At girledworld we get a little bit excited about problem solving. 

So today we’re super excited to have our Cofounder and CEO Madeleine Grummet (Mads) join us to talk about her passion for solving problems creatively.

Mads has spent a lot of time training in problem solving techniques and learning how to apply it as a skill to solve really big problems, like equipping young women with the skills and mentors they need for the new world of work!

Qualified with Stanford University’s d-school (2019), Hasso Plattner Institute of Design and the National Institute for Play (2019), Mads has also trained with global design firm IDEO as a Design Thinking Facilitator (Design Thinking is a powerful problem solving tool which we’ll explain a bit later!)

Mads also holds a Design Thinking qualification from the University of Melbourne, where she and girledworld Cofounder and COO Edwina Kolomanski met in 2016 when they were completing their Master of Entrepreneurship through Melbourne Business School and the Faculty of Business and Economics. 

After learning how to use Design Thinking to solve problems as part of their Masters course, Mads and Edwina took their new-found skills to the girledworld World of Work Summit series, for which they designed Design Thinking problem solving sprints and workshops with global brands and businesses including Atlassian, Microsoft, Virgin Australia, Airbnb, Unisuper, Women For Election Australia, MYOB, University of Sydney, Victorian State Government and the NSW Parliament, and have now taught 1000’s of female high school students how to use Design Thinking to solve real-world problems!
See here to learn more about our girledworld WOW Summits.

We asked Mads a few questions about problem solving and Design Thinking, and here’s what she had to say.

So what is problem solving?

“Problem solving is the process of finding effective solutions to issues or challenges, which may be difficult or complex.

If you look around you, you’ll find problems can be anywhere and everywhere. And problems can come in many forms. 

They can be small issues that can be resolved in a matter of minutes, like finding your way around a new city on public transport or designing a plan for a group project you are working on. Or they can be extremely complex challenges that take months - or even years to resolve, like climate change.

The good news is, humans are actually hardwired to problem solve. For thousands of years, humans have had to continually problem solve to find shelter, sources of food, fresh water, ways to grow more crops, to trade goods and services, and transport ourselves across land and sea and space so we can continue to survive and thrive on the planet!

And in today’s modern world, problem solving is used to handle difficult or unexpected situations in everyday life, in the workplace or on the planet, like, say, a global pandemic!,” says Mads.

So why is problem solving important in the future of work?

According to the World Economic Forum, one in three jobs that exist today require complex problem-solving skills and the ability for employees to think critically.

“Problem solving skills are important in the future of work because you will need to be able to identify and solve problems that come up day to day in the workplace, or with customers the company serves. 

On top of that, if you are looking for work, you will be much more likely to be hired when you can demonstrate good problem solving skills, because it also shows you also have a range of other competencies such as logic, creativity, resilience, imagination, lateral thinking and determination,” says Mads. 

In fact research shows that the number one employability skill competency companies require in their employees is the ability to do complex problem solving, with 36% of all jobs across all industries requiring problem-solving ability as a core skill by 2022.

What is Design Thinking?

At its most simple, Design Thinking is a process for creative problem-solving.

It's a methodology often used by designers to solve complex (or wicked) problems through a stepped process in order to find desirable solutions for their clients (= humans who have problems they need solved).

There are five key steps to Design Thinking in the Stanford d.school model.

1. Empathize

In order to use Design Thinking, you need to use a design mindset which parks what you know and let's you instead go deeply into understanding the human you are solving problems for. You need to empathize with their world, and notice what's happening for them, so you can best gather insights about their experiences.

2. Define

Once you've gathered your insights about the problems you have observed you will need to define them. Which means you'll need to come up with a set list of the problems you've seen and patterns you've recognised, so you can then try and design solutions for them at the next stage when you come up with ideas. 

3. Ideate

This next stage is ideation, when you brainstorm to come up with as many awesome solutions as you can to solve the problems or hypotheses on your define list.

You can THINK BIG here!
Go for Moonshots.
Flex your creative muscle. Go nuts!

The idea is you just get as many wild and wacky ideas out there as you can. Because the whole point of Design Thinking is that it pushes you to explore the possibilities of what could be, by drawing on logic, imagination, intuition, and systemic reasoning to create desired outcomes that will ultimately benefit the end user (ie: the customer/human you're solving the problem for).

4. Prototype 

The next step is to build the solution or prototype. This is where you make the idea into a tangible reality. But make it simple. And make it fast! Do it for under $100. Under $1 is even better! Use paper, wire-framing on a free web tool, sketch it, or act it out. But whatever you do. Don't overcomplicate it. Just bring it to life as fast as you can because once you've built your prototype you will need to quickly get it into the hands of a human (customer) as soon as you can to test it. 

5. Test

Why do you need to test? Because the human will tell you if your solution sucks, or not! They will also tell you if your solution is solving their problem well, or not at all. If it does solve quite well but not quite well enough, work with the human to change it (iterate), so it gets closer to what they need, and then ask them to test it again.

If it still sucks, go back to the start of the 5-step process and see if you started with the right observations and insights in the first place. Then step through the cycle again. Rinse and repeat. Until ultimately, you place in the hands of the human (customer) a solution so insanely awesomely customised just for the problem they needed solved, that they'll be begging you to keep it!

Voila! Simple as that. Problem solved. Solution beautiful.

So now that you know why problem solving is an important skill to learn, and how to use the Design Thinking process, try looking around you to see how many problems you think need solving. And start flexing your problem solving muscle today!

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” - Einstein