As a manager or team leader you'll usually be called on to help out when problems crop up and refining the way you deal with certain issues could see you finding effective solutions more quickly.

Experience is bound to tell you that the workplace offers up many challenges that need to be overcome to help your business function smoothly. Despite the broad range of problems occurring on a daily basis, many team leaders like to take a standard approach to solving them. There may be lots of different solutions generated by you, but experts recommend set ways of coming up with them, which you could achieve by attending training courses on this subject if you wish.

One of the first steps of reducing challenges at your workplace, is to realise that a problem exists. Although this sounds straightforward, it is not always the case. For example, you may be concerned at the number of staff who miss deadlines, or the number of customers who do not receive the products they ordered from your firm.

Investigations to solve these issues could highlight communication difficulties for instance, giving you something to work on and improve. Sometimes these kinds of challenges are called open-ended problems as there are many solutions available regarding removal of obstacles that cause the issue, such as better software so staff get messages about important meetings. On the other hand, it could be very clear as to the nature of the challenge, such as flooding on the premises that prevents employees from carrying out their role.

Some experts like to call these closed problems and they refer to issues that directly interfere with the normal operation of your organisation. There are limitless types of issues within these two broad categories and they will all cause disruption in some way or prevent you from reaching your goal. This leads you to the first stage of problem solving, of which there tend to be four, according to specialists in this field.

Recognising there is a problem is the first important step to implementing a solution. It may be clearly evident that operations are not running as well as they could, but finding the reason why this is the case could be more difficult to establish. Finding and defining the issue is the foundation of problem solving and gives you a good base on which to resolve challenges.

To get to the heart of challenges, you might want to set up meetings with your colleagues, as they may have insights or experience of the same issues. They may be able to assist you in fully defining the problems, which is followed by second stage of this process: finding solutions. This step can also benefit from your colleagues' input and brain storming.

You could find that your approach differs depending on the nature of the challenge. For example, taking the previously mentioned office flooding scenario (closed problem), it may be a case of making arrangements so your workers are able to work from other locations, such as at home or rented offices, while the environment is made safe. On the other hand, if communication difficulties are being targeted (open-ended problem) then there could be numerous possible solutions, such as implementing calendars and reminder systems, so your workers don't miss deadlines or meetings.

The third stage is a continuation of this step and involves you taking a more in-depth look at the possible solutions available to you. Again, this could involve all colleagues who are affected by the issue you are trying to solve. At this point it's important to fully evaluate all the risks associated with any courses of action you take and scrapping ideas that are not fully up to scratch.

You might need some plans to be authorised by your managers so it's best to keep them informed of possible developments. The final stage sees you implementing all the necessary changes and reviewing them as you go along. There needs to be sufficient planning and monitoring so the solutions do not worsen any of the challenges or generate more obstacles.