Integrated Problem-Solving
The Theory in a Nutshell
The Integrated Problem-Solving™ (IPS) training program is a real-world exercise that delivers a potent personal growth experience for all participants while building mutual respect and communication capabilities between team members. Recent refinements of the model of psychological type (the basis of the Myers-Briggs Type Instrument® personality inventory) have enabled the development of this simple system for teaching individuals and teams to engage and develop a broader range of perspectives for gathering information and a more comprehensive array of approaches to decision making.
"We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems."
Lee Iococca
Although the type model does not encompass every aspect of our mental activities and challenges, it does describe the core of who we are—and of who we can potentially grow to become. It is the most rigorously scrutinized and validated guide-map to individuals' cognitive differences and similarities yet devised. "Type development"—that lifelong process of bringing our innate unconscious potential into conscious awareness and use—is personal growth. This is why the lessons imbedded within Integrated Problem-Solving training carry so much power to stimulate and guide personal and professional development.
Following an eight-step format to examine an issue of their choosing, an IPS session takes participants through all of the "mental processes" of the human cognitive toolkit. They learn to recognize, appreciate, and use the strengths that are the natural gifts of their own natural type preferences, and those of their co-workers. They gain a vivid, experiential understanding of their blind spots—their "opportunities for improvement"—as well.
"People naturally tend to base decisions on the preferred kind of judgment, without considering its suitability."
Isabel Briggs Myers
Ultimately our ability, as individuals and as teams, to adapt quickly and successfully to what life throws our way rests mostly on our level of type development—on our ability to consciously choose and skillfully use the most appropriate and effective tools from our innate psychological toolkit. The IPS approach provides a fascinating and fun platform for learning to do just that; while teaching simple techniques that participants will reuse throughout their lives!
It is because Integrated Problem-Solving engages participants at a "core learning" level that it is so important. It is because it teaches through an engaging experiential learning process that it is so effective!