Experiencing Problem Solving at Work

While I was at work this weekend I found the opportunity to practice on my problem-solving skills. It was the perfect place to practice to get better. I work in an accounting department and four times a day we check to make sure that all the money that we have on hand is correct and balances. When started to balance I found that we were off a significant amount of money.

What did you try?

I started by brain storming all the possible reason that this problem could have happened. I bulleted out each possibility on a sheet of paper, racking my brain to think of every reason for why I was off the large amount. I tried this because it was an easy way to calmly look for the problem and to deal with each of them one by one instead of having to recount all the money again.

What happened?

I went through each of the possibility one by one on the list. I was able to quickly go through the list. I was able to find what I had been missing while counting money.

What worked well?

I liked using this method because I was easily able to see all the options that I had in front of me. It was easy to go quickly through each idea that I had brain stormed. I was able to find what the solution to my problem was at a faster pace than I normally would.

Why might it not work well?

I can see how this may not work all of the time. When jotting down every possibility there may be one that you miss that was the solution that you needed. Sometimes it can take a long time as well to think up all of the possible solutions to the problem that you might face.