Problem solving is an essential skill in business, and especially for business negotiation. Imagine if when faced with a negotiating problem, you couldn’t think of any options or alternative solutions. You would have hard time reaching any kind of deal. Clearly, developing your problem solving skills will benefit your negotiating ability.

Can you develop and improve your problem-solving skills? Of course you can!

Boost your creativity:You will need creative mind-set to find solutions when faced with push-back from the other party. There are many ways to boost your creativity from simply going for a walk to meditating. The blog Write to Done has a fantastic list of 201 ways to boost your creativity (applicable to anybody, not just writers):

http://writetodone.com/2010/06/28/201-ways-to-arouse-your-creativity/\

Generate ideas:Brainstorming and mind mapping are two ways to come up with creative solutions to many problems. Some people prefer brainstorming by themselves, with a pen and piece of paper, and others may find it more productive to brainstorm with a team.

Avoid a rigid mindset:Rigidity is the enemy of creative problem solving. There is always more than one solution to any given problem, and your task in business negotiation is to find the win-win solution that will serve your needs and those of the other party.

If you are looking for some problem-solving resources, the book “101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques: The Handbook of New Ideas for Business” by James Higgins, may be of interest.

Also, there are resources on the web:

http://www.positive-way.com/business/creative.htm
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_00.htm

Are you working on improving your problem-solving skills? What resources have you found?

Thanks for visiting! If you enjoyed this post, you can learn many more useful negotiation tips through our free download of Negotiating Tips.