133 – Creative Problem Solving with Corey Phelps

Corey Phelps is a Professor of Strategy and Associate Dean of Executive Education at McGill University. For over 20 years, he’s conducted award-winning research on corporate growth and traveled the world as a keynote speaker, corporate trainer, and consultant, helping organizations become more innovative and strategically agile. He is the co-author of Cracked It! How to Solve Big Problems and Sell Solutions like Top Strategy Consultants. You can find more information on Corey at www.coreyphelps.com

Top Takeaways: Creative Problem Solving with Corey Phelps

Be intellectually curious – research and study what interests you
Be a teacher – share your experiences and knowledge
Problem solving is a critical skills gap in our workforce today
No matter what job you have you need to have problem solving skills – identify problem, develop solutions, and implementation
Gap is due to how business schools teach problem solving – need to be able to understand other jobs and functions – coordinate with all departments so the student/employees learn to work to solve problems together rather than just as an individual separate group
All problems cannot be reduced to a quantifiable number so difficult to track impact and change with problem solving
5 pitfalls of problem solving
- State what the problem is
  - Something tells me there is a problem (graph trending downwards)
  - People love to brainstorm to come up with solutions (activity vs accomplishment)
    - Do we even understand what the problem is?
    - Do we understand what success is?
  - Solution Confirmation Bias
    - We pay attention to things that support our beliefs, views – if it is inconsistent with our views we tend to discredit it or ignore it
    - If we only have one tool in our toolbox we try to make decisions based on what we know (if you have a hammer you view everything as a nail)
  - Wrong framework problem
  - Reason by Analogy – what worked elsewhere will work again in other situations
  - Arrogance and Ego Bias can constrain willingness to get ideas and solutions from others
    - Leverage expertise of others
  - Losing ability to be still – become a fan of mindfulness- stop, center yourself, and then give yourself an opportunity to reflect on what is going on. Powerful way to approach problem solving
  - Follow a framework to address problems – create an issue tree – potential possible causes that drive the problem
  - Allow your team to help resolve the problem – influence get your team onboard