Problem-Solving Training: 10 Evidence-Based Coaching Practices

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Problem-Solving Training, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Practices that may help

1. Problem-Solving Therapy, Made Practical
   Problem-Solving Therapy (PST), developed by Nezu and D’Zurilla, treats depression and anxiety by building structured, step-by-step problem-solving skills — targeting the learned helplessness and avoidance that occur when people face stressful life problems without an effective coping framework. Multiple randomised trials support PST for depression, especially when linked to real-life problem load.
2. Evaluate the outcome and adjust
   After implementing, honestly assess what worked, what didn’t, and what to do next.
   Problem-Solving Therapy, Made Practical
3. Collaborative Problem Solving (Ross Greene)
   Ross Greene’s Collaborative Problem Solving model holds that kids with explosive behavior lack the cognitive skills to handle frustration and inflexibility — not the motivation. The approach replaces punitive consequences with structured adult–child conversations that build lagging skills over time. Randomized trials in clinical settings show significant reductions in explosive behavior, though most real-world evidence is clinical and observational.
4. Solve problems collaboratively to access your ZPD
   Joint problem-solving with a peer or coach reveals capability you could not reach alone.
   Zone of Proximal Development: Learning at Your Real Edge
5. Generate solutions without premature evaluation
   List as many potential solutions as possible before judging any of them.
   Problem-Solving Therapy, Made Practical
6. Distinguish diagnostic trees (why?) from solution trees (how?)
   Use a "why?" tree to find root causes and a "how?" tree to generate solutions — mixing them produces confusing structures.
   Issue Tree Analysis
7. Solution-Focused Brief Therapy: Building On What Works
   Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT), developed by Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, directs attention to what already works — client strengths, past successes, and desired futures — rather than to analyzing problems. Meta-analyses report small-to-moderate positive effects across a range of presenting issues, with particular strength in behavioral problems and depression in adult populations.
8. Fade from worked examples to independent problems as competence grows
   Start with fully solved examples, transition through completion problems, then shift to full independent problem-solving.
   The Expertise Reversal Effect: When Help Becomes Harmful
9. Push recommendations up, not problems
   Require reports to bring a recommendation alongside any problem — it’s a delegation practice, not just a time-saver.
   Delegation Levels, Made Practical
10. Practice classifying before solving
    Explicitly ask "what kind of problem is this?" before reaching for a method.
    Interleaving: Mix It Up to Learn It Better

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• I finally tried something and it only half-worked, and my whole brain went "see, nothing I do ever works"→
• When I hit a problem like this alone I just go in circles, but I’ve noticed that the moment I’m actually working it through out loud with another person I find myself making leaps I’d never reach by myself→
• I’ve got maybe two ideas for what to do about this and both feel hopeless, so I shoot every other thought down before I even finish it→
• The second something goes wrong I leap straight to fixes→
• I’ve been leaning on fully worked-out examples to learn this, and now I can follow them in my sleep but I freeze the second I have to do it on my own→

Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.