Advice

The Carpenter's Guide to Creative Problem Solving in Business

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The other day I was trying to hang a particularly stubborn piece of timber that kept warping no matter what I did, when it hit me: most business problems are solved exactly like carpentry problems, except office workers overthink everything and forget the basics.

After twenty-three years swinging hammers and another eight teaching corporate teams how to think their way out of sticky situations, I've noticed something. The best problem solvers in business aren't the MBAs with their fancy frameworks—they're the people who learned to fix things with their hands first.

Why Tradespeople Make Better Problem Solvers

Here's what gets me fired up: everyone assumes creative problem solving is about brainstorming sessions with coloured sticky notes. Rubbish. Real problem solving starts with getting your hands dirty and understanding what's actually broken.

When I was apprenticing in Townsville back in '99, my supervisor taught me the golden rule: "Measure twice, cut once, but if you stuff it up, don't waste time crying about it." That mindset—pragmatic acceptance combined with forward momentum—is what separates effective problem solvers from the endless meeting merchants.

The average corporate worker spends 67% of their problem-solving time defining the problem rather than testing solutions. I made that statistic up, but it feels about right, doesn't it?

The Carpenter's Problem-Solving Method

Forget your six-step processes and your root cause analysis workshops. Here's how real problem solving works:

Step 1: Stop Talking, Start Looking Walk around the problem. Literally. When a client calls me about a "foundation issue," I don't schedule a three-hour discovery meeting. I grab my torch and crawl under the house. In business, this means getting out of the boardroom and talking to the people actually doing the work.

Step 2: Use the Right Tool for the Job You wouldn't use a sledgehammer on finishing nails, so why do managers use the same decision-making process for hiring decisions and choosing office supplies? Different problems need different approaches. Simple problems need simple solutions. Complex problems need... well, sometimes they need simple solutions too.

Step 3: Test Small, Fail Fast Before I renovate an entire kitchen, I test my measurements on one cabinet. Before you roll out that new customer service protocol to 200 staff, try it with five. This drives consultants mad because they can't bill for massive implementation projects, but it saves everyone's sanity.

Where Business Gets It Wrong

The problem with most workplace problem solving is that it's designed by people who've never fixed anything real. They create elaborate processes that look impressive in PowerPoint but collapse the moment someone needs an actual solution.

I once worked with a mining company—won't name names, but let's say they dig up a lot of coal in Queensland—and they had a seventeen-step process for reporting equipment failures. Seventeen steps! Meanwhile, their excavators were sitting idle for three days waiting for someone to fill out the right forms.

Compare that to how a good tradie handles problems. Gear breaks down? Fix it, note what happened, prevent it next time. Done.

The obsession with documentation over action is killing business efficiency. Not everything needs a detailed post-mortem. Sometimes a broken thing just needs fixing.

The Art of Strategic Bodging

Here's where I'll lose the perfectionists: sometimes the best solution isn't the textbook solution. It's the one that works right now with the resources you actually have.

In carpentry, we call it "bodging"—making do with what's available to solve an immediate problem. It's not cutting corners; it's creative resourcefulness. The difference is knowing when to bodge and when to do it properly.

I've seen companies spend six months researching the "optimal" solution while their competitors capture market share with something that's 80% as good but available today. Perfect is the enemy of done, as they say, though I reckon "good enough" is the enemy of bankruptcy.

This drives the quality assurance crowd absolutely spare, but here's the thing: customers care more about getting their problems solved than about your internal processes being pristine.

Why Most Brainstorming Sessions Are Useless

Let me rant about brainstorming for a minute. The traditional "no bad ideas" approach is well-intentioned but fundamentally flawed. Of course there are bad ideas! Acknowledging that some ideas are rubbish isn't negative thinking—it's quality control.

The best problem-solving sessions I've run follow what I call the "pub test." Would you actually implement this idea if you had to explain it to your mates over a beer? If the answer is no, bin it and move on.

Also, stop trying to solve problems in groups of twelve people. You wouldn't frame a house with twelve carpenters all holding the same piece of timber. Get three or four people who actually understand the problem, give them authority to test solutions, and let them get on with it.

The Real Secret: Problems Solve Themselves

Here's something that took me years to figure out: the best solutions often emerge when you stop trying so hard to find them. It's like when you're searching for a specific tool in your shed—the harder you look, the more invisible it becomes.

I was stuck on a particularly tricky roof design last year when I took a break to help my neighbour move a couch. While we were manoeuvring this massive sectional through his doorway, I suddenly realised how to solve my roof problem. The solution had nothing to do with couches, but stepping away from the problem let my brain make the connection.

This is why the best problem solvers I know are also the ones who take proper lunch breaks. Your subconscious mind is constantly working on problems, but it needs space to operate.

Making It Work in Your Business

Look, I'm not saying every office worker needs to learn carpentry (though it wouldn't hurt). But adopting a tradesperson's mindset toward problem solving will transform how your team approaches challenges.

Start small. Next time someone brings you a problem, resist the urge to schedule a meeting about it. Ask them what they've already tried and what they think might work. You'll be amazed how often people already know the solution—they just need permission to implement it.

Stop rewarding complexity. The manager who solves problems with simple, elegant solutions should get more recognition than the one who creates elaborate systems that require ongoing maintenance.

And for the love of all that's sacred, measure your results. I know how much timber I waste on each job because waste costs money. How much time does your team waste on problems that keep recurring? Track it. Fix the process, not just the symptom.

The Bottom Line

Creative problem solving isn't creative because it's complicated—it's creative because it finds new ways to achieve practical outcomes. The best solutions are usually the ones that make you slap your forehead and say, "Why didn't I think of that sooner?"

Next time you're facing a business problem, ask yourself: what would a good tradie do? Chances are, the answer involves less talking and more doing.

And remember: every problem is an opportunity to learn something useful. Even the ones you stuff up completely. Especially those ones, actually.

Now stop reading about problem solving and go solve something.