What is problem-solving?
Problem-solving is a deliberate process of understanding the gap between the current and desired state, generating options, acting, and checking whether the intervention worked.
Reflect on how well you define problems, generate alternatives, choose experiments, and verify results.
Answer as you are today
Choose the answer that best describes your recent behaviour at work. No email required.
What does problem-solving mean?
Problem-solving is a deliberate process of understanding the gap between the current and desired state, generating options, acting, and checking whether the intervention worked.
Why it matters at work
Teams often solve the first visible symptom or jump to a familiar answer. A structured process slows the framing just enough to improve action and keeps learning connected to the result.
What this assessment measures
Problem definition
Describing the gap, evidence, scope, and affected people before proposing solutions.
Options & decision
Generating alternatives and choosing with explicit criteria.
Implementation & verification
Assigning action, measuring change, and adapting from results.
How to interpret your score
Your overall result is normalised to a 0–100 scale. Use it to choose a practice area, not to compare your worth with somebody else.
Build your problem-solving foundation
Your answers point to recurring situations where a simple routine could make this skill more reliable.
A useful problem-solving base
You already show this skill in some situations. The opportunity is to make it more dependable under pressure or ambiguity.
A strong problem-solving pattern
Your answers suggest a reliable pattern. Keep testing it in harder situations and focus on the dimension that trails the others.
Designed for reflection, not diagnosis
The ten behaviour-based statements cover 3 practical dimensions. Responses run from “Never” to “Almost always”; negatively worded items are reverse-scored. Overall and dimension results are converted to a 0–100 scale. The assessment is educational and has not been psychometrically validated.
Read the full assessment methodology and editorial standards.
Research that informed this page
Thomas J. D’Zurilla and Arthur M. Nezu (1990), “Development and Preliminary Evaluation of the Social Problem-Solving Inventory”, Psychological Assessment.