November 11, 2024
Dr. Whittney Polley, Director of Education
Providence House continues to build its residents’ workforce development skills. Last week, we focused on critical thinking skills for setting goals. This week, we will learn critical thinking skills for troubleshooting. This language is used in staff interactions with residents this week.
Topic: Critical Thinking–Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting involves thinking ahead, spotting problems even before they surface, or preparing to take care of them if they do. You anticipate what might go wrong and keep it from happening, or if something does pop up, keep it from growing into a major problem by resolving it while it’s a manageable size. By doing so, you deal with any setbacks that might block the path to your goal. You have to learn to handle everything from small annoyances to major obstructions in order to get where you want to be. So troubleshooting is kind of like building bridges over troubled waters!
Identifying Problems That Interfere with Goals:
After you set a goal and begin working toward it, you will inevitably be faced with a roadblock or two. You learned in Lesson 1 that you can’t solve problems without first recognizing and accepting them, and that holds true for troubleshooting problems that interfere with your goals. Some of these problems are foreseeable; that is, you can anticipate them before you even begin to work toward your goal. Others are unexpected and must be dealt with as they arise. Identifying foreseeable problems takes work. You have to honestly assess your goal and think critically about what might need to be overcome so you can achieve it. Strange as it may seem, unexpected problems are usually easier to spot and often easier to solve. Unexpected problems, by their nature, can’t be planned for. You must simply figure out the best way to solve them quickly and thoroughly and then get back on your path.
Troubleshooting Problems That Interfere with Goals:
Troubleshooting foreseeable and potential problems can be difficult. It requires critical thinking skills to examine the path to your goal and imagine or note all of the things that might go wrong as you work toward achieving it. As an old proverb says, “Forewarned is forearmed.” Another says, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Wishing a problem hadn’t happened does no good, but if you learn from the experience, you can try to head it off in the future if it comes up again.
Prevention Versus Cure:
Another kind of troubleshooting involves looking for patterns and trends. If you’re frequently faced with the same kind of problem, your best defense is to figure out what causes it and what you need to change so it doesn’t happen again. You may need to change your own habits, but by doing so, you are preventing the problem rather than always trying to solve it!
Practice: Keep a journal. When you have a problem, write a complete, accurate description of what caused it and note the root cause. Make a damage control plan to prevent future repetitions of that problem.
Skill Building:
■ Practice troubleshooting someone else’s problems. When a friend tells you about his or her current dilemma, think about how the person might have prevented it or how he or she can solve it.
■ Practice troubleshooting a global or local issue. Read a few articles on an issue of importance. Make a troubleshooting diagram to work through possible ways to avoid or resolve the problems that may or will result from this issue.
Workforce Development at Providence House is open to its residents and the community as a whole. Have questions? Contact Dr. Whittney Polley, Director of Education at 318-221-7887 or wpolley@theprovidencehouse.com.