a very minor example, it truly has impacted me in a HUGE way. I am able to keep that balance in my life and I know how to efficiently approach problems: with a calm mentality, an open-mind, and identifying the problem first to reach a solution.
Artifact for Problem Solving 2:
In my organization, ALPFA, there are 8 officers, including myself, that make up the executive board. As a team we sometimes bicker and have a difficult time agreeing on topics, locations, or simply ideas for events. We have learned to understand and respect each other's opinion but it took a lot of long meetings to do that. However, I think that the hardest decision we all had to make as a team was when we faced the issue of two of our officers having to step down. As a team we already knew that we had to open up application for their positions but we were not very sure on the criteria we wanted our selected candidate to fall into. Therefore, after countless meetings, we identified our problem: What are we going to look for in candidates who apply for these two positions? Soon enough, after making our problem a question every officer was able to clearly state the requirements and qualities that a candidate must have in order to obtain these two positions. However, we encountered another problem once we received applications: If two candidates meet the requirements and have the qualities we are looking for, how do we decide on the final candidate? This problem was a lot more complicated to tackle because many officers, personally knew these candidates and we did not want that to cause a biased decision. Therefore, we held interviews in which our director at large, who served as our advisor and had never met the candidates before, attended and took notes. After the interviews myself and the other officers joined and discussed the pros and cons of the interviews. We were still having a hard time deciding on two people for one position and because of this I decided to take a different approach to this problem. I asked my team to think about what our organization stands for and to reflect on ALPFA's mission statement: "To empower students to become future leaders". My goal was to try and reach a solution and decide on the candidate who would grow and learn more as an officer. After reflecting and thinking of reasons on how each candidate can grow in this position we finally agreed on a decision. Here I learned that sometimes you must turn the problem you face into a question and truly try to understand what is best the best path to take even if at first you don't fully agree. Below is my artifact that describes the reaction of our final candidate who will be stepping into position. I believe that his reaction shows that we as a team made the right decision to elect him to hold one of the officer vacancies.
In my organization, ALPFA, there are 8 officers, including myself, that make up the executive board. As a team we sometimes bicker and have a difficult time agreeing on topics, locations, or simply ideas for events. We have learned to understand and respect each other's opinion but it took a lot of long meetings to do that. However, I think that the hardest decision we all had to make as a team was when we faced the issue of two of our officers having to step down. As a team we already knew that we had to open up application for their positions but we were not very sure on the criteria we wanted our selected candidate to fall into. Therefore, after countless meetings, we identified our problem: What are we going to look for in candidates who apply for these two positions? Soon enough, after making our problem a question every officer was able to clearly state the requirements and qualities that a candidate must have in order to obtain these two positions. However, we encountered another problem once we received applications: If two candidates meet the requirements and have the qualities we are looking for, how do we decide on the final candidate? This problem was a lot more complicated to tackle because many officers, personally knew these candidates and we did not want that to cause a biased decision. Therefore, we held interviews in which our director at large, who served as our advisor and had never met the candidates before, attended and took notes. After the interviews myself and the other officers joined and discussed the pros and cons of the interviews. We were still having a hard time deciding on two people for one position and because of this I decided to take a different approach to this problem. I asked my team to think about what our organization stands for and to reflect on ALPFA's mission statement: "To empower students to become future leaders". My goal was to try and reach a solution and decide on the candidate who would grow and learn more as an officer. After reflecting and thinking of reasons on how each candidate can grow in this position we finally agreed on a decision. Here I learned that sometimes you must turn the problem you face into a question and truly try to understand what is best the best path to take even if at first you don't fully agree. Below is my artifact that describes the reaction of our final candidate who will be stepping into position. I believe that his reaction shows that we as a team made the right decision to elect him to hold one of the officer vacancies.