Employability Boost: Problem Solving

"Line managers don't like hiring graduates who will come running every time they're out of their depth. If you can take the pressure, make sense of your situation and step up with a solution, you'll stand a better chance" TOTALjobs (article 'Skills and Competencies for Graduates')

Taking initiative. Thinking on the job. Two vital skills for anyone who wants to progress in their career. Making right decisions - also highly important! No matter where you work - whether it's in retail, on the shop floor, in a nice spacious office overlooking Central London - you're not going to progress without showing initiative and overcoming problems.

So what is involved in taking initiative and making a good decision? I've picked on three things (though there are probably hundreds of factors):

1. Confidence in what you are doing.
2. Ability to think about the consequences of a decision.
3. Ability to face risk.

1. Confidence in what you are doing:

Let's be honest, even in your first day in a new job you're going to have to take decisions for yourself. But if you're eager to learn you will quickly grow confident in what you are doing. For this very reason we try to get our trainee instructors qualified in various disciplines - kayaking, climbing, archery etc - in the first weeks of our training programme. Why? So that when a problem arises they are equipped to overcome it. We build your confidence and encourage you to actively problem solve on the job - without this as an outdoor instructor you are going to struggle.

2. Ability to think about the consequences of a decision:

Every decision you make will have consequences. And there is a piece of exact science here - you will not get every decision you make in life right. But if you have the ability to see the consequences of your decision before you implement it, it will help a lot! Working a high ropes course with a child who is stuck brings this home. 

Let's set the scene: You're running a high ropes course session with a group of year three students. It is particularly windy. A child half way up Jacob's Ladder decides they can go no further, and because of the wind they are clinging on for dear life - not releasing themselves from the rung so that they can be lowered down safely. There's a problem here, isn't there? What does that mean? Decision time. How to you persuade them to come down? Do they need to be rescued? Can the other young people encourage them? What do you do?

These kind of situations happen regularly, and you learn how to quickly survey a situation and make a judgment call that will definitely have consequences. Don't worry - we work on point one - we teach you the skills to know what's dangerous and not!

3. Ability to Face Risk.

It is my suspicion that one of the main reasons that many people don't take initiative and become 'problem solvers' is fear that their decision will go wrong. We hope to instill in people that "mistakes will happen" - but what is important is that you learn from them. If you don't face risk you may never do anything! One of the key things I learned in doing hundreds of risk assessments over the year is this: Everything has a risk.

Have you ever thought about a car? Travelling at 70mph on a motorway, suspended inches above a hard, rough surface and the only thing between you and almost certain death? Various pieces of metal. Everyday people die on our roads. Yet it doesn't stop us getting in a car. Why? Because the risk is managed. If you learn to be confident in your field, grow in you ability and learn to make wise decisions, guess what? Your risk is 'managed' well.

"Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing."
Warren Buffett

If you want to learn how to be a better problem solver, come and spend a year with us. Find out more and apply online at www.ff-training.org.uk.

Tom Nicholson
Activity Trainee Recruitment Officer @ Action Centres UK.

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